FEATURE
and asked what could have been done better, what was it that triggered this perception and is there anything that can be done to resolve it for him.”
Discuss the Results The value of gathering survey results is diminished if they are not shared, Blake says. “If we’re going to con- duct the surveys, we make sure we’re sharing that information.” Central Park Surgery Center shares
its patient satisfaction survey results with its staff and governing board on a regular basis, he says. If a survey has a comment concerning a physician’s office, that information is communi- cated back to the individual doctor. “We share the information with the specific physician to hopefully help improve their individual practices,” Blake says. An ASC’s leadership team can also discuss staff survey results with the staff members themselves, Mar- tin says. “The worst thing an ASC can do is have staff take a survey and then not go over the results with them. I think you need to have a staff meeting and review the results.” O’Neill agrees. “If you bring the results back to the staff, they will often give you a solution to any problems they report. They know what the issues are, they know what their complaints are and they usu- ally have a solution for them. Ob- viously, there are things they can’t control, like salary and benefits. For the things they can control, such as scheduling, how breaks are given, the ambiance of the staff lounge or the types of scrubs provided, I think you should allow the staff to par- ticipate in resolving these issues. I think that will go a long way toward improving staff satisfaction.”
Implement Changes While it’s good to identify areas in need of change, you need to make changes if you want to see improvement in
change, but the request should not be disregarded. “That’s an area where the administration needs to do its due diligence,” O’Neill says. “Go out and do a market analysis and also com- pare wages internally, and make sure staff is treated equitably.” An ASC needs to be willing to
make changes to those areas where changes are possible, Martin says. “For example, if you have a center where the employees feel their input to management is not being listened to, you have to address that; you have to change your culture, do team building and show staff that you want to improve the communications and that management truly values their opinions and ideas. If staff indicate that they don’t have the equipment or
You need to always be looking at the results with fresh eyes and trying to find what you can do better.”
—Sarah Martin, RN, CASC, Symbion Healthcare
these areas, Blake says. To bring about effective change in response to patient satisfaction survey results, he says his ASC uses a “PDCA” approach: plan, do, check and act. “This is a four-step model for carrying out change for continuous improvement. In planning, we’re trying to recognize opportuni- ties for change and designing an im- provement strategy. In doing, we’re testing whether we are accomplishing those changes. Then we’re checking by reviewing the test and analyzing the results. All of this is followed by tak- ing action on what we learned, chang- ing what didn’t work, and being more forthright on the things that are suc- cessful and implementing them even further. It’s a cycle we keep repeating.” As noted earlier, staff members
may use the satisfaction survey to request better wages. This is an area that an ASC might not be able to
education to properly do their job, I make the effort to correct this issue if further investigation proves this concern to be valid. If it isn’t, I need to understand why they have this perception. I think there’s nothing better than showing them the follow- through. The staff gave their input on the survey and we did something with it.” ASCs also should look closely at
any physician complaints or requests, O’Neill says. “The physician satis- faction survey will trigger whether you need to do further investigating. If a lot of physicians are complaining about the quality of the equipment, you need to take that information and evaluate feasible options.” Martin adds, “If physicians indi-
cate that the equipment is outdated or they need additional tools, I make an effort to get those for them. The bot-
ASC FOCUS APRIL 2013 21
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