Month: August 2017

nurse helping patient feel better graphic from stamp & chase

What We Can Learn from Truly Gifted Listeners

How many people have you encountered in your life who are truly gifted listeners? When I asked myself this question recently, I was honestly surprised with how short my list was. For me, this reflection was prompted by a conversation I had a couple of weeks ago with my best friend from high school, David Grimm. His mom and dad were like second parents to me, and I deeply miss the conversations I had with his dad, who died a few years ago. David captured exactly why conversations with his dad were so gratifying. “When Dad talked to you, you were the only other person in the world and nothing was more important than what you were saying in that moment,” he reflected. “It really

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Patient Experience in Healthcare

Why Real Empathy Has to Start with Real Listening

Visiting with patients during rounds is one of the things I love most about my work with health care providers across the country. I remember conversations with patients that cover the range of emotions – uplifting, sad, funny, disheartening, frustrating … and almost always humbling. But it is a conversation with a paraplegic patient at a HealthSouth acute rehabilitation hospital a few years ago that I still reflect on often because of the important lesson it taught me. The nurse manager for the unit explained that Mr. Jones (not his real name) was a frequent patient at HealthSouth and would appreciate a visit. I walked into the room and did everything by the book, just like I’ve explained hundreds of times to thousands of caregivers in

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stamp & chase my team app on iphone

Five Ways to Keep Goal Achievement On Track

Part 6 in our Series: A Smarter Approach to S.M.A.R.T. Goals In our six-part series, A Smarter Approach to S.M.A.R.T. Goals, our first five posts have focused primarily on the front end of the goal setting process. Making sure your goals are specific enough to change behavior, meaningful so they engage the team, agreed-upon for shared success, and realistic enough to be achievable is a great start. Now you have to effectively implement. The final element of our model, “T,” stands for tracked and addresses how the implementation plan and monitoring of results are critical to success.How often are well-stated organizational goals developed and distributed at the start of a new year – then barely addressed by individual teams until 12 months later when we

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