Publication/Presentation Date
7-26-2013
Abstract
Overview:
Organizations, including hospitals, need a productive and engaged workforce now more than ever in this do-more-with-less economic climate. Research consistently shows that levels of employee engagement are fundamentally linked to the quality of customer service received by external stakeholders, including, in healthcare’s case, patients. An engaged employee is simultaneously satisfied, motivated, and effective. Essentially, an engaged employee is not only satisfied with their work, but also inspired, committed, and fascinated by it. Engaged employees are productive and also inherently reduce an organization’s employee turnover rate, increase customer satisfaction, and give their all to the organization as a whole.
In the healthcare environment, engagement is imperative to patient satisfaction, and therefore, success. Engaged employees within the healthcare setting can increase patient satisfaction, and hence can benefit the organization’s HCAHPS scores. The HCAHPS (Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems) Survey is the first national, standardized, publicly reported survey of patients' perspectives of hospital care. This 27 question survey asks patients questions about their recent stay at the hospital. The survey can be completed between 48 hours and 6 weeks after discharge, and focuses on: communication with nurses, response of hospital staff, communication with doctors, the hospital environment, pain management, communication about medicines, and discharge information. Quality performance on the HCAHPS is very important in the healthcare setting for two reasons. First, Healthcare organizations should strive for the betterment of the patient experience because it is the right thing to do, and second, because hospitals receive reimbursements based on performance.
Learning Objectives / Hypothesis:
The objective of this study is to explore whether or not there is a relationship between job engagement and HCAHPS scores.
Methods:
To carry out this learning objective, both the results from the employee survey that was completed in April of 2013 and an HCAHPS report from patients discharged in the month of April 2013 will be used. This strategy was used in an attempt to utilize the HCAHPS report from compared to see if there is any relationship between job engagement and HCHAPS scores.
Discussion & Conclusion:
The learning objective of this research was accomplished. Based on the data, there appears to be some form of a relationship between job engagement and HCAHPS. Departments with average job engagement above the hospital’s 3.4 threshold goal had an average HCAHPS score of 78.38%, while the average HCAHPS score was 69.96% for departments below the hospitals 3.4 threshold goal. While the data does support a relationship between job engagement and HCAHPS scores, there are several constraints within this exploration of data. There is a natural constraint within surveying, meaning some people will only respond if they had an awful or wonderful experience. The HCAHPS reports also lacked the sample size number, so departments with a low amount of respondents could skew the data, which also caused some outliers within the data. Other things that need to be considered when analyzing the data is the fact that one never proves to know hypothesis, and that the strength of the relationship is unknown; meaning that although there appears to be a relationship there is no way to draw a conclusion of the strength of the relationship.
References:
"Employee Engagement Drives Excellence." Health Care Registration: The Newsletter For Health Care Registration Professionals 20.12 (2011): 3-6. Health Business Elite. Web. 18 July 2013.
"HCAHPS - Hospita"HCAHPS - Hospital Survey." HCAHPS - Hospital Survey. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 July 2013.
Maylett, TracyNielsen, Julie. "There Is No Cookie-Cutter Approach To Engagement." T+D 66.4 (2012): 54-59. Health Business Elite. Web. 18 July 2013.
Owens, Katie. "The HCAHPS Imperative for Creating a Patient-Centered Experience." Baptist Leadership Group (2011): 1-38. Print
Rivera, Reynaldo, R., Joyce, J. Fitzpatrick, and Suzanne, M. Boyle. "Closing The RN Engagement Gap: Which Drivers Of Engagement Matter?." Journal Of Nursing Administration 41.6 (2011): 265- 272. CINAHL Plus with Full Text. Web.6 July 2013.
Sorenson, Susan. "How Employee Engagement Drives Growth." How Employee Engagement Drives Growth. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 July 2013.
Squazzo, Jessica D. "Creating A Culture Of Engagement." Healthcare Executive 26.6 (2011): 18. MEDLINE with Full Text. Web. 18 July 2013.
Published In/Presented At
Garon, K. (2013, July 26). Employee Engagement. Poster presented at: Research Day 2013, Lehigh Valley Health Network, Allentown, PA.
Department(s)
Research Scholars, Research Scholars - Posters
Document Type
Poster
Rights Information
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