Grandview Medical Center - Dayton, OH
Compass Award Winner: Inpatient Services 300 - 449 Beds
Early in 2004, the leaders of Grandview Medical Center (GVMC) reviewed the Key Result Areas to find that four of the five areas were presenting at benchmark performance levels. Clinical quality, finance, growth, and people were soaring while customer service was falling short of success. It was then that GVMC leaders embarked on a journey to focus on customer service. At that time (June 2004), Grandview ranked in the bottom 3rd percentile of the national database for overall inpatient satisfaction.
The process began with a formal commitment to provide patients, families, and visitors the best health care experience possible. Service teams consisting of employees were then developed. These teams focused on how to improve customer satisfaction for the different areas of the business—inpatient, outpatient, physicians, employees, etc.
The first real commitment of the employees began when every single employee signed the Standards of Behavior, which is the center’s guidelines of expectations. These standards were developed not by the leadership, but by the employees. The development of these standards was one of the first steps that allowed employees to see their involvement—ownership was the key to success. Each employee re-commits to those standards each year during performance review time and every new employee must sign the standards document when hired.
Realizing that employees drive customer satisfaction scores, GVMC strengthened its leadership training. Leaders and high performing peers were trained to use Targeted Selection (behavioral-based interviewing techniques) in the hiring process. This helped retain and train new employees and allows staff to be involved in the hiring process. A system was also developed to track the progress of new employees by having their leaders conduct conversations at 30- and 90-day checkpoints after their hire date.
The leadership implemented “rounding” on employees and patients, “managing up” when appropriate, and writing thank-you notes to employees to recognize exceptional staff behavior. Employees began developing and using keywords in their conversations with patients to connect back to the language used in the patient satisfaction surveys. One team developed a “service recovery toolbox” with items to help staff recover in difficult situations. The measurement team produced weekly reports to monitor the patient satisfaction scores.
Today, Grandview has reached the 50th percentile nationally and is at the 59th percentile compared to hospitals of like size for the overall score on the inpatient satisfaction survey. As year three begins, the teams have been reformatted to focus on the next set of challenges. The center’s mission, “Improving the quality of life for the people in the communities we serve,” has never been more important. Each member of the Grandview Medical Center team can make a difference in the lives of patients, their families, and physicians and employees.