Since May of last year, frontline team members at Mississippi Baptist Medical Center (MBMC) have been hearing the good things patients were sharing about their service during discharge calls.
MBMC nurses and physicians, as well as staff from respiratory, dietary, nuclear medicine and environmental services, have received monthly Happie recognition from the Volunteer Services and Patient Experience Department.
A Happie is a note sharing the praise received from a patient, plus candy and a $5 meal voucher for the cafeteria. The idea for the recognition came from Director of Volunteer Services/Gift Shop Kimberly Dear. “Kimberly has done a lot of service in the community, and she’s always looking for ways to make our patient experience better,” said Director of Service Excellence Bobbi Ford.
Office Coordinator for Volunteer Services Randy Yates took over the Happie recognition project and made it happen. He received permission to access Patient Call Manager (PCM) data, and he searches the discharge calls each month for patient recognition of staff for their outstanding service. Randy coordinates making sure those team members receive their Happie, delivered by unit or nursing leaders.
All inpatients receive a discharge call from a nurse within 24 to 48 hours of discharge. “The goal of making a discharge call is to try to prevent readmissions, but also find out from the voice of our patients and families what did go well and what we can do better. On that discharge script, there is a question: Is there anyone you would like to recognize? Multiple times, individuals were named. And this shows when you’ve really made a memory, you’ve connected with a patient,” noted Bobbi.
“Kimberly and Randy and I met and decided that this recognition for team members would be a boost and would help engagement. It would help morale. It would also highlight what was working well and hopefully get more of that.”
