Organization
• Allied Physicians, Inc., a large medical practice with 35 physicians in a broad range of specialties
• Client: Meredith Gray, Practice Director (a physician who also manages the practice)
• Presenting problem, from the client: “teach our physicians appropriate bedside manner”
The Presenting Problem (client interview)
• The client sees a serious need to improve the “bedside manner” of the physicians in the practice, and wants training to teach them bedside manner skills.
• This problem has been building for a few years. Patient satisfaction survey results have been gradually declining over time and Dr. Gray has decided to deal with it now.
• Patient survey responses indicate extremely positive reactions to the physicians’ technical expertise, and extremely negative responses to how physicians treated them and their family members.
• Dr. Gray has also conducted some informal research and believes that a significant number of patients who have had a bad experience choose not to return to the physician and practice.
• It is clear to the client that dissatisfied patients and non-returning patients are directly related to declining revenue.
• Behaviors that physicians display that are unacceptable include:
o Impatience
o Use of jargon that the patient and family members don’t understand
o Harsh tone of voice
o Talking to the family members instead of to the patient (i.e., talking about the patient as if he/she isn’t there)
o Lack of empathy
• Behaviors that encompass good “bedside manner” include:
o Warm tone of voice
o Physical touch
o Patience
o Explaining things clearly and simply
• To Dr. Gray’s knowledge, all of the physicians received “bedside manner” training in medical school, within the last 15 years.
• Physicians know that their responsibilities include effective bedside manner.
• Physicians are compensated with salaries.
• Other indicators provided by Dr. Gray include:
o She has been in her position for 6 months, and was a physician in the practice prior to that. She took the Practice Manager position ostensibly for the good of the physicians and employees.
o She believes that the (all male) physicians are not aware of this problem and not open to feedback, and attributes this condition to “arrogance.”
ASSIGNMENT
As you know, the accuracy of your Analysis will rely partly on the quality of the data that you collect. Your purpose is to augment the information presented by the client, and to take a deeper dive into the areas you have decided to focus on.
Produce a Data Collection Plan for this project. You may use your own format. You may assume that you can have access to any information you need. Include in your Plan the categories from the template:
1. Question/what data needed
2. Include your rationale for your question/data need
3. Data source(s)
4. Potential data collection method(s)
5. Final choice: data collection method (you may make necessary logistics assumptions to make this decision)
Develop at least two questions (“data needed”) for each the following performance analysis needs:
• Organizational results performance
• Human results performance
• Human behavior performance
Your Plan will include a minimum of 6 items.
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