Hey Data, Get Back Where You Belong!
I recently had a great conversation with a nursing leader. She was newer to her role and we were spending some time discussing patient experience. As we talked, I asked her a question: "How do you position and frame your data in the conversations with your team?" After a few minutes, I began to explain the reasoning behind the question. As leaders, the data shared with teams must be framed and positioned correctly within the conversations. Here's what I mean:
Framing:
All too often, when speaking to caregivers (including leaders) about patient experience, I hear something to the effect of "only angry patients answer those surveys ." This statement is categorically false. The overwhelming majority of patients provide positive feedback about the care they received. This is true on a national, state, and local level. As I review patient experience data, a small minority (typically <5-%-10%) provides negative feedback. Are there exceptions to this, absolutely. However, this is true of the vast majority of teams I interact with. Consequently, when framing the data in conversations with caregivers, it should never be "you need to do better ." The vast majority of patients share great feedback about the care they are receiving. They are grateful for the work of the various teams that many times restored their quality of life. Ensuring the data is framed correctly means saying, "ya'll are doing great stuff out there, you're providing great care, and our patients tell us that. Now, how do we look at the feedback and find the variation that is occurring and stop that?" Frame the data correctly!
Positioned:
One guaranteed way to get a team to disengage from any discussion around patient feedback is to position the data as a driving force of the work. The data isn't the driving force; it is the reflection of the work! No caregiver went to school to be in the 75th percentile. I know I didn't. Being in the 75th percentile doesn't drive anyone. Providing safe, high-quality, compassionate care that is patient-centered does. The data must be positioned correctly as being a reflection of the work, and this is one reason I hate having a data point as a “goal.” I refuse to say, "our goal is to be in the 95th percentile." No! Words matter, and there is a difference between a goal and a target. The goal is to provide safe, high-quality, compassionate care that is patient-centered. That is what can help to drive people and allow them to unit around a common purpose. The target may be the 90th percentile. The target shows if/how we are achieving our goal. Don't get your goal and target mixed up because it can shape how the data is positioned. Please make sure the data is positioned correctly as the reflection of the incredible work caregivers do everyday and resist any urge to use it as a driving force.
“Data shared with your teams must be framed and positioned correctly within the conversations”
In healthcare, we have the privilege of serving other people, caring for other human beings. We help them in their time of need, many times in some of the scariest times of their lives. Often, they will provide us feedback on how we did. They will provide feedback on how safe the care was, how we communicated, how compassionate we were. And the majority of this feedback is overwhelming positive. We owe it to those patients we have served to review their feedback and make appropriate changes based on that feedback. However, we must ensure that feedback is framed and positioned correctly in our conversations. Failure to do so will result in caregivers giving a collective "sigh" anytime PX is brought up which ultimately negatively impacts the patients entrusted in our care.
