Positive Deviance Theory: Leveraging Compliments Data to Guide Strategic Planning for Patient Experience Improvement...

Patient-centered care (PCC) has been called for as a solution to improving care quality and patient outcomes. Patient experience, termed care experience, is a measurable aspect of PCC and aligns with coproduction. Identifying patterns of positivity and high performers is a Positive Deviance approach that can inform strategic improvement of the care experience.

To identify the characteristics of positive deviances from voluntary, unsolicited compliments from patients and family members about their care experiences.

The authors conducted a mixed-method analysis, including content and a thematic analysis of unsolicited comments from patients and families, submitted between January 2021 and January 2022. After removing duplicates and miscategorized comments, 213 compliments were included in the analysis using a single, blinded inductive coding to synthesize thematic statements.

The main campus received the most compliments by location (89%); the most widely used patient sentiment was thankful (36.8%). Compassionate (26.8%), together with six others: competent (11.6%), communication (10.6%), cared for (8.5%), care team (8.0%), and supportive (8.0%), made up approximately 80% of drivers of care quality. Physicians (37.3%) and nurses (34.2%) were the most complimented personnel, although surgery (17.0%) were the most complimented services team. Similar characteristics were reported for exemplary individuals and their associated care teams.

The results align with previously reported work by the Beryl Institute and CMS 5-star rating on key drivers of patient experience. This approach provides a method by which exemplars can be identified within health systems, and that information is used to guide improvement and organizational planning.