Leading Improvement of Patient Satisfaction and Clinical Outcomes - Essay Example

"Leading Improvement of Patient Satisfaction and Clinical Outcomes" is a delightful example of a paper on the health system.
The health status of a community or society depends on the quality of care offered by available health care institutions. One of the ways to improve quality care within the health sector is by comparing or benchmarking outcomes. This paper offers a brief description of the Lima Memorial Health System as well as the outcome, including indications of the needed improvement. This paper also provides a short persuasive statement demonstrating how I would motivate a nurse at the point of care to provide service that improves the selected outcome. 

Lima Memorial Health System is a health institution located in Bellefontaine Avenue in Lima, Ohio. This health institution provides services such as emergency care services and acute care. The institution has also adopted electronic systems to transmit and share lab results, tests, as well as referrals. On the basis of data by the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (n.d), there are a number of outcomes that indicate the need for improvements. A good example of an outcome is Lima Memorial Health System has improved satisfaction with care. Patient satisfaction within health care services can be achieved through effective communication between all the health care practitioners and the patients. Data presented by the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (n.d) shows that the percentage of patients who reported effective communication between themselves, nurses, and physicians is below the Ohio average and also below the national average. For instance, 74% of patients stated that physicians or doctors constantly communicated well. This value is below the national average of 82% and below the Ohio average of 80% (U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, n.d). Therefore, there is a need for improved communication in order to attain the National average and this will subsequently lead to improvements in terms of patients' satisfaction with their services.   

Results from a study conducted by Otani et-al (2009) showed that "Staff care is the most influential attribute to patients in rating their overall hospital experience as 'excellent', with nursing care coming in as the second most influential" (p. 100). This shows that there is a need for health care managers to motivate nurses at the front line to provide service that improves patient satisfaction. As a nursing manager, I would motivate nurses by introducing training programs (Otani et-al, 2009) aimed at supplementing their skills and knowledge in relation to communication and building constructive relationships with the patients. Effectively skilled and knowledgeable nurses are confident in their work and hence are more likely to provide services that would satisfy patients. 

I would also ensure encourage doctors or physicians to demonstrate openly that they trust the disease evaluation skills of the nurses, and that they respect their contributions in relation to patients' care (Pick, 2012). This is important as it helps nurses feel like part of the team hence they feel motivated in their work. I would also divide nurses into groups handling specific cases in order to encourage them to collaborate and work in teams (Bohmer, 2010). Teamwork and collaboration have been proved in the past to motivate workers as a team gives them a platform to share and as well brainstorm on various issues. In a nutshell, patient satisfaction can be achieved through boosting communication among patients, nurses, and doctors. Nurses can be motivated to provide services that satisfy patients through regular training to improve their skills, showing them that their contributions are respected, and also through encouraging them to collaborate with others and work as a team.