Cemplicity’s Customer Success team is tasked with building our collective understanding of what makes a great patient experience programme. They have the important role of identifying best-practice, both from secondary research and client activities, and sharing this insight across our client community. Our aim is to ensure our clients experience real impact from their work with us, improving patient experiences and outcomes, rather than just measuring them.

In this article, Talar Badelian from Genea, discusses her ‘Positivity Party’ newsletter, a fabulous example of patient experience feedback being used to build a positive culture for staff.

Genea, one of Australia’s most advanced fertility healthcare specialists, offers treatments and services that span across the whole fertility journey, with a focus on IVF. As Patient Experience Manager, Talar Badelian ensures the customer experience is the best it can be by identifying opportunities to drive improvement and enact change. To do this, a core part of what she does is listen to feedback.

“Understanding the patient experience doesn’t just mean looking at situations from the patient’s perspective, although that’s a huge part of it. I look for ways to optimize the patient experience by understanding all of the processes and interactions, including our own staff’s perspective, that lead to the patient’s moment of truth..”

The Positivity Party newsletter celebrates staff’s hard work by sharing wonderful feedback left by patients. Positive comments are pulled together regarding clinics, teams, or specific staff members. This newsletter is sent company-wide on a monthly basis, giving those from all levels of Genea better insight into the great job staff are doing on the ground.

The newsletter allows learnings and good practice to be shared, while building staff awareness of what their patients value.

“In last month’s newsletter, I included a patient’s comment that acknowledged how well the treatment plan was explained, and how they appreciated the inclusion of their partner in that conversation. Partner inclusion is an area we are working on, and this patient’s feedback showed just how valuable it is when we get it right.”

Badelian selects comments with intention. She purposely looks for comments that talk to specific aspects of care Genea is focusing on, so that the patient perspective is integral to driving strategic improvement.

Genea’s Positivity Party newsletter is broken down into various sections, including the following:

‘Shine bright like a diamond’ focuses on a particular members contribution to positive patient experience.

‘Teamwork makes the dream work’ brings forth examples of successful collaboration when providing care for patients.

‘Social hangout’ highlights posts left by patients on Genea’s social media platforms. Time constraints may lead to staff not checking this area for feedback and so this ensures these jewels aren’t lost.

Survey feedback through Genea’s continuous monitor is naturally heavily directed towards nursing staff, as these are the people patients interact with the most and nurses are also integral to many of the facets of experiences that are proven to matter most to patients.

However, Badelian makes a real effort to highlight feedback about other teams as well, incorporating commentary on social channels alongside the Cemplicity monitor. For example, Genea used social channels to celebrate World Embryologist Day and incorporated the positive feedback about the work of their embryology teams in the newsletter. Whilst Embryologists also have face-to-face interactions with patients, the majority of interactions are with the nursing team therefore celebrating their work through the patient’s eyes and own words is rewarding for the team.

The two-way link between positive patient experiences and a strong organisational culture is well understood. A good example of this is the gratitude staff express for recognition of their contribution; “I saw the feedback, I'm really flattered to have been recognised” and “Wow, to the many that are mentioned here, and to so many who perpetually give so much - a loud and resounding THANK YOU to you all!”

Badelian has also noticed an increase in comments that mention staff members' names. Coincidence? Or are staff mentioning the survey more to patients, letting them know how important their feedback is?

“Through the newsletter, we have been able to show appreciation for the wonderful work done by our staff. We have also seen an uplift in the internal profile of the patient experience and what it means to deliver an outstanding experience to patients.”

The Positivity Party Newsletter is published in Genea’s internal rewards and recognition platform called ‘Glow’, with the aim of creating a strong sense of community. The platform enables peer-to-peer recognition in the form of shoutouts, congratulating people on their work and the celebration of work anniversaries. Company communications on Glow include the sharing of fitness program initiatives, rewards, and discounts. At the heart of this platform is the sense of reward and recognition for staff.

Through feedback, Genea fosters a sense of celebration, learning from what patients are saying and what staff are doing. This beautifully demonstrates how patient experience programmes can be utilised to create a positive culture for both patients and staff.

To see Genea's Positivity Party newsletter, click the link below.

Make sure to check out and utilise our reporting templates for sharing feedback with your team!

Check out our positive stories template here.