Faculty and staff focus on specific improvements for service culture

“Show U Care,” the series of initiatives aimed at service culture improvements at UW Medical Center, Harborview Medical Center and UW Physicians Neighborhood Clinics, has made considerable progress since it was launched early this year.

“The exciting thing about this is the depth of involvement and commitment by the faculty, as well as management, to the service culture initiatives,” said Rob Muilenburg, UWMC executive director.

Counter cards, bearing the UW Academic Medical Center’s service commitment statement “We treat others as though we are guests in their lives,” have been placed throughout UWMC, Harborview and UW Physicians Neighborhood clinics.

Staff at both hospitals and all the neighborhood clinics have been surveyed about their views on what specific customer-service practices best embody the UW AMC. The survey results are now being analyzed and will be announced soon.

“We received a tremendous response,” said Tracey Gooding, assistant director for Institutional Planning and Regulatory Affairs at Harborview. “More than 1,800 surveys were returned, many of them with comments or suggestions.”

Key components of the program have been customer service initiatives in collaboration with the Department of Orthopaedics at the Harborview Orthopaedics Clinic and the UWMC Bone and Joint Center, as well as with neighborhood clinic referring physicians.

“Our goal has been to increase the satisfaction of our patients and referring physicians by 50 percent, and we are making progress toward that,” said Deborah Lum, quality research manager for UWMC.

In the Bone and Joint Center at UWMC-Roosevelt and the Orthopaedics Clinic at Harborview, two of the busiest clinics in the system, many customer service improvements have been implemented. These include revised booking practices, a white board at the front desk to let patients know about wait times, reminder calls to reduce no-shows, refreshments on busy clinic days, and even pagers to communicate between the front desk and back clinic.

“We are also making sure all our patients’ concerns are addressed before they leave the clinic,” Lum said. “We’ve seen a dramatic decrease in follow-up phone calls from patients.”

Neighborhood clinic referring physicians and the Department of Orthopaedics are working to improve the referral process and experience for physicians and patients. A new referral sheet has been introduced and “quick notes” are now sent to referring physicians updating them on the treatment of their patients.

The neighborhood clinics are also implementing a customer service improvement program, said Dr. Tom Norris, UWPN executive director and medical executive.

These improvements include extended hours in the evenings and on Saturdays, increased patient access to the network’s “Virtual Front Desk,” and added services, including specialists on-site at clinics.

The clinics have adopted a series of standards that ensure quality customer service, Norris said.

“The customer service goal is simple - we want to exceed the expectations of every person we serve,” he said.

Beginning later this year, units will be able to apply for one-time funds from the service culture endowment that they can use to implement model service-enhancing programs in their own areas. ¶

Craig Degginger