How can I engage my practice team in a QI project to enhance patient experience and satisfaction?

Engaging your practice team in a quality improvement project to enhance patient experience and satisfaction involves several key steps:

• Involve the whole team early: Engage multiprofessional team members from different disciplines to contribute diverse perspectives and share decision-making, ensuring a collaborative approach to improving patient care ¹.
• Focus on personalised care and shared decision making: Encourage the team to adopt personalised care and support planning, actively involving patients in decisions about their treatment and care options to improve satisfaction ¹.
• Train and support staff in communication skills: Ensure all team members are competent in communication, including adapting to patients’ needs such as those with hearing loss, to create a more inclusive and positive patient experience ².
• Gather and use patient feedback: Promote a culture where patients, including children, young people, and those with disabilities, are encouraged to provide feedback on services, and ensure the team reviews and acts on this feedback to drive improvements ²,³,⁴.
• Address barriers to involvement: Identify and mitigate practical barriers for both patients and staff, such as timing, language, or accessibility issues, to facilitate meaningful participation in the improvement process ³.
• Share progress and outcomes: Regularly communicate how patient input has shaped service changes to motivate the team and demonstrate the impact of their efforts ³.