Yet Another Study Linking Engagement & Patient Satisfaction

Yet another study reported by PR Newswire of the relationship between employee engagement and patient satisfaction:

“In the health care industry, as in other service-related businesses, having engaged, empowered, loyal employees can lead to increased retention, lower costs, enhanced reputation, and a profitable business picture,” said Forum President Michelle M. Smith, CPIM, CRP, vice president, business development, O.C. Tanner Company. “And now, we are finding that having satisfied employees leads to higher quality of patient care and overall better patient experiences.”

Some key findings from the study, found at www.performanceforum.org, include:

• Patients that have higher levels of satisfaction are most likely to recommend the hospital to others when they are treated by highly-satisfied employees. Word of mouth, more than any other source of marketing promotion, is a primary driver in patient care decisions.
• As the popularity of electronic testing and monitoring expands, health care employees, more than ever, need to exercise “the personal touch” in caring for patients.
• In addition to what health care workers do, emphasis needs to be placed on how employees feel about what they do. Patient experiences will not be good if employees are not happy.

It’s beyond my pay grade to sort out all the reform that we need in our health care system, but it’s above anybody’s pay grade to see the evidence that more engaged employees is one key factor to the success of our health care delivery model– more engaged employees leads to more satisfied, healthy patients.

Case closed.

Tags: Employee Engagement, Employee Satisfaction