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NEWS & FEATURES

Hospital To Integrate Hospitality Industry Standards Into Healthcare Setting

May 6,2002 - Winter Park, FL - Winter Park Memorial Hospital, a division of Florida Hospital, is joining forces with the University of Central Florida's Rosen School of Hospitality Management and College of Health & Public Affairs to help bring proven customer satisfaction practices from the hospitality industry to the hospital setting.

The study, which will be conducted this spring, will create a new service model for quality customer service in the healthcare setting which will be first implemented in the hospital's Orthopaedic Institute and later throughout the hospital and ultimately serve as a national model.

"We already have a nationally known Orthopedics program," said Kenneth W. Bradley, Senior Vice President and Hospital Administrator. "Our clinical outcomes are excellent, and we want to continue to make sure the patient and family experience is just as good. In addition, we'd like to understand the impact of patient satisfaction on clinical outcomes." Specifically, the UCF study will look at issues related to the patient experience, with the intention of developing new ways to manage them. Planned outcomes include:

1. A tangible definition of service quality leading to the development of a best practice model that can be replicated throughout the hospital.

2. Determination of specific outcomes for the new customer service model, and the most effective measurements over time.

3. The impact of patient perception on a positive hospital experience, such as:

• The value of coaching out perceptions and expectations of how the healthcare system "should" work - before and during the hostpial stay.


• Identifying expectations and/or "baggage" from other hospital experiences or those of friends and family.


• The potential impact of pre-hospital interviews and coaching before the hospital stay.


• Dispelling potential misunderstandings before they occur.


• Enhancing staff communication to patients around items delays in movement or procedures (Are patients afraid something is wrong?), delays in requests for clinical services (Does the patients think the nurse should come right away? And what does "right away" mean?), or delays in environmental services (Why is the room cold again?).

6. Increased and demonstrable employee satisfaction.

7. The impact of demonstrable employee satisfaction on the patient's perception of quality
care.

8. A paradigm shift (as necessary) within the employee culture:

• Scripting for difficult situations


• Recruitment of employees with the personality traits key to success.


• Enhanced employee training in problem-solving, conflict management, etc.

The study will be directed by Myron Fottler, PhD, who has an extensive hospitality industry background. The Florida Hospital Orthopaedic Institute at Winter Park Memorial Hospital is headed by Lee Johnson, Administrative Director.

Florida Hospital currently performs more than 5,500 orthopedic surgical cases annually, making it number one in the state of Florida for all orthopedic surgical cases. Additionally, it was recently selected as one of the top 10 hip-knee orthopaedic hospitals in the nation by AARP Modern Maturity Magazine.

Winter Park Memorial Hospital is a 334-bed, full-service facility that opened to the public in 1955. Florida Hospital fully acquired Winter Park Memorial in July 2000 and today operates it as a not-for-profit, community-based hospital.

For more information, please contact Florida Hospital Media Relations at 407/303-1917.