Embracing a Multidisciplinary Approach to Patient Satisfaction

The best feeling a healthcare worker experiences, is when a patient leaves the hospital happy. At Loma Linda University Medical Center – Murrieta, a multidisciplinary team collaborated and focused on the goal of more patients leaving with happy smiles on their faces.

Linda Soubirous, MSN, MPA, RN, NEA-BC, chief nursing officer, and Joanna Shedd, PhD, RN, CNS, PHN, executive director of Patient Care Services, worked closely with Jennifer McDonald, executive director of Patient Experience to look at National Research Corporation (NRC) scores and see which Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) question had the lowest scores for the different service areas of the hospital. Finding the scores lower than what they desired, Soubirous and Shedd formed a taskforce with interdisciplinary members representing different positions in the hospital. These included nurses, physicians, patient care services, administrators and respiratory therapists. The taskforce’s goal was to look at practices within the hospital and to help Murrieta to create a better experience for the patients. In their planning, they looked at news ways to embrace their practice while improving or opening communication. Immediately, three initiatives began:

1. Nurse huddles with nurse leaders and clinical nurses were to start including patient satisfaction scores.