Whether or not someone is a direct caregiver, we all play a role in delivering the best possible patient- and family-centered care to Johns Hopkins patients. To improve our efforts even further, what one thing would most improve this pillar in the Johns Hopkins Medicine strategic plan? Cast your vote and share your thoughts in today’s poll.
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26 Comments
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Comments
NOT transferring patients at shift change! Receiving units will not speak to Transferring units, about a patient coming to the Unit, by phone, during Shift change, which is reasonable because the oncoming staff deserves to know and care for patients they are already have. The patient certainly deserves that. When a patient arrives on the unit at shift change, chances are, the patient won't see the new RN for a minimum, and maybe longer, of 30 min's after arrival to the unit. If the receiving RN has any questions about the patient, chances are the RN, who has had the most contact with and knows most about the patient, is long gone to home. Sending multiple patients to a unit, at shift change is simply a mini disaster. As a general rule, care for ALL patients will be delayed on the unit. Patients get frustrated, they expect that when they arrive to the new unit, they will be at their destination and completely expect staff to be ready and available to give them undivided attention. In effect, they may get a quick introduction, but any care or meds to be given, will come hours later. We do all we can to offset these situations, but clearly not enough effort is made to avoid these unnecessary events from reoccurring. If the patients from the transferring unit have done as much as possible for these patients , prior to transfer (re: care, meds, tests, etc...) the transition goes a lot smoother and patients are less likely to complain or feel neglected or that they received less than quality care.
More clear conversations early on with the families and patients via the physician. Often times the nurses are sharing new information without a doctors presence. C4 is a new program to inititate early meetings but if c4 is not facilitating this it often times does not happen.
Pay people reasonable wages (basicaly double pay, at least, for those below mgmt) so they feel some reason to perform their jobs properly.
Thank you Virginia. On behalf of the Service Excellence team, we appreciate your feedback. Please feel free to email me and I can pass along your specific concerns to the correct team involved. My email address is tracybell@jhmi.edu.
Great, consistent teamwork amongst care givers (Doctor, nurses, techs, housekeepers,social work, and etc.)
Thank you Angela. On behalf of the Service Excellence team, we appreciate your feedback.
I am expanding Jaimie's suggestion and that is that all staff (docs, nurses, receptionists, environmental services people, etc.) show respect for each other. Too often the support staff is not respected and not listened to with their ideas. They are often the first contact with the patient.
Thank you Catherine. On behalf of the Service Excellence team, we appreciate your feedback. We appreciate any and all perspectives on how best to improve the experience for our patients and staff. Feel free to email me if you would like to become involved in our committee work or provide specific feedback. My email address is tracybell@jhmi.edu.
It would be great if those that seem to have more medical issues (senior citizens) would receive care and medicine at a reduced cost since most live on a fixed income. To do otherwise makes it seem that the industry is more concerned with making money than to give care to those that have been productive in their earlier years.
Thank you Maurice. On behalf of the Service Excellence team, we appreciate your feedback.
Time is in great need from everyoneand the most cherished.
Thank you Ella. On behalf of the Service Excellence team, we appreciate your feedback.
Improved customer service, especially with respect to billing. It's so poor I wouldn't know where to start.
HIPAA impedes timely sharing of health information among family members who are beyond age-of-majority, which imparts patient-safety risk. E.g., my 18 year old needs help interpreting a doctor's order and I can't review services I paid for unless I refresh a HIPAA authorization, which can take days to complete. Johns Hopkins must lead reform in this area.
Thank you Robert. On behalf of the Service Excellence team, we appreciate your feedback. Feel free to email me directly and I'd be happy to connect you with the folks working on these types of initiatives. My email address is tracybell@jhmi.edu Feedback from our staff is important in all aspects of our business and I'd be happy to pass along your remarks.
Not charging patients who are admitted to hospital for parking. Many pts go to clinic appts and are then admitted. A patient last week had a $800 parking bill. He was a low income patient with a diagnosis of < 6 mos to live. This situation causes signif stress for patients and staff. We pay for low income patients meds when they leave via a med voucher....and then present them with an exorbitant parking bill to pay.
Thank you Deirdre. On behalf of the Service Excellence team, we appreciate your feedback. I can see how much you care about our patients through this message. Our department is here to help you as you provide care. Please reach out when you have situations like this in the future. In the past our colleague's in Social Work and Parking have helped patients in similar situations and our department has also helped patients as well. This is a difficult time for many families and we will try to do anything we can to help you care for our patients.
Caring for our nurses and staff will trickle down into happy patients
Thank you Jaime. On behalf of the Service Excellence team, we appreciate your feedback.
Medical education is integral to our mission - I get that. But our medical students give formal presentations, often referring to patients (when they are present before us, listening) in the third person. Terminology is used that is off putting to patients. It is inconsistent with our desire to be patient and family centered.
When the medical team declares that a patient is ready for discharge at 9:30 am, the family asks, "when can we go", and are often told "sometime this afternoon, when we get all our paperwork together" etc. When you defer the discharge work so that you can attend conferences, rounds, etc. THAT IS NOT FAMILY AND PATIENT CENTERED.
We need to do a better job of reconciling our stated missions with our behavior.
Thank you Kathleen. On behalf of the Service Excellence team, we appreciate your feedback. These are the types of behaviors we need to talk more about and work on a plan where both staff and patients' needs are met. Feel free to email directly if you'd like to get involved in this important work. My email address is tracybell@jhmi.edu
I hear way too many stories from my students witnessing ineffective and non-empathetic communication by employees to their fellow coworkers and JHH visitors. I wish more mgmt would hold employees accountable for ineffective and non-empathetic communication.
Thank you Kim. On behalf of the Service Excellence team, we appreciate your feedback.
It's difficult to be an integral part of family centered care when someone in your immediate family is having issues and the only way you can get the time to help is through the use of FMLA. While it is a great benefit, many issues don't require that level of support. If your issue is short term, you need to use PTO. While helpful, if you use your PTO time to care for someone in your immediate family, you may not have time enough during the year to take care of yourself and other issues that may arise. Ironically, it seems like the only time Family Centered Care is a pillar of our mission, is when we care for patients outside our own families.
Thank you Mark. On behalf of the Service Excellence team, we appreciate your feedback. I completely appreciate the time and commitment it takes when our staff are responsible for an immediate family member. I encourage any staff member in this situation to reach out to our colleagues in Human Resources to see if there are any other ways to help. Our patients and our staff are both important pieces of our Patient and Family Centered Care mission.
Greater support to providers for acurate Medication reconciliation
Thank you Mary. On behalf of the Service Excellence team, we appreciate your feedback.