What’s the most overlooked but effective way to become a patient-centric healthcare organization? Prioritizing the voice of the employee (VoE).
We’re highlighting four steps you can take to start listening to valuable feedback from your workforce and, by extension, improving both the employee and patient journey.
1. Recognize the Connection Between Employee and Patient Experience
Employee experience (EX) and patient experience (PX) work in parallel. As a healthcare organization, investing in EX is mutually beneficial for your workforce and patients. Given the correlation, this EX-PX connection should matter to everybody.
The employee experience directly impacts the well-being of your healthcare workforce. But the influence of happier and more engaged employees enhances care delivery and PX in significant ways. Compared to an under-resourced and overexerted team, an engaged and satisfied one will be much more attentive to your patients’ needs—and certainly in a better position to generate top-quality care.
Strong employee engagement has been linked with significant improvements in patient care and satisfaction. For instance, higher nurse engagement scores lead to lower patient mortality and complications, according to a recent Gallup study. Gallup also discovered that hospitals employing the least engaged nurses spend $1.1 million more per year in malpractice claims than those with the most engaged nurses. Just like employees at any company, healthcare providers will do better work — and provide better care — if they are happier and invested in their jobs.
2. Take Preventative Actions Against Healthcare Employee Burnout
Countless healthcare workers have been pushed past their limits over the past year, and burnout is on the rise. In a recent survey by Berxi, an insurance division of Berkshire Hathaway, an alarming 84% of healthcare worker respondents have reported signs of burnout, with nearly one in five saying they feel completely burned out. When your physicians, nurses, administrators, and other essential staff members are on the brink of burnout, they’re less likely to provide the exceptional care you want to be known for.
But instead of guessing at how you can ease the likelihood of employee burnout, use insights directly from employees to inform what measures you put in place. Depending on what your workforce says, you might consider:
- Providing access to wellness programs and mental health services
- Establishing a burnout prevention program
- Prioritizing employee appreciation efforts
- Hosting meditation and mindfulness events
- Offering more flexible work hours or work-from-home policies
3. Gather, Assess, and Action Real-Time Employee Feedback on the Topics That Matter Most
Soliciting insight from employees on a wide variety of topics that matter to them provides valuable context that supports thoughtful decision-making. This could include logistical considerations like EMR workflows and communication preferences, as well as more personal matters like the work-life balance your EX allows.
Get a pulse check on the workforce’s feelings about job benefits you do or don’t offer, like insurance coverage and other benefits, workplace amenities, communication preferences, and work-from-home flexibility. These days, it’s also essential to understand non-clinical employees’ readiness to re-enter the workforce.
Finally, ask for visibility into the patient journey. Uncover what’s happening behind the pain points your patients have expressed.
Find actionable ways to conduct surveys and other research activities until you get your answers. Follow up with text and sentiment analysis, reporting, and shareback tools to gain deeper insights and close the feedback loop.
4. Build an Insight Community for Healthcare Employees
In order to collect and action proactive employee feedback, it is crucial to have a way to collect insights in an agile way. One way to do this is by establishing a digital insight community for your workforce.
Use your dedicated insight community to facilitate two-way conversations with your healthcare workforce. Make an effort to listen to employee insights from across the organization. Consider establishing dedicated communities for physicians and nurses, as well in order to deeply understand their unique workplace experiences.
No matter which employee groups you include, make sure your insight community is opted-in, deeply profiled, and highly engaged. You can collect critical feedback and keep members updated on the measures you ultimately take to improve both the employee and patient experience.
Additionally, build your community on a platform that puts compliance, safety, and security first. At Alida, we know the privacy of your workforce and patient data is a top priority for your organization.
So, we made sure our platform is SOC1, SOC2, SOC3, GDPR, and CCPA compliant. If you plan on collecting PHI under HIPAA, we’ve got you covered under our Business Associate Agreement. We also use a double opt-in process so there’s no question about whether your members agreed to participate.
Accelerate EX and PX Transformation with Alida
By prioritizing VoE in healthcare, you'll be on your way towards improving employee and patient centricity at your organization.
When you listen to employees, the power is in your hands to reduce burnout, help your talented workforce thrive and, in turn, create a better patient experience. You’ll be empowered to offer a competitive experience for patients and employees alike, and witnessing better retention across the board.
And if you establish distinct digital insight communities for both audiences, you can combine patient feedback with healthcare employee feedback for a 360-degree view. With deeper and broader insights working together, you’ll have the data you need to implement innovative, high-impact solutions.
Contact us if you’re ready to join the ranks of employee-centric, patient-centric healthcare organizations that put EX and PX first.
