Finance directors.
The time participants had spent in executive roles varied from a few months to 27 years; all except one had attended Schwartz Rounds and most had attended more than once. We conducted qualitative, semi-structured interviews face-to-face or by telephone; these were transcribed and the results anonymised, before the data was sent to be analysed thematically.
Findings
Most senior leaders made a point of attending Schwartz Rounds – either as participants or as panellists who share their story – to:
Show their support;
Set an example or role model.
Several described their attendance as sending a message to the organisation that Schwartz Rounds were important and valued by the senior team, and that members of staff were being listened to. Some of their comments are used in the following discussion.
Research summary
18 January, 2021
Organisations that provide good patient experience also perform well against other clinical and organisational measures. A study has found that frontline teams engage most with patient experience feedback when a range of professions and levels of seniority are involved
Abstract
Improving patient experience is a key part of quality improvement in the NHS; a lot of patient feedback is collected but not necessarily acted on. A study explored how frontline hospital ward teams engage with this data, finding that progress was generally greater when there was support from a central patient experience function and when the ward team comprised a range of professionals of different levels of seniority. This provides a wider range of skills, networks, ideas, resources and authority.