Studer Group: anybody dealt with them?

LHJ_RN · Mar 1, 2006

The hospital I work for (large university hosp) has been working with them for maybe the last 18months? Anyway, I feel it was a huge watse o' cash for them to come in and tell us what should be common sense. Dress appropriately, great cust svc, etc, etc. Yeah, we are using them to increase our pt satisfaction scores, funny- but since we started with them I don't see a whole lot of improvement. Maybe its just too soon. Good luck though.

tresamigo · Jan 13, 2008

My employer hired the Studer Group as consultants. There was a town hall meeting with the CEO who explained the group would not be paid anything, until positive results are obtained. Management has attended several two day seminars, at an expensive local resort.

Thus far employees are instructed to do the following:

1. Tell patients how long the employee has been working at the hospital as it makes patients feel better.

2. Mention to patients they receive "very good care" frequently.

3. Encourage patients to fill out surveys if they feel they have received "very good care"

4.Answer the phone properly, 'this is ------hospital,-------department, -----speaking, "How May I Help You?" even if it's an in house call and someone you just paged.

5. Use AIDET.....an acronym for something I already do.

The value of the surveys: improvement is judged by the # of positive surveys that are returned. If the percentage reaches the goal, the consultants get paid. Allegedly.

When researching the Studer Group, I read the founder, Quint Studer, has written books on management etc (google the name and links come up)

The company has a PR firm, Levinson and Brinker. He also has a music CD, where he and others wrote the lyrics. No burning urge to explore that.

I plan to purchase his book for the heck of it. Deep down, I have a feeling this is more about hospital financials, than patient care.

Can't find anything on-line about profits, so it must be a private company.

sp chk.

mwboswell · Jul 11, 2009

I just wanted to post here to "revive" this thread to generate more discussion....

Question: does anyone have experience whereby a facility or management team decided to 'go it' on their own and NOT hire a consulting firm and implement their own in-house program for this?

I know the costs can be overwhelming (so I am told) and I thought if someone had a methodology that worked as well, did their facility use this?

Thanks in advance for any info sharing!

tresamigo · Jul 11, 2009

None.

Just substitute hospital, for "product".

My suggestion: skip the program fees, buy the book. "Hardwiring Excellance", or "Results That Last", by Quint Studer. Don't bother with "What's Right In Healthcare" as it's feel-good stories, and I'm sure nurses have their own.

My question has been, Why does it take a consultant, to respond to patient complaints or conduct surveys, which give feedback on hospital experiences? All it takes, is acting on information/complaints, that can be obtained by the organizations themselves.

Actually, the Studer Group could use a little competition. Anyone up for starting their own consulting firm? Use the same principles, different terminology, and you don't even have to write a book!

husker_rn, RN · Jul 11, 2009

Don't think I have but some of the above mention things I 've heard. My CEO wants us to remember we are a service industry but hates scripted responses. We have been the facility with the best surveys within the company. Why ?? We have excellent staffing ratios which allows us to do what we do well. Maybe we need to cut out all consultants and staff better...of course we all already know this. But I guess when you start up the ranks, common sense flies out the window.

Wade21, ADN, RN · Sep 9, 2009

The hospital where I work will start a "Rounding with Purpose" program later this month. We are assured that this will improve pt. care, less call lights, and better pt. satisfaction, plus, give the nurses more time to do our paperwork. Is this the Studer Group? Does the hospital think this will really work?

JRD2002 · Sep 9, 2009

My hospital has hired the Studer group for the past 2+ years and instituted rounding probably about 8 months ago. There are negative and positive aspects of the Studer group in my eyes. They are really big on explaing the plan of care and any testing or procedures as to help alleviate anxiety, which is great since I think there were quite a few nurses...myself included...that didn't really explain what was going to happen until right before. In my opinion the customer service aspect is a little too over the top. If a patient experiences any delay of care during their hospital we are to apologize and then if they are still upset we can give them a gift which include gas cards, movie tickets, and meal vouchers just to name a few. They also want you to thank the patient for choosing your hospital. I am not sure why I have such a problem doing this...maybe it's because it sounds so preprogrammed and fake...or maybe it's because half our patients rarely thank us for what we do. Overall I do think they have a positive impact on patient perceptions.

As for rounding I do think it cuts down on call lights, decreases falls, and improves overall paitent satisfaction but so does asking "Can I get you anything else?"...which I think a lot of nurses fail to realize.

diane227, LPN, RN · Sep 17, 2009

Yes. Hospitals who have used that model have had very positive outcomes. You should read about Quint Studer. He is quite a guy. He has taken numerous hospitals and turned them around. He knows how to walk the talk. And he is not a cut and slash guy. He believes that if staff is happy, patients will be happy. We are just starting to use his model at our hospital (we have new leadership) and you can already tell the difference.

mwboswell · Sep 17, 2009

Diane,

YOu say that if the "staff is happy, patients will be happy"...what things have been implemented to make the staff happy?