The 2017 Patient Experience Summit: Empathy and Innovation was held May 22-24 in Cleveland. Hosted by Cleveland Clinic, the interprofessional conference offered insights into designing programs, services, spaces and processes inspired by empathy to deliver the best care for patients and families.
“The summit provided invaluable opportunities to network with colleagues from all over the world, sharing experiences and learning from one another,” says Cindy Urbancic, MBA, BSN, RN, Senior Director of Global Patient Services at Cleveland Clinic and a member of the Patient Experience Summit planning committee. “I was inspired by many of the speakers reinforcing the important role each of us plays throughout a patient’s journey.”
Several sessions were geared toward nurses, including the following:
- Family Visitation Matters – Myra Cook, MSN, RN, ACNC-BC, CCRN-CSC, a clinical nurse specialist at Cleveland Clinic, and two professionals from the healthcare systems’ Child Life Services shared strategies and lessons learned in developing the Children of Adult Patients (CoAP) program to support patients and families with children in the ICU. The session featured an in-depth discussion on how to prepare children for ICU visitation and offer support during terminal diagnoses or the death of a parent or loved one.
- Design and Implementation of Technology at the Bedside – Teresa Brasac, PhD, ARNP, Vice President of Clinical Informatics at Hill-Rom, led attendees through the development of a technology roadmap for organizational initiatives related to the patient experience. She incorporated ideas on how to engage nurses early in the process of technology implementation to ensure adoption. Then the group utilized a spreadsheet and formulas provided by Brasac to work through an example implementation of the adoption of new nurse call light technology.
- Book Shelf Gotta Haves – Mary Beth Modic, DNP, APRN, CNS, a clinical nurse specialist at Cleveland Clinic and an avid reader, shared a list of 15 books she recommends for nurses. “We are compelled as healthcare givers to be knowledgeable, to be informed, to be inspired and to always be empathic,” said Dr. Modic. Reading a variety of books can help nurses do all four. Some of the wide variety of books that she encouraged the audience to read were “The Art of Empathy” by Karen McLaren, “Five Days at Memorial” by Sheri Fink, “Blind Spot” by Mahzarin Benaji and “See Me as a Person” by May Koloroutis.
- From Concrete to Compassion – A team of hospital leaders, including Mary Sauer, MBS, BSN, RN, NEA-BC, shared the story of how the new Cleveland Clinic Avon Hospital grew from a design on paper to an operational 126-bed acute care hospital. “We needed to not only build a building, but we needed to build a culture. And we needed to get a blueprint in place to help us do that,” said Sauer, CNO and Vice President of Patient Care Services at Avon Hospital. “We wanted a culture that gave us collaboration and consensus.” Sauer and the other presenters discussed strategies for creating that culture, from relocating the early onboarding leaders to a double-wide trailer on the construction site so they could bounce ideas off one another, to holding town hall meetings with stakeholders ranging from caregivers to community residents to gather their input.
- Disasters – the Cleveland Clinic Way – A team of caregivers, including four nurses, talked about how Cleveland Clinic prepares for large events and potential emergencies. Last year provided several opportunities for the healthcare system to assess its emergency plans, including a local Ebola scare, the championship parade for the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Republican National Convention (RNC). “This unique set of circumstances allowed us to look at how we thought about and planned for emergency disaster events,” said Sheila Miller, DNP, MBA, RN, NEA-BC, Chief Nursing Officer and COO of Cleveland Clinic South Pointe Hospital. “We were well-versed in disaster planning, managing through typical disaster situations such as phone and power outages and even an occasional minor flood. But [the events in 2016] helped us plan differently and design a reliable approach to those situations.” Dr. Miller and her peers shared details on multidisciplinary planning for the RNC and other events.
- Nurturing the Future of Nursing Practice – Clinical nurses at Cleveland Clinic have the opportunity to participate in LEAD, an interactive nursing leadership empowerment program. K. Kelly Hancock, DNP, RN, NE-BC, Executive CNO at Cleveland Clinic, and several other nurse leaders explained how LEAD orients nurses to leadership positions, introduces ways nurses can include elements of leadership in day-to-day care, addresses barriers to nurse leadership, and captures nurses’ voices on leadership through personal storytelling about experiences with patients and families.
Attendees at the Patient Experience Summit walked away with ideas for developing their careers, avoiding burnout and implementing best practices – all with the goal of creating great patient experiences.
“This was a very proud moment for nursing as Kelly Hancock, Executive CNO at Cleveland Clinic and co-chair of the conference, really helped guide much of the dialogue around putting patients first and celebrating our caregivers for what they do every day,” says Nelita Iuppa, DNP, MS, BSN, RN-BC, NEA-BC, FHIMSS, ACNO of Informatics at Cleveland Clinic and a member of the Patient Experience Summit planning committee. “You couldn’t help but leave the conference with a strong sense of both nursing and Cleveland Clinic pride.”
