Our employees are the Patient Experience

This past week many of our Northwell Health facilities have been participating in national Patient Experience Week.  This annual event promotes how healthcare staff impacts patient experience every day and our employees are honored, recognized and re-inspired. Our 61,000 employees are dedicated to providing quality care with compassion. Patient Experience Week is one way Northwell extends its heartfelt appreciation and encourages continued efforts on behalf of patients and families. The Culture of C.A.R.E. which stands for Connectedness, Awareness, Respect and Empathy, is our promise to our patients and families. Storytelling is a powerful forum for hearing the “voice” of our patients and families and so, this week incredible patient stories were shared by reading letters aloud and watching video testimonials.

Across our organization, teams rallied around patient and family experience. Fun celebrations for our staff included recognition programs, red carpet events, photo booths, meditation sessions, smoothie bars, appreciation rounding by leaders, friendly competition activities, Culture of C.A.R.E. trivia, and team building activities. For our patients we had music performers, pet therapists, hand-written get well cards by staff and offerings of small gifts of appreciation upon discharge. Lastly, the organization went social. Using #PTEXP and #PXWeek, interdisciplinary teams across the organization posted to Facebook and Instagram, their Northwell Patient Experience pride!

At the end of the week, the Office of Patient & Corporate Experience hosted its first annual Culture of C.A.R.E. in Action Event on Friday, April 28th. It’s an experiential afternoon meant to inspire, challenge and lead patient experience influencers across our organization by sharing Northwell Health best practices. Kicked off by our Chief Experience Officer, Sven Gierlinger, and VP of Patient Experience, Aggie Barden, the event includes table top learning, academic posters and featured Ted-talk presentations. This year’s keynote speaker is Jason Wolf, President of the Beryl Institute which is the organization that started Patient Experience Week.

Happy Patient Experience Week from Northwell Health! Every Role, Every Person, Every Moment Matters.