Prior to the opening of the Stryker Center in 2005, associates who were going to work in the new BMC outpatient facility committed to providing an exceptional patient experience to all who were served.

In the months leading up to the opening, all Stryker Center departments and their associates participated in four hours of customer service education. In the same sessions, they helped to define the standards for how care would be provided in the new center.

In 2006, Stryker Center associates participated in update sessions that focused on Relationship-Centered Care. Associates evaluated their performance in providing optimal patient experiences and explored opportunities for improvement.

Recently, teams of employees from all
Stryker Center departments have gathered once again, this time to celebrate their successes and renew the process of identifying opportunities for improvements in the Stryker Center patient experience.

"The success brought about by Stryker Center associates has been clear from the very beginning," said Doug Hall, Customer Relations Director, who has played a leadership role in all of the training sessions. "Patient satisfaction scores have steadily improved for most Stryker Center departments. This demonstrates their ongoing commitment to improving patient experiences."

One example of the tremendous outpatient satisfaction is that "Strongly Agree" responses to positively worded statements about their care has risen from 77% during the last year before the Stryker Center opened to 84% so far in Fiscal Year 2008 (see chart).

Moreover, more than two-thirds (71%) of Stryker Center departments are exceeding their patient satisfaction targets so far this fiscal year.

"Associates are now building on their successes," Hall continued. "At the sessions, with their active involvement and excellent input, we are continuing to learn from patients, family members, physicians and each other about ways in which the patient experience can be improved even further."

Teams have used their own department's patient feedback - spoken by patients to staff members, written in letters and provided in patient satisfaction surveys - to identify strengths and opportunities for improvement.

"This year, the focus is on sustaining strengths and developing specific action plans for taking advantage of those opportunities," Hall said. Key actions and concepts cited by associates in describing their successes have included

• Implementation of recommended scripts for communicating with patients
• Improved teamwork and communication among departments
• Enhanced consciousness of patient safety
• Sending follow-up cards from care-providing associates to patients after their visits

Among the items associates have agreed upon for improvement are:

• Being more intentional about letting patients see them wash their hands
• Decreasing "noise" levels
• Putting even more emphasis on making sure procedure explanations are fully understood by each patient

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