Case Study #2: Emergency Department Customer Service

EMERGENCY DEPARTMENT SETTING:

• Community Hospital
• 29,000 annual ED visits
• 18 ED beds

CHALLENGE:

• To improve customer service within the emergency department

EFFORTS:
  Physicians:

• Report Press Ganey scores and medical staff meeting quarterly
• Report Press Ganey scores in ED Group meeting
• Customer service articles presented in ED Group meetings
• Annual evaluations included customer service feedback
• ESP presented Risk Management in-service in September 2007 which has large customer service component
• ED physicians are rewarded quarterly with gift certificates for most customer service compliments
• ED physicians are involved in PI teams and community programs
• ESP has successfully recruited a stable core staff

  Nurses:

• Hospital-wide process improvement team formed for working on ED length of stay (LOS); continues as Department Improvement Team
• Ongoing Department Improvement Team for customer satisfaction, education, and community awareness
• Nurses expected to round every hour to keep patients/families informed
• Studer Group education in 2007 with each staff member evaluated as high/medium/low performer
• Nurses use personal business cards which are given to each patient at introduction
• Use of instructional video in the ED waiting room to explain ED process, expectations, and potential delays
• New brochure in development for the same information as above
• Department maintains a supply of $10 H-E-B grocery gift cards to be presented to patients when they experience an unexpected delay in care attributed to breakdown in the hospital process

RESULTS:

• 97th percentile ED rank and 99th percentile ED physician rank!