The Patient Experience: Perspectives on quality care and an introduction to Design Thinking

This month, instead of critically appraising complex, mind-bending articles, we are going to take a qualitative look at the ED ‘patient experience’ and the components of that experience. That stated, it is impossible to separate the concept of patient experience from the health and well-being of the staff and our experience working in a system that is resistant to change and predisposes to burnout. A review of the literature was cause for some eye-rolling with articles on ED Yelp ratings (including our own) and clearly imperfect articles regarding how resident’s fare better than their Attendings’ on Press Ganey scores. On the other hand, I also found some brilliance for everyone to review. First, an amazing feat by Ahluwaliawho got permission from Dr. Seuss Enterprises to publish his poem “If I ran the ED (with apologies to Dr. Seuss). It’s a must read. Two other’s that will sustain your smile thereafter includes Dear Potential Patient by Cadogen and a brilliant address by Dubinsky to the Canadian Emergency Residents Association, The Future of Emergency Medicine. We will also introduce the concept of Design Thinking and present an example of its application in an ED setting. It is an incredible field and hopefully there will be some who can share their experiences. I found this TED talk from Dr. Kelly very informative. Our goal is to have an expansive discussion so please, come prepared to offer up your perspective.

Geers JM et al, Characterization of emergency department abandonment using a real-time location system. Am J Emerg Med. 2019 Jun 15. 

 Graham B, et al., 'They do not care how much you know until they know how much you care': a qualitative meta-synthesis of patient experience in the emergency department Emerg Med J. 2019 Jun;36(6):355-363. 

Feuerwerker S et al., Improving Patient Satisfaction by Using Design Thinking: Patient Advocate Role in the Emergency Department. Cureus. 2019 Jan 12;11(1)

Ahluwalia N., If I ran the ED (with apologies to Dr. Seuss): Canadian Journal of Emergency Medicine. 11:394-394. 2009

Dubinsky I, “The Future of Emergency Medicine” Inaugural address to the First Canadian EM Residents Workshop” Canadian Journal of Emergency Medicine. 21 May 2015, pp. 262-264