UTMB’s outpatient clinics recently achieved a “statistically significant improvement” in overall patient satisfaction from Press Ganey, a national leader in health care benchmarking.

Casey Peterson, director of clinic operations, and Susan Tyler, director of ambulatory care nursing, attribute this success to the hard work of our employees and faculty.

Peterson and Tyler began working on a team approach to improve the overall patient experience using several programs that are focused on the patient such as the AIDET program designed to reduce patient anxiety and create compliance through incorporating five principles:  acknowledge, introduce, duration, explanation and thank you.

The clinic management and staff also began a program that uses frequent patient rounding to ensure that the patient needs are being met throughout their visit.

The initiatives were put in place in September 2009.

 “The UTMB clinic staff and faculty are great people. They are on the front lines working for the patient,” said Peterson.

 Although the reporting period recognized by Press Ganey was December 2009 through February 2010, the results represent a long-standing commitment on the part of faculty and clinical staff to create the ultimate patient experience.

“We want to continually improve the patient experience, so we ask each team member to remain focused, and exceed our patient’s expectations,” said Peterson.