Labor & Delivery Pinpointing “Always”

How do you get patients to answer “always” on the Picker inpatient survey when they sometimes forget to even complete and return the questionnaire? Polly Hansen and her colleagues in Labor & Delivery at SMUCLA think they’ve pinpointed the answer.

Polly Hansen, R.N.

First, you wow patients with exceptional care, which Labor & Delivery has been doing for years, then you provide subtle hints by placing an “Always” pin next to your ID badge. A subliminal message? Perhaps, but Polly says the pins also serve as pointed reminders to staff to always do the right thing.

“Patients ask me, what does ‘always’ mean?” explains Polly, who’s been a nurse for 11 years, including the past three in Labor & Delivery. “I tell them that I always want to keep them informed, listen to their concerns and treat them with courtesy and respect.”

Polly and her co-workers have painstakingly made about 50 of the pins for Labor & Delivery staff to wear and they have become quite the conversation piece. The pins feature pink and blue beads with white letters threaded onto coil-less safety pins, to spell the magic word.

At first, the group tried using standard safety pins, but the pins would not accommodate the beads. Not a problem for sharp minds that always have the answer.