Effect of a face sheet tool on medical team provider identification and family satisfaction

Abstract

Resident duty hour restrictions may expose families to more trainees during hospitalization and hinder recognition of medical team members. This may negatively impact family satisfaction. Our study sought to determine the effects of a face sheet tool on families' identification and satisfaction rating of the medical team. One of 2 general pediatric units at a large academic center was assigned to intervention; the other served as the concurrent control. Families on the intervention unit were given a face sheet tool with medical team members' photos and role descriptions. Upon discharge, caregivers matched names, photos, and roles to providers they encountered, answered a 10‐question satisfaction survey, and answered an overall hospital experience satisfaction question. Caregivers encountered a median of 8 (range, 3–14) medical team members. Caregivers in the intervention group were more likely to correctly identify providers by name (median correct, 25% vs 11% for controls; P < 0.01) and provider roles (median correct, 50% vs 25%; P < 0.01). No significant difference was noted between groups for overall satisfaction. A face sheet tool helped caregivers identify their child's care providers' names and roles, although identification remained poor. Journal of Hospital Medicine 2014;9:186–188. © 2013 Society of Hospital Medicine.

Who’s My Doctor? Using an Electronic Tool to Improve Team Member Identification on an Inpatient Pediatrics Team

“…Importantly, despite the relatively few correct responses during Phase 1, almost all subjects in both phases reported that identification impacted not only their communication with the TTM, but also trust and satisfaction. Although some previous studies have used similar tools in paper, album, card, or whiteboard format and tested recall ability after tool exposure, 13,15,22 other studies have not limited tool use and have shown positive results in subjects' ability to correctly identify their physicians.…”

“…3,11,13,15 Based on previaous studies, we estimated that our baseline level of attending identification (in Phase 1) would be 20%. To detect a 25% difference in proportions with an a of 0.05 and power of 0.8, we calculated that we needed to enroll 60 subjects in each group.…”

“…10 Although there are many studies showing improvement in TTM identification with use of paper solutions such as cards/ handouts with names and photos, these print solutions may not adequately accomplish the goal of a real-time, responsive system. [11][12][13][14][15] They must be printed often due to the frequent TTM changes in teaching hospitals and require physical placement in a specific location. This process can become cumbersome and has many potential failure points.…”

Faces of all clinically engaged staff: a quality improvement project that enhances the hospitalised patient experience

“…Patients were given a sheet of photographs and were instructed to identify faces of providers they recognised and then match the photographs with a list of names and roles provided. This format is similar to the photo match up tools used in analogous research studies …”

“…Recognition of these failures in practicing “etiquette‐based medicine” has spawned a wide range of efforts to enhance patient–physician interaction and the patient experience . Improving patient recognition and identification of healthcare workers through the use of personalised business cards or sheets with provider photographs is a feature common to many of these efforts .…”