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Growing up as one of five children in a small town in northern New Jersey, I met my first coach. Mr. Mott coached me and fifteen other ten-year-olds on our first softball team, The Bobby Sockers.  The coach had a lot to offer. He was kind and encouraging and supportive and, in the words of […]

As we strive to create patient experiences that always meet or exceed expectations, it’s important to recognize that sometimes we will disappoint or even anger the patients and family members we are called to serve. We can all relate to times we have felt upset by a service, restaurant, travel, or product experience. Chances are, […]

200,000 nurses graduating each year and yet only 45% are engaged in their work In the United States, we are training more nurses than ever, graduating just over 200,000 new nurses in 20141. Yet, the reality is that 23 percent of nurse turnover occurs in the first year2. Often, we lose these nurses not just […]

It has been incredibly rewarding to see this week’s patient experience celebrations across healthcare internationally and within the United States. During PX week, our Healthcare Experience Foundation team had the opportunity to collaborate and provide education and development to over 30 organizations across the country to improve the patient experience. One of the questions we […]

Healthcare organizations are pressed at every point of care to create an ‘always experience’ every time, for every patient. We face the necessity of continuous improvement in healthcare delivery. Patients are increasingly expecting higher levels of care and service. This type of care takes detailed integration across the entire system which forces organizations to seek […]

Too often, I have encountered leadership teams who were shocked or surprised to find out information that they wish they had known ahead of time. These instances share commonalities: Finding out after a negative safety event or near miss that a team member knew there was a problem but was afraid to speak up  Learning […]

“This is not my first hurricane”, I thought, as Florence was about to wreak havoc on Wilmington, NC, and our new home. I have been in North Carolina for 15 years and faced a number of hurricanes and tropical storms as a former hospital CEO, but this time, it was different. From being a leader during […]

Who among us has not looked at our own leadership ranks and said, “I think I’d like to give that a try”? As nurses, we may aspire to both clinical and leadership excellence. As we become clinically competent, we may feel a new calling, a curiosity, or even a longing to lead. We (or others) […]

In my role as a physician and physician champion, I have the opportunity to exchange stories with other doctors and with members of the executive team. Besides the connections we make through the typical sharing of referrals and the more formal rounding process of navigating and implementing a new EMR, I think the informal conversations […]

“High reliability has come of age.” So says Chuck Stokes, President and CEO of Houston’s Memorial Hermann Health System in a recent keynote for UAB’s National Symposium for Healthcare Executives. The implications of his statement are wide-ranging and deeply important in our evolving story of U.S. health and healthcare. We have begun to understand, in […]