In West Chester Hospital’s Emergency Department (ED), an initiative to create better patient experiences took a look inward—starting first with employee engagement.
Katie Schuler, RN, ED clinical coordinator, and Sanjay Shewakramani, MD, ED medical director, created the Emergency Department’s Celebrating and Advancing the Patient Experience (CAPE), an inclusive approach to transforming the journey for everyone who touches the department.
CAPE, guided by a 10-person committee, established a transparent environment where nurses, providers and staff celebrate improvements in patient satisfaction scores and are empowered to hold each other accountable.
The committee sets goals for attaining higher scores, rewarding staff each time they succeed—and then moving the goalpost higher each time. “We all work together, and we all should celebrate together,” Katie said.
The initiative has resulted in great success—scores have steadily climbed over a year period, topping out at their highest in three years. Verbal feedback has indicated staff engagement has improved, too.
“That shows when we take care of patients,” Katie said. “If we’re all working together to get the job done, then patients see that.”