A single sunset viewed from two locations, 1.5 miles apart.
Sunset near the mouth of the Pawcatuck River in Avondale, Westerly, R.I., shot on November 30, 2013.
Sunset and clouds reflect on Little Narragansett Bay in Watch Hill, Westerly, R.I., shot on November 30, 2013.
In health care, there is almost no hotter topic than "engagement v. experience" — as in patient engagement and patient experience.
It's turning into an epic "which comes first" discussion.
A recent blog post by Frank Hone, Chief Engagement Officer at employee health and well-being consultancy Healthcentric Partners, makes a case for what makes a great CEO (as in Chief Engagement Officer).
The role would incorporate aspects of business discipline, strategic process and consumer marketing. … It has to embrace the process of behavior change, disrupt inertia and reinforce healthy habits.
Hone maps out seven key ingredients to an effective "CEO" (the engagement kind) — from strategic intent to targeted messaging to measurement to continuous improvement. All of these are right on, and in the right order (please see Frank's blog for more).
The real question is engagement or experience — which is the end goal?
Both, of course.
Except that patient engagement is a means toward improving the overall patient experience.
As health systems gravitate toward meeting the Triple Aim, two of the legs — quality and cost — have received most of the attention and resources. Only recently has patient experience been a central focus, but mostly around raising HCAPS scores.
And therein lies the problem — HCAPS scores do not tell the whole patient experience story. And by "teaching to the test," health systems are missing the biggest opportunities to reinvent and reimagine the patient experience placing patients and families at the center of the equation.
Engaged patients — and the patients' families! — are vital to an improved patient experience. Engagement comes in many flavors, but ultimately it must be a partnership between caregiver, patient and the patient's own support system.
So let's add another E and create a true CEEO — Chief Engagement & Experience Officer — who can be the driver, facilitator and champion of this cause.
Cough, common cold and sore throat are going around in Boston.
And I'm heading there today.
Thanks to the Sickweather app for iPhone, I can get a glimpse of what ailments are spreading through my area.
Just as Doppler radar scans the skies for indicators of bad weather, Sickweather scans social networks for indicators of illness, allowing you to check for the chance of sickness as easily as you can check for the chance of rain.
You can tweak preferences within Sickweather to notify you when certain illnesses are prevalent — from allergies and asthma to strep throat and whooping cough. As Sickweather says, "don't worry, be healthy."
So, for my trip to Boston today, I'll be packing the Purell!
Zach Parise says it's the chocolate milk.
And so do women ski jumpers.
Just cute. And effective.
New pro bono work from TBWA\Chiat\Day in Los Angeles for Best Friends Animal Society uses adopted pets who have become Instagram "celebs" to promote pet adoption.
This campaign smartly integrates crowdsourced images into video and online to tell compelling and heartwarming stories of love and companionship.
Health care has great stories, too, and our patients are eager to tell them!
Source: Adweek
Jim Rattray is an award-winning creative professional who has worked extensively in health care, education, corporations and journalism and speaks to marketing and PR audiences on using new tools for public relations, marketing, branding and patient engagement.
The banner photo is of Half Dome in Yosemite National Park in California. It was taken at sunset from Glacier Point on October 1, 2012.
Follow my writing and that of others in the Patient Engagement arena on EngagingPatients.org.
