A Comprehensive Quality Improvement Approach to Better Patient Experience

Improving patient experience is an essential element of creating high-value care. Patient experience correlates with clinical outcomes and can help patients and their families build long-term trusting relationships with health care professionals and the institution as a whole. In this article, the authors describe a quality improvement approach to increasing patient experience scores within the Department of Family Medicine at Mayo Clinic in Arizona from January 2017 through December 2020. A comprehensive quality improvement strategy was developed to align with conceptual models in the literature and included constructs of clinician and staff engagement, a work environment of psychological safety, and an emphasis on immediate action combined with long-term, sustained progress. Patient experience was measured as the percentage of patients who gave a top box score (i.e., a score of 5 on a 5-point Likert scale) when asked about their likelihood to recommend the practice to others. Using a control chart, the authors analyzed quarterly top box scores and observed steady increases that were sustained over time. By engaging staff members and drawing on the strengths of the organization's culture and values, the effort contributed to an improved work unit and enhanced interactions with patients and among staff. Beyond the initial 4-year period, data through mid-2024 show patient satisfaction top box scores consistently exceeding the 90th percentile nationally.