Improving the patient experience in adult otolaryngology: What physician behavior makes a difference?

To determine the impact of changes in physician behavior on patient experience scores in a tertiary care Otolaryngology practice.

Prospective Cohort study.

In this prospective trial examining change in patient experience scores before and after 3 specific changes in physician behavior all faculty underwent intensive patient experience training with the System Medical Director of Patient Experience. Closing the clinic room door and indicating this is being done for patient privacy, sitting down during the encounter, and using one of several scripted empathetic phrases were the selected behavioral interventions. Pre-training and post-training patient experience scores were collated. Physicians and their mid-level providers were asked how often they or their supervising physician perform the 3 behaviors before and after the training session. Additional collected variables include physician demographics, presence/absence of a learner, presence/absence of midlevel provider, and type of visit.

Eight faculty participated. Prior to the training session, the physicians reported closing the door, sitting down, and using an empathic phrase in 87.5%, 59.4, and 44.4% of clinic visits respectively. There was a significant correlation between door closure rate and patients reporting that concerns were addressed (r = 0.81). There was a significant correlation between the rate of empathetic phrase usage and the likelihood to recommend the physician (r = 0.92).

The patient experience is increasingly important in healthcare as a measure of the quality and as a means of determining compensation. In the current climate, we as physicians must make changes in behavior to improve the patient experience in the outpatient setting.