An Engaged Staff
Engaging patients is vital for optimal care and numerous programs and educational sites are dedicated to this laudable goal. In comparison, staff engagement is all but ignored, but without an engaged team working together, patient engagement efforts will be less successful.
Excellent leadership is needed to develop an effective team (see Leaders Are Role Models-Be A Great One!), and a well-developed and invested team (see Addressing Bad Attitudes) is required for implementing an effective patient engagement plan.
Develop a Patient Engagement Team
Developing this team achieves multiple goals simultaneously. Patient care, patient satisfaction, and staff job satisfaction all improve. Once a team is formed and is efficiently contributing to patient engagement, the actual process becomes easier for all involved.
Every member of the team needs to understand the importance of the overall project. More importantly, each individual must understand why his or her contribution is not only important but vital for the success of the mission. Once the team coalesces around the project, it can be successful even when the original plan runs into roadblocks. Plans are fantastic. But to paraphrase a famous general, “No good plan survives its first engagement with a patient”.
Make Patient Engagement Part of Clinic Flow
The best approach to developing a staff engagement plan is to have the plan interwoven into the very fabric of the office structure. Make sure the team members understand their roles and why they are important and the importance of the other roles in the office. Recognizing the stresses and issues faced by other team members promotes compassion and may even yield novel answers from unsuspected sources. For example, a nurse might suggest a way to improve patient flow in the waiting room, alleviating some of the strain on the front office staff. Not only does this address a problem, it helps foster the sense of teamwork. This is contagious.
Consider yourself a key member of the team and make sure that the rest of the team understands your appreciation of their efforts. Team members need to understand they are extensions of you and that effective medical care and successful business rely on the team as a whole. Praise liberally in public. Save less positive discussions for private.
Practices, both large and small, have numerous programs and mandates that need to be addressed. Each individual project needs a leader or “champion”. To be successful, the leader needs a cohesive team and a well-designed plan. Then each project needs to be integrated into the practice as a whole, minimizing overlap of effort and redundant work. The smaller the practices, the more hats each individual will need to wear.
Communicate the Importance of Patient Engagement
The practice leader must keep the team apprised to the progress and the challenges being faced during the project. Reiterating the importance of projects like patient engagement efforts, improves effort. The importance of asking for suggestions and feedback on a regular basis cannot be overstated. Don’t stop at asking for suggestions. Act on them when possible, giving credit for the good ideas.
Coping with doubters can be challenging. Doubting is not necessarily a bad thing. Deal with this proactively. Engage the doubter in early testing to improve both the outlook and to help solve any problems. True negativity must be addressed as well (see Addressing Bad Attitudes). Again, this should be done in private. If attitudes don’t change, team personnel may have to change instead.
Effective patient engagement requires an engaged staff and engaged physician.
Summary
Once the team is assembled, the initial plan must be adapted to clinic realities. Then the system requires frequent revision as issues are identified. Flexibility combined with persistence yields an effective engagement program.
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