I read this article from CNN about hospital ED throughput, and thought of my earlier airline experience.

What if everyone who presents in the Emergency Department casually drops the name of their dear friend, the CEO, or their Uncle who is the Chair of the Board, or their Grandmother a major donor?  Imagine the stress on your staff!!!

Long waits in the ED have quality of care ramifications.  In April 2008, the Government Accountability Office, using 2006 data, found that the average waiting time nationally was twice that recommended for the most urgent cases. People who should have been treated in 1 to 14 minutes were being seen, on average, in 37 minutes.

Press Ganey found that the average ER waiting time last year was 4 hours, 2 minutes!  Yes, Press Ganey did report a slight improvement from the prior time period (2 minutes).  However, throughput was seen as an area which could significantly impact satisfaction. The report stated: “Improving the actual flow of patients through the hospital impacts the entire organization down to time spent in the emergency department. Most emergency department physicians and staff know that the emergency department is at the mercy of the inpatient capacity and census.”

The answer, like the airlines, is to develop a system for ensuring that patient throughput improves.  The answer is not as simple as saying to the staff “See patients quicker.”  It involves making sure that equipment is available when you need it, clean beds are available for transfer of ED patients, and even that patients might know that their EDs have capacity.

If you want to see an example of a hospital that alerts its community to approximate wait time in the Emergency Department, check out Mountain States Health Alliance, www.msha.com, which posts their wait times directly on the ED…and allows patients to see which of their hospitals EDs wait times are short.  The wait times are updated continuously.

By improving patient throughput, and allowing patients to know up front their waits, ED staff may be less likely targeted for name dropping…and allowed to spend more time taking care of patients.

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.