SHM Converge Scientific Abstract ePoster Gallery-Closing the Listening Gap: Best Practices and Barriers in Patient-Provider Communication

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This project examined what makes patients feel “carefully listened to” by hospitalists and what prevents clinicians from consistently using those behaviors.<br /><br />The team used a two-phase approach. In Phase 1, they identified 12 actionable listening best practices by reviewing 239 HCAHPS patient comments, interviewing 52 medicine patients, surveying 15 former patients, and reviewing the literature. In Phase 2, they surveyed hospitalists with a barrier analysis tool to measure how often they used each best practice and what stopped them from doing so. “Doers” were clinicians who answered “Always,” while “non-doers” answered less frequently.<br /><br />Overall, providers generally understood the importance of the best practices, but implementation was limited mainly by time constraints and competing responsibilities. Two behaviors were especially difficult to perform consistently: explaining why technology is being used in front of the patient, and returning in the afternoon to provide updates. For the technology explanation behavior, 79% of hospitalists were non-doers; for afternoon updates, 95% were non-doers. The most commonly reported barriers for both were lack of time and competing duties.<br /><br />The study also highlights why this matters: patient experience scores strongly affect hospital reputation, rankings, and reimbursement, and patients consistently rate “listening to you” as highly important.<br /><br />The conclusion is that hospitalists know how to listen well, but systems-level barriers interfere with follow-through. Targeted interventions that reduce time pressure and competing responsibilities may improve provider listening behaviors and, in turn, patient experience.

Asset Subtitle

Kirsten T. Bolstad

Meta Tag

Author List Angela Keniston, Carlos Garcia Gonzalez, Hillary L. Western, Kirsten T. Bolstad

Category Research

Concept Patient Listening

Concept Clinician Communication

Concept Barrier Analysis

Concept Time Constraints

Concept Competing Priority

Distinguished Finalist

Presenter Organization University of Colorado School of Medicine

Presenting Author Kirsten T. Bolstad

Track Quality Improvement

Keywords

hospitalists

patient listening

patient experience

HCAHPS

barrier analysis

time constraints

competing responsibilities

best practices

technology explanation

afternoon updates

Patient Listening

Clinician Communication

Barrier Analysis

Time Constraints

Competing Priority