Follow the Improving Health Care Blog

Hospitals, doctors’ offices and ambulatory care facilities typically take a traditional approach to improving patient satisfaction, focusing almost solely on communication strategies. From our research, we know that certain behavior modification strategies create provider-patient interactions that demonstrate respect, create a feeling of safety and security, and help patients feel the provider spent sufficient time addressing their concerns. Techniques such as addressing patients with formal titles (e.g., “Mr. Smith” or Mrs. Jones,” rather than “honey” or ...

Dear Lorna:

I’m sure you don’t remember me. You also likely don’t remember my mom, whom you prepped for aortic valve replacement surgery at North Shore-LIJ Manhasset Campus five years ago. But I remember you. I talk about you all the time in national presentations as well as internal staff education workshops. You came to work that day and treated us the way you likely treat the rest of your patients, but I wonder if ...

What is it about our society that we can’t seem to talk about end-of-life care? With more than a decade’s experience as a professional serving the hospice industry, I am continually struck by the lack of dialogue about how to care for the terminally ill. Just recently, I saw a letter to the editor in USA Today about an article on palliative care. “Sounds to me like it is a vague system set up by ...

All good sociology is done in bars. At least that is what my first mentor told me, and to this day it seems to hold true. My mentor’s rationale for stating this went back to the writings of a 14th century friar, William of Ockham, who wrote “Plurality must never be posited without necessity,” which has come to be known as the principle of Ockham’s Razor. Although this sounds like something that requires hours of ...