Since my employer, ARAMARK Healthcare provides environmental and food services  there, I was able to drill down to see what our team did there and look at some metrics.  For example, there is  a low turnover rate among our support services employees over the past several years.  While some turnover statistics can be chalked up to a tough economy, the overarching strategy for employee engagement also has had a direct impact.

So I drilled into the low turnover rates and found that support service employees at CHRISTUS St. Michael follow a strategy called I-Impact.  They use a concept called “rounding,” where managers regularly spend time talking with employees to make sure they have the tools and support to do their jobs. Employees in turn “round” on other important stakeholders, such as nurses, to determine if they can help to improve any aspect of their jobs.

The culture is one of recognition.  I found out that when an employee does a good job, managers regularly send thank you notes to their homes. Employees are also encouraged to send notes to their partners within the hospital to recognize special effort.

Some other common processes include a training program where support service employees are coached on how to talk with patients.  Employees are presented with key words that they can use to talk with the patients at key times. This helps to reduce anxiety for both the employees and patients.

Empowering employees to become part of the hiring process is another part of the strategy. When an opening for a new team member becomes available, leading candidates are interviewed by department peers. This helps determine cultural fit and also provides winning candidates with mentors to help them along once they start.

Anyone familiar with the Studer Group will recognize some of these tactics. In fact, Studer plays a large part in Modern Healthcare’s conference.

The ARAMARK Healthcare support service team’s performance is consistent with St. Michael’s overall performance.  This comes as no surprise to an organization ranked as one of the best places to work in healthcare.

I thought of this interaction and implications in healthcare.  At ARAMARK, we use the words “Key Words at Key Times” to describe how we educate our associates regarding their patient interactions.  Two sessions I attended were also related to the consumer experience.  What’s interesting is that although the speakers came from different perspectives, the process was very similar.  Gail Scott called it the “Act With TACT Model” — where TACT stands for:

- Take Ownership
- Acknowledge and Apologize
- Communicate and Correct, and
- Thank, Track, Trend and Learn.

Tom Tull and Candace Jennings of Mountain States Health Alliance (TN) defined a foundation for service excellence – called WOW – Values in Action.  This process involved:

- First Impressions
- Personal Appearance
- Caring Customer Service
- Communication
- Patient Information and Education
- Customer Interactions
- Respect
- Etiquette
- Commitment

The presentation that CHRISTUS VP Mike McBride and I did focused on Succeeding in the Patient-Centered Age of Healthcare.  It defined the AIDET (Acknowledge, Introduce, Duration, Explanation and Thank You) technique popularized by the Studer Group in guiding patient interactions. A copy of the presentation can be downloaded here.

Whatever the acronyms and approach, it appears that leading health care organizations are focusing on making a positive impact the customer experience which includes a scripted support staff interaction. These folks will succeed in the post-recession future! To kick off my first Blog posting … I’m interested in hearing about approaches that your health care organization has implemented, and affects they have had on outcomes.