A Multifaceted Approach to Improve Physician Communication Scores

Area of Science:

• Healthcare Management
• Patient Experience
• Physician Communication

Background:

• Improving patient satisfaction is a national priority for healthcare organizations.
• Community hospitals face resource constraints, impacting patient satisfaction initiatives.
• Hospitalist programs experience challenges with provider variability and turnover, affecting patient experience.

Purpose of the Study:

• To implement and evaluate a multipronged intervention to improve patient satisfaction scores in a hospitalist program.
• To assess the impact of appreciative inquiry and specific best practices on physician communication metrics.

Main Methods:

• Utilized an appreciative inquiry framework for intervention design.
• Implemented a rounding model where hospitalist leaders provided feedback to providers.
• Promoted positive feedback communication and encouraged best practices like "teach back" and providing business cards.

Main Results:

• Physician communication scores improved by approximately 1% annually from fiscal year 2015 to 2018.
• The hospitalist program's percentile rank in physician communication improved by 35 percentile points.
• A multifaceted approach demonstrated a positive association with enhanced patient experience.

Conclusions:

• A multipronged intervention incorporating appreciative inquiry and best practices can significantly improve physician communication.
• Targeted strategies can enhance patient satisfaction in resource-constrained community hospital settings.
• Consistent reinforcement of best practices is crucial for sustained improvements in patient experience.