Ease the Way - Gebauer Patient Comfort Blog (36)

3 Things Patients Should Consider When Choosing a Hospital

By: Bethany Nock | On: October 21, 2015

When you’re craving sushi on vacation, Yelp can help you find the highest rated Japanese restaurant in town. If your roof is leaking, you can consult Angie’s List to find the best reviewed local contractor. But what do you do when you need to schedule surgery, make a late-night trip to the ER or find the best labor and delivery department for your child’s birth? How can you adequately, and conveniently, assess healthcare organizations to find the best hospital for your specific needs?

To help you do the right research and choose the prime facility for your healthcare needs, we’ve compiled a list of the top three questions to consider when choosing a hospital:

3 Tips to Help New Staff Nurses Improve Patient Communication

By: Julianne Filion | On: October 13, 2015

Remember your first day at your first nursing job? For at least two years you endured a grueling schedule of nursing school courses and early morning clinicals, survived graduation and passed your NCLEX with flying colors. By the time you obtained your first job offer, you were bursting with excitement and ready to jump head first into your new career. But, on the first day, you arrived a bundle of nerves. How could you make sure you consistently provided the best care and experience to your patients? Who would you turn to for guidance?

As a nurse leader, it’s likely been several years since your first day on the job. Through hard work and dedication, you achieved a leadership position. Although those early days of your career may now be nothing but a distant memory, it’s a current reality for several of your newer nursing team members.

To ensure patient satisfaction, and help your new staff members succeed, here are three tips for helping new nurses communicate better with patients:

How Healthcare Administrators Can Increase Team Efficiency

By: Bethany Nock | On: October 7, 2015

Your job is growing in importance. From keeping up with ever-changing regulatory and compliance updates to managing patient satisfaction processes and overseeing staff, healthcare administrators like you fill an exceedingly demanding role. Not to mention, now you’re tasked with handling the electronic health records roll-out and other federally mandated updates. Given your full plate and maxed-out schedule, you need to know you can depend on the support of your team. In fact, it’s more important than ever to keep your team as efficient as possible.

Here are our top tips for increasing team efficiency and productivity without increasing your budget:

How Nurse Leaders Can Reduce Hospital Readmission Rates

By: Julianne Filion | On: September 30, 2015

When a patient is admitted to your hospital, it’s up to you, your team and your hospital’s physicians to treat his or her concerns fully and completely. Theoretically, if you accomplish this task, your patients will start a successful road to recovery and return to their lives. Unfortunately, this isn’t always the case.

Unplanned hospital readmission, or a patient’s return to the hospital for the same or related issue is not only inconvenient for the patient, it also poses a significant concern for hospitals. That’s because, as of October 2012, the federal government began penalizing hospitals with excessive readmission rates in the form of reduced Medicare reimbursement. Not to mention, readmissions can affect patient satisfaction and strain hospital resources.

Because nurse leaders play such a vital role in a patient’s hospital experience, it’s often up to you and your team to reduce the risk of readmission. To help you achieve this goal, we’ve put together three tips to decrease your hospital’s unexpected readmissions:

Top 3 Things Private Practice Physicians Should Know About Shared Decision Making

By: Bethany Nock | On: September 24, 2015

Over the last several years, patients have begun taking a much greater vested interest in their health and wellness. While patients of previous generations took their doctor’s word at face value, today’s patients are researching their symptoms and conditions online, downloading case studies and engaging with other patients in internet forums. While this means some patients arrive for their visit armed with a self-diagnosis and droves of misinformation, it also means people are becoming more invested in their treatment.

To leverage this interest, and help patients take a more active role in their care plan, many healthcare providers are using Shared Decision Making (SDM). In other words, it’s a strategy in which, instead of making a decision on a patient’s behalf, clinicians provide patients with the knowledge they need and walk through the decision-making process together.

Here are three things you should know about SDM, and how to best implement it in your own practice: