National Patient Experience Week

National Patient Experience Week is an annual recognition of health care staff who impact the patient experience every day. Inspired by the Beryl Institute community, Patient Experience (PX) Week allows organizations to highlight accomplishments, re-energize efforts and honor the teams that impact patient care in a positive way.

While PX Week is formally April 26 – April 30, 2021, given the current health care landscape, we encourage you to choose the most appropriate time for your department or practice to recognize PX Week, whether in April or later in 2021.

The ACR is pleased to provide suggestions, tools and resources to assist radiology department and practice leaders in implementing PX Week during 2021. You are all heroes, and we thank you for providing outstanding care to patients and families across the country.

The ideas and resources below are designed to celebrate your team's impact on patient experience, to provide opportunities to maintain and improve well-being, and to re-energize and enhance human connections between health care team members with the common goal of improving the patient experience.

Please contact us with questions or to discuss creative options for implementing PX Week within your department or practice.

Meg Samples (previously Nealis)
msamples@acr.org
703-716-7549

Linda Sample
linda@empowered-healthcare.com
303-335-8862

Radiology Department/Practice Ideas

  • As a team, commit to one daily activity for each day of PX Week. For suggestions and thought starters, see the Patient Experience Activities and Self-Care/Well-Being Activities below. Customize this template and post as a reminder of the daily challenges you have committed to during PX Week. See an example.
  • Identify two activities per day, such as one Patient Experience Activity and one Self-Care/Wellness activity.
  • Create a “shout out” board for staff to post notes recognizing colleagues throughout the week:
     “shout out” board for staff to post notes recognizing colleagues throughout the week “shout out” board for staff to post notes recognizing colleagues throughout the week 
  • As a team, create and post a Kindness Pledge. Customize this example and post within your practice or department.

Patient Experience Activities

  • Start introducing yourself to patients when you meet them by saying, “Hello, my name is _________. I am your _________ (indicate your role)." Watch a video about this activity:

  • Thank every patient for choosing your practice and thank at least five colleagues for all they do.
  • Make eye contact and greet each person you see today by name and say, “good morning,” “good afternoon” or “good evening.”
  • Ask at least one patient, “What can I do to help make this a good experience for you?” Then try to do it.
  • Create a “Wow!” moment for a patient.
  • Have the radiology team sign a personal thank you note to one patient each day of Patient Experience Week.
  • Review the RadiologyInfo.org website and provide each patient with information from RadiologyInfo.org.
  • Select a pertinent example from the resource Caring Messages Applicable During the COVID-19 Pandemic and customize it in your own authentic and caring way.
  • Conduct the following three activities with two patients:
    1. Sit when you talk with the patient.
    2. Give the patient your business card.
    3. “Care out loud” by consistently explaining to patients what you are doing and why. 
  • Access the Radiologist’s Toolkit for Patient- and Family-Centered Care and review the resources available for your specific practice environment to identify creative options to integrate patient-focused care into everyday practice.
  • Read a Patient Engagement Imaging 3.0 Case Study and discuss it with a colleague.
  • Select a patient case and walk through the case with your radiologic technologist.

Self-Care/Well-Being Activities

  • Take a “Self-Care Break” (e.g., walk outside; take 10 deep breaths; take a moment to smile).
  • Take a Mindfulness Moment using one of these apps:
    • See free mindfulness tools on the Calm App.
    • Reduce stress and anxiety with short mindfulness meditations on the Aura App (free version; premium version yearly subscription is $59.99).
  • Create a gratitude list.
  • Visit the ACR Well-Being Program and take the Well-Being Index (WBI) survey.

Celebration/Recognition Ideas

  • Kick-off day:
  • Hand out staff recognition certificates. See examples.
  • Give a thank you card or recognition certificate with a gift or gift card to each member of the practice or department.
  • Purchase PX items from the Beryl Institute.
  • Leadership: Conduct a daily person-to-person moment of gratitude or recognition with a team member, thanking him or her for something they did recently, preferably that day, and why it made a difference for patients or team members. When possible, provide feedback in front of other team members.
  • Shout Out From the Patient: Write a thank you card and attach it to each patient’s chart. On the card, include all team member roles that might interact with the patient. Each team member who has a face-to-face interaction with the patient writes his or her name on the card next to their respective role. At the end of the visit, the patient leaves with the card, which also includes contact information for the office should the patient want to provide feedback or recognize staff members by name. See example.