Service

• Posting laminated cards at med stations of commonly used drugs and where these are regulary stored
• Delivering drugs 15 minutes prior to adminstration to allow time to be prepared
• Color-coding bins of new meds to distinguish from a patient’s discontinued meds

What can your team do to plan ahead and prepare in advance to anticipate patient needs?

• Including Mrs. Dash seasoning packets with meals
• Writing scripts for personnel to educate patients
• Getting informed on all diet options

What can your team do to look at a hospital stay through the eyes of a patient? 

• Sharing scheduling data with collaborative departments
• Setting boundaries to respect the other department’s needs and processes, like avoiding late-day appointments
• Writing it down and gettng consensus so everyone can follow the procedure

What can your team do to work collaboratively with a sister department to improve the patient experience? 

• Reaching out to patients
• Emphasizing the value of taking the colorectal screening test
• Identifying at-risk patients whenever they come into the office

What can your team do to be proactive about screening patients for cancer or other diseases? 

• Communicating with the customer
• Addressing the customers’ complaints
• Getting the entire team involved in making an effort to improve customer service

What can your team do to listen to and address feedback from patients and members?

• Developing cards so patients can ask questions and raise concerns
• Collecting the cards at patient discharge, and make sure there are no unanswered questions
• Addressing the concerns to elevate service

What can your team do to listen to what your patients are telling you they want and need?

• Training your team about the co-pay collection process and how to ask for money
• Educating about the importance of co-pays and the availability of financial assistance
• Hiring a financial counselor, and making them both visible and available to patients

What can your team do to get needed trainings from other departments? What else could your team do to see how your work fits into KP's "big picture"? 

• Training staff on how to handle cash, and tracking payments
• Getting a lock box to safely store cash payments, and reviewing data at monthly meetings
• Letting other teams know that cash payments are possible

What can your team do to look at the care experience though the eyes of the patient? What else could your team do to make going to the doctor easier for the member? 

Great care, any time, anywhere: Health care is changing to meet consumers’ high expectations. And high-performing unit-based teams, led by frontline workers, managers and physicians across Kaiser Permanente, are finding new ways to make sure every patient and member's experience is convenient, easy, personal and respectful. See how they are doing it.

• Using a “blitz” approach to the work queues, when new sessions get backed up
• Mobilizing everyone to work on the same queue until the backlog decreases
• Shifting from the existing practice of everyone working in individual queues

What can your team do to tackle large issues that are creating a backlog? Where else could your team use a "blitz" approach?