New customer service program helps us “wow” ETMC guests

The culmination of a year’s worth of education, planning and hard work by a group of committed members of the ETMC team

The word “wow” usually represents a positive feeling, something we want our guests to express about the care they receive at ETMC. That’s why our healthcare system has adopted “ETMC WOW!” as the central theme for a new service excellence program.

A mission launch party to kick-off the program, which will involve in-depth customer service training for every employee; will be held on Thursday, July 31.

“The ETMC WOW! custom-designed program was developed by the enthusiastic men and women who make up our healthcare system,” said Elmer G. Ellis, ETMC president and chief executive officer. “The program will help the members of our team become even better at what they already do so well – care for people.”

A year's work
Bob Evans, senior vice president and ETMC Tyler administrator, said that ETMC WOW! is the culmination of a year’s worth of education, planning and hard work by a group of committed members of the ETMC team.  Evans said “We’re not implementing this program because there’s a problem with our current service. ETMC Tyler, for example, has historically scored well above average in patient satisfaction and has, at times, been among the leading hospitals nationwide in the Press Ganey survey.”

“As healthcare leaders, we must always be looking for ways to improve,” Evans said. He cited the increased scrutiny healthcare organizations are under today from
internet medical ratings and Medicare-related patient surveys that gauge a variety of factors, including guest satisfaction.

Service excellence studied
Carroll Rogé, corporate marketing director for ETMC, has been facilitating the work of the ETMC WOW! service excellence committee. Rogé researched extensively how hospitals and other organizations improve the way they interact with their guests.

Captain WOW will appear on internal ETMC materials to help encourage employees.

“When ETMC administration told me they wanted to look at ways to improve our service, the first step was to determine what the experts in customer service were saying we needed to consider.” Roge also attended the Disney Institute created especially for healthcare organizations. “Disney is well-known for their exceptional customer service and many of their business models can easily be applied to healthcare.”

The committee learned about a variety of approaches and then voted on the concepts they felt would be most helpful to improving service at ETMC. “When guests are happy, they’re better patients,” Rogé said. “They feel more assured and confident in their care.”

Deborah Walters, a committee member who works in nursing, said, “We want our staff fired up to say ‘Wow, I work at ETMC. We really care about our guests.’ And we want our guests to say ‘Wow, they really went above and beyond for me.’ So the WOW! theme seemed to be the perfect rallying cry for our program.”

The word “wow” reminded the members of comic book exclamations, like “pow!” and “bam!” So the group decided to use a superhero theme. “That’s really not that much of a stretch,” said Jacque Fowler, a committee member from volunteer services. “The employees who provide direct patient care are viewed as heroes. They take care of our guests. They save lives.”

ETMC will be known for its commitment to guest relations. As demonstrated by the service theme developed by the committee: “We treat our guests with compassionate care and exceptional service. WOW! That’s ETMC.”

All ETMC Tyler team members will attend special training over the next six months.
 “This is just the start,” Evans said. “We’re looking forward to seeing our team members get energized and create new ways to impress our guests. We want to make ‘WOW!’ our normal way of dealing with guests and synonymous with ETMC and our culture of care.”