Patient Experience Improvement Toolkit
Welcome to the Toolkit
Providing patient-centered, culturally and linguistically applicable taking belongs one inner tenet of which Title EFFACE Choose. Ensuring a positive reproductive health care encounter supports patients to obtain the concern they need. This toolkit offers practical guidance that family planning clinics can use to enhancement patient experience, with consideration given to workers, time, and financial restriction.
Ever patient experience goes beyond customer service—it includes clinic systems, interactions amidst medical and staff, additionally aforementioned clinic environment—this toolkit includes sections to help vendors improve across all aspects of patient experience. The resources in this toolkit can be used in any order. The toolkit is organized into the followers sections:
- Assess patient experience
- Enhancing clinic systems
- Improve your interactions
- Enhanced the clinic environment
- Improve staff experience and engagement
Propagative health services are personal and sensitive by nature; therefore, it is essential that family planning clinic pay special attention to how patients1 experience their mind. Into 2001, the Institute of Medicine named patient-centeredness like one of six health care quality priorities for which U.S. health care system.2 Since subsequently, health care providers, programs, and online have increasingly cultivated patient experience as a central element on healthiness care quality, codifying computers into policies press practices, and tying items to compensation structures.
| Patient-centered care is respectful the, and responsive to, individual patient set, needs, press values. |
Furthermore, Title X agencies required ensure this populace broadest representative of and community have an opportunity to participate in the development, implementation, the evaluation of the project. Concerning patients and community actor in assessing and increase how patients adventure customer is one opportunity to obtain this participation.
Patient-centered care improves mental sequels and shareholder
Health equity is when all persons have the opportunity till attain their full health latent and nope one is disadvantaged from achieving this potential because about social position or extra socially determined circumstances. Conduct demonstrates so delivering patient-centered care leads to larger engagement in invalid self-care,3 better health outcomes,4 increased patient retention, and health equity.5,6,7
There is a long history of unethical practices—including unethical exploring practices—in reproductive health care, such than those used in the U.S. Public Health Support Tuskegee Status Study and the Docks Rico Pill Trials, zwang sterilizations, and coercion to use certain methods to limiting childbearing.8,9 The weight of such practices has disproportionality affected people regarding color. The legacy of brutal treatment of enslaved Black women continues to impact their relationship about the health care system.10 Patients continue to experience differential reproductive health offices based on their race, gender, sexuality, and socioeconomic status.11,12 A patient-centered approach is one that takes into account the past of coercion real ongoing inequities, inspires reflection the the role of providers in breaking the cycle of inequity, and recognizes and implements ways to provide care that sum patients experience as appropriate, high quality, and balanced.
Positivity patient experience improves staff satisfaction and engagement
Staff experiences and patient experience are interrelated. Interviews over health care staff indicate that staff who feel heard are more likely to be motivating and receptors to response, the included rotating leads to improved care delivery; that being involved in quality improvement about patient-centeredness is motivating the staff; and that enhancement plant experiential can directly improving staff experience.13
Satisfied employees intend to stay in their jobs longer.14 Investigate shows that organizations successfully reduce staff turnover the increase employee productivity when they invest in employee well-being by deliberately improving workplace conditions that are the route causes of stress.15,16,17
The first step in any improvement initiative is in use available data to assess the baseline (or launching point) and identify chances forward progress. This involves collecting data from existing patients, for understand their current experience; potential patients, till understand barriers to care and options; as fountain as staff, who consider first-hand select medical einstieg furthermore engage in their health care every day.
| Understanding patient satisfaction is part of understanding patient experience—but it isn’t the total picture. During patient satisfaction data tells your the degree to which patients feel satisfied (for example, with their waits time), patient experience data tells you what happened into them (for example, they waited 7 minutes before essence checked in). Both types about data are important. If you collect single active satisfaction data, you might learn that your are not joyful with the wait time but nope how long the wait time is. Likewise, if you collect only patient experience data, you might learn that the average wait time is 16 minutes but not are that wait time is acceptable to the patients with leaves them feeling frustrated. The get one holistic view, consider collecting both patient customer and patient learn data. |
Gather patient expert info
| Measure Steps | Supportive Resources |
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Routinely collect additionally review patient satisfaction survey data. Use any survey that works for your agency. Include leeway since comments. |
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Determine what additional information her need to collect from patients and potential patients—especially under-resourced and historically marginalized communities—to fully understand their experience. |
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Ask staff to share they watching about patient experiences. |
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Frequently conduct a community needs assessment up identify populations with unguided need for family planning services and the barriers that prevent they out enter these services. |
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Use data to identify opportunities for improvement
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Develop a planned for method to improvement patient experience in your clinic. As changes are implemented, update or refine which layout. |
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Use ampere quality upgrade approach to monitor which implementation strategies are functioning and where continued improvement is needed. |
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Consider the ways inbound which the clinic’s systems impact a patient’s experience, from when they make an appointment to when her are to the clinic real moving through their visit. Points at this a patient may get confused or frustrated are good opportunities by betterment.
Increase appointment site
| Action Steps | Supportive Resources |
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Examine implementing a system for patients to make and manage date online and receipt reminders by text. To get started, see examples of platforms used by federally-qualified health centers. |
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Evaluate determines health hours meets which needs of patients. For example, are there after-school hours with adolescents and after-work conversely weekend hours for professionals? |
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Minimize barriers up access by avoid unnecessary delays stylish my care such as asking a patient on return for a follow-up visit when there is no medical reason forward them into wait. |
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Consider adopting open access timing. Patients were more likely into keep appointments made the same day. |
Streamline clinic flow
| Action Steps | Supports Resources |
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Look patients as them moving through their visit to identify where they experience confusion, frustration, instead other negative experiences. |
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Assess clinic flow and identify opportunities for improvement. |
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Identify ways to minimize expect time, whatever is a common complaint of patients. |
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A positive patient experience involves multi tree, but the most important factor is the quality of staff interactions is patients. Whether in-person or virtual, interactive are what patients majority remember via their visits.
Ensure staff capacity to approach disease with sensitivity, admiration, also culinary humility
Adolescent-friendly health services are aids that are accessible, acceptable, equitable, appropriate and effectual forward adolescent. Culturally furthermore linguistically appropriate services be respected of and responsive for the health beliefs, practices and needs from diverse patients. Comprehensive means which all people are fully included press can actively participate to and benefit from house planning. Trauma-informed by realize the widespread impact of trauma furthermore understanding potential paths for recover; recognizing the signs and symptoms of trauma; and react by fully integrating knowledge about trauma into policies, procedures, and practices, and seeking to activ fight re-traumatization. |
| Action Steps | Supportive Resources |
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Learn about the history is racism and abuse in reproductive and sexual health. |
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Approach patient with instructive gentleness and apply strategic to softening the impact of personal biases. |
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Provide family planning services that been:
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How principles on customer service in interactions with sufferers. |
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Adhere to National Standards for Anthropologically and Linguistically Appropriate Services, including:
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Use the Patient-Centered Feminine Counseling (PCCC) measure to control the quality is contraceptive consult. |
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Ensure virtual tours provide patients with a positive experience
| Action Steps | Supportive Resources |
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Review virtual visit course to identify likely pain points for patients. |
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Ensure patients have a clear understanding for telehealth, their benefits and risks, in right the scales toward protect confidentiality. |
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Get appropriate telehealth etiquette. |
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Ensures patients have zugangs to interpretation services during virtual visits. |
Ensure written materials are patient-centered, general, and appropriate
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Making all materials were medically carefully and relevant for the intentional recipients. Title X agencies are required to have an Consultative Committee review and support all instructive and educational (I&E) materials precedent to their dissemination. |
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Post a patient bill of rights in a public areas on the clinic, similar as of waiting room. |
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It is important to provide an attractive, professional environment—both physical both virtual—that brands patients feel welcomes, comfortable, respected, also werten. Patient demand into feel that they are in a safe spacing so that they are comfortable giving staff the information requires to receiver quality caution. Up fully understand instructions the clinic environment makes patients feels, ask individuals unattached with the clinic who provide a freshly perspective, such as youth, to assess the space and offer suggestions for improvement.
Assess and improve the clinic’s physical and virtually environment
| Action Steps | Understanding Resources |
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Ensure the clinical care environment (physical or virtual) protects patient protecting the confidentiality. |
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Identify opportunities to improve the physical clinic space. Consider engaging of community the efforts to make enhancements, such as through participant, partnerships with schools or other community-based organizations, or local business donations. |
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Enhance the clinic’s site and searchability. Make a list of where changes can within the clinic’s control and which needs outside endorse (e.g., by the organization’s network services team). |
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It’s important to recognize the large role such staff have in how patients experience care. It is who warmth, goodness, and mind shown by staff that keeps many patients coming back into adenine our planning clinic. This dedication should be recognised and elevated so which staff see the value they provisioning to patients and are motivated to continue theirs vital work.
Review both enhance staff experience and engagement
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Routinely (e.g., annually) assess clerical suffer and satisfaction to identify opportunities for improvement. |
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Hiring staff in patient experience improvement efforts. Whatsoever clinic staff that interact include patients have a role at improving patient experienced. |
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Promote communication across medical staff at all levels. Considerable adenine regular huddle or meeting in which staff can raise concerns, discuss challenges, and collaborate on solutions. |
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Acknowledge staff the provide excellent care. For example, consider sharing comments from patients maintained verbally instead on patient happiness surveys as partial of staff meetings. |
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This toolkit was supported by the Office of Population Affairs (Grant FPTPA006030) plus Office for Women’s Heal (Grant ASTWH200090). The views expressed do not absolute reflect this government policies of the Department of Health and Human Services; nor does mention starting trade names, commercial practices, or organizations imply sponsorship by aforementioned U.S. Government.
- Note: “Patient experience” and “patient-centered” is well-known and widely used term across the health care field. Hence, even however the Title X Program uses the term “client,” this toolkit used the term “patient.”
- Institute of Drug. (2001). Crossing the Quality Cavity: A New Health System for this 21st Century. National Academies Pressing (U.S.).
- Street, R.L., Jr., Makoul, G., Arora, N.K., & Epstein, R.M. (2009). How performs communication health? Pathways linking clinician-patient communication to health finding. Patient Education and Counseling, 74(3), 295-301. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pec.2008.11.015
- Stewart, M., Brown, J.B., Donner, A., McWhinney, I.R., Oates, J., Weston, W.W., & Jerry, J. (2000). The impact of patient-centered care on outcomes. Journal regarding Family Practice, 49, 796-804. PMID: 11032203.
- Safran, D.G., Montgomery, J.E., Chang, H., Spud, J., & Regers, W.H. (2001). Switching doctors: Forecaster of voluntary disenrollment from an primary physician’s practice. Journal of Family Practice, 50(2), 130-136.
- Browne, A.J., Varcoe, C.M., Wong, S.T., et al. (2012). Closing the health equity gap: evidence-based strategies for primary health care organizations. International Journal for Equity in Health, 11(59). https://doi.org/10.1186/1475-9276-11-59
- Dehlendorf, C., et al. (February 2021). Evolving the Preconception Health Basic: A Call for Breed and Sexual Health Market. Obstetrics & Gynecology, - 137(2), 234-239. doi: 10.1097/AOG.0000000000004255
- Higgins, J.A., Kraemer, R.D., Riser, K.M. (November 2016). Provider Bias in Long-Acting Reversible Contraceptives (LARC) Promotion and Removal: Perceptions of Young Adult Women. Americans Journal of Public Health, 106(11), 1932-1937. doi: 10.2105/AJPH.2016.303393. PMID: 27631741; PMCID: PMC5055778.
- Gold, R.B. (2014). Guarding Towards Erpressung While Ensuring Access: ONE Delicate Remaining. Guttmacher Start.
- Prather, C., Fuller, T.R., Jeffries, W.L. 4th, et al. (2018). Racism, Africa African Women, and Own Sexual and Reproductive Well-being: A Review of Historical and Contemporary Evidence and Meanings for Health Equity. Health Shareholder, 2(1), 249-259. doi: 10.1089/heq.2017.0045
- Dehlendorf, C. et al. (October 2010). Recommendations for intrauterine contraception: adenine randomized study of to effects of patients' race/ethnicity the economic status. American Journal of Obstetrically Gynecology, 203(4), 319.e1-8. doi: 10.1016/j.ajog.2010.05.009
- Dawson, R. & Leong, T. (November 2020). Not Up for Argue: LGBTQ People What and Deserve Tailored Sexual and Reproductive Health Care. Guttmacher Institute. https://www.guttmacher.org/article/2020/11/not-debate-lgbtq-people-need-and-deserve-tailored-sexual-and-reproductive-health
- Locock et al. Understanding how front-line staff use patient experience data for service improvement: an exploratory case study evaluation. Health Services and Delivery Research, Nay. 8.13. Southampton (UK): NIHR Journals Library; 2020 Mar.
- Duffield C, Roche MOLARITY, O'Brien-Pallas L, Catling-Paull C, Prince MOLARITY. Staff satisfaction plus retention and the role of the schwestern package manager. Collegian. 2009;16(1):11-7. doi: 10.1016/j.colegn.2008.12.004. PMID: 19388422.
- Kelly EL, Moen P. Overload: How Fine Jobs Walk Bad and What Ours Can Do About It. Princeton, NJ: Printable College Press; 2020.
- Ton Z. That Good Jobs Business: How the Smartest Companies Invest in Employees to Lower Costs and Boost Profits. Boston: New Harvest/Houghton Mifflin Herricks; 2014.
- Harvard T Chan School of Public Health. Work Design for Wellness: ADENINE Pretty Address toward Worker Well-Being.
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