The Emotional Support Task Force (ESTF), a group that includes representatives from nursing, care coordination, chaplaincy and nutritional support, has been working to address patient and family
concerns since 1998. Using patient satisfaction results from the Picker Survey, the Task Force has developed multiple strategies to improve care.
The ESTF began by defining emotional support and the accompanying behaviors. All staff nurses then met with a member of the ESTF to review the information and began to integrate the knowledge into their practice. The assessment tool for nursing now includes specific questions regarding this aspect of care. The recognition of staff who are experts in Emotional Support was achieved by the Starfish Award program.
In the final report from the Picker Survey, the Task Force saw a marked improvement in the scores regarding trust in nurses and their ability to answer patient and family concerns. BWH scores in these areas have improved by eight percent.
The ESTF has continued their work and will now be using the Press, Ganey Inc. survey, the newly implemented patient satisfaction tool at BWH, to measure the amount of emotional support incorporated by clinicians into the patient’s overall care.
—submitted by Judy Hayes, RN, MSN