Service Excellence and HCAHPS

At our hospital we are in year three of a Service Excellence Initiative. Partnering with Custom Learning Systems we have been been teaching all our staff hard and soft skills to improve customer service through service excellence. Being on the Service Excellence council has given me many opportunities to directly and indirectly influence the process and see first hand the cause and effect results of the program.

Here on my website I try to focus on Environmental Services related topics and the all important “room and restroom always clean” question.

Here are some initial steps for improving your HCAHPS scores:

Train and implement patient visits and staff rounding, utilizing HCAHPS scripting

Have regular, (daily or weekly) 15 minute stand up huddle with each shift to share HCAHPS scores, patient satisfaction and tips to continuously improve the patients experience

Create a regular report to share with your staff and direct reports recapping your scores, efforts and results

Pick one thing to focus on each month to increase your performance. Preferably something you can tie back into your HCAHPS questions.