Improving Inpatient Experience Utilizing an Empathy Enhancement Program
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2016-05
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University of Hawaii at Manoa
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Low empathy amongst health care providers can affect patient outcomes and the patient experience. This is both a quality and financial concern. The Center for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) reimburses hospitals under pay-for-performance rules for high quality care and high patient experience as measured by the Hospital Consumer Assessment Healthcare Provider and System (HCAHPS) survey results. A literature search indicated that implementing several interventions that involve experiential exercises and engagement in self-reflection could increase empathy. The interventions selected for this project included a workshop, video development, and an ongoing Empathy Enhancement Program. These interventions were implemented at Castle Medical Center (CMC) using the Iowa model as a conceptual guide for implementing evidence-based practice changes. The objectives for implementing this project at CMC were to improve empathy in healthcare workers, improve employee engagement, and improve inpatient experience results. The program was evaluated by pre and post intervention staff empathy assessments, HCAHPS survey results, patient complaints, patient readmission rate, Gallup employee engagement survey results, and rate of employee turnover. All employees at CMC were included in the program. Results show improvement in each of the outcome measures except employee turnover. During the program implementation there were other concurrent synergistic projects that may also have impacted these outcomes. Recommendations to sustain the program include ongoing empathy refresher activities, review of barriers to empathy such as workflow processes, establishment of a staff resiliency/burnout prevention program, and the reframing of the Empathy Enhancement Program to encompass these elements.
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Empathy
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Theses for the degree of Doctor of Nursing Practice (University of Hawaii at Manoa). Nursing
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