Enhancing Peer Customer Assessment (PCA) Rounds

Peer Customer Assessment (PCA) rounds have been widely implemented as a best practice in healthcare to foster direct dialogue between leadership, staff, and patients to advance the patient experience and organizational performance. However, with increased leadership participation, the rounds have become less effective. Three alternative activities are proposed to align with PCA’s intent to continue the objectives of PCA rounds more efficiently: Enhancing Peer Customer Assessment (PCA) Rounds.

Suggested Alternative Activities

Virtual Leadership Rounds (VLRs)

Virtual Leadership Rounds (VLRs) are a formal process for leadership to engage with patients and staff virtually through secure video conferencing. Virtual visits allow leadership to address concerns, observe staff interactions, and provide immediate feedback (Efimov et al., 2024). These virtual visits are important in removing logistic barriers without necessarily sacrificing leadership presence.

Targeted Leadership Shadowing

This activity involves leadership members being deployed to units to shadow staff during shifts. Direct observation gives leaders first-hand experience of workflow problems, patient interactions, and process improvement opportunities. Through this activity, staff relations are enhanced, and morale is improved; therefore, patient-centered care initiatives are fostered.

Patient and Staff Digital Feedback Portals

Patient and Staff Digital Feedback Portals are important activities that offer a structured way for patients and staff to give real-time feedback through an online portal. The portals utilize surveys, open-text feedback, and follow-up mechanisms, therefore closing the loop on issues in a timely fashion. Continuous feedback is, however, crucial in allowing the leadership to track trends and make evidence-based improvements in patient care and staff satisfaction (Enticott et al., 2021).

Rationale for Alternative Activities

The alternatives suggested maintain the underlying objectives of PCA rounds while maximizing efficiency and effectiveness. Virtual Leadership Rounds (VLRs) allow for leadership accessibility and flexibility, with the potential to visit numerous units without physical constraints, with minimal time and resource use (Höddinghaus et al., 2023).

Targeted Leadership Shadowing offers leadership more visibility into day-to-day operations, which enhances staff-leadership relationships while rendering leadership presence worthwhile and not burdensome. Patient and Staff Digital Feedback Portals offer a means of feedback on an ongoing basis, which enables leadership to resolve issues in a timely fashion and see trends over time, ultimately leading to better patient satisfaction and staff engagement.

Summary of Alternative Activities for PCA Rounds

Measurable Action Plan

Virtual Leadership Rounds (VLRs) will be introduced within the first two months. Secure video conferencing software will be chosen and integrated into the organization’s communication system. Notably, leadership will undergo training in virtual engagement skills to enable deep connections with patients and staff. Post-session surveys will be conducted to assess the effectiveness and impact of the virtual rounds.

Subsequently, leadership shadowing will occur in month three and month four. Leadership members will be deployed to units based on specialty and departmental needs. A standard observation and engagement protocol will serve as a framework for consistency in leadership presence and staff engagement. Qualitative leadership and staff feedback will be requested to determine the initiative’s success and areas for revision.

Patient and Staff Digital Feedback Portals will be developed in months five and six. The emphasis in design will be on usability and accessibility so that it becomes simple for patients and staff to provide feedback. An awareness campaign will be introduced to promote use and stimulate uptake, with incentives for use where relevant. A real-time response system will allow leadership to respond to concerns in real-time while analyzing feedback trends to help inform ongoing process improvements.

Conclusion

The proposed replacement activities ensure PCA rounds continue to meet their most important objectives. These objectives are patient experience enhancement, staff engagement, and care system enhancement while eliminating the inefficiencies leadership development generates. With Virtual Leadership Rounds, Targeted Leadership Shadowing, and a Digital Feedback Portal, the organization can continue its commitment to patient-centered care more efficiently and effectively.

References

Efimov, I., Harth, V., & Mache, S. (2024). “That was one of my most difficult and biggest challenges”: experiences, preconditions and preventive measures of health-oriented leadership in virtual teams – A qualitative study with virtual leaders. BMC Public Health, 24(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-024-18800-7

Enticott, J., Johnson, A., & Teede, H. (2021). Learning health systems using data to drive healthcare improvement and impact: A systematic review. BMC Health Services Research, 21(1), 1–16. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-021-06215-8

Höddinghaus, M., Nohe, C., & Hertel, G. (2023). Leadership in virtual work settings: what we know, what we do not know, and what we need to do. European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 33(2), 1–25. https://doi.org/10.1080/1359432x.2023.2250079

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DHA 715 Week 1 Assignment

Imagine this scenario:
Peer customer assessment (PCA) rounds have received national recognition as a best practice. A company you’re currently working with conducts PCA rounds 6 times per month. During those rounds, the health care organization’s leadership visits 2 units to establish face-to-face connections with staff and patients.

Those visits allow leadership to discuss the patient experience, resolve any issues that the patient has encountered during their care, check in with organization-wide staff, observe staff as they practice patient-centered care, and improve systems. However, the leadership group at this company has expanded, and PCA rounds have now become too large to be effective. Due to that, leadership is seeking your recommendations for alternate activities to fulfill PCA objectives.

Write a 550- to 700-word executive summary. An executive summary is a way to pitch an idea or to summarize complex information for a leadership team or a committee. Executive summary templates are available in Microsoft® Word, or you can use an online resource, such as Canva.

Refer to the Resources section below for executive summary examples.

Enhancing Peer Customer Assessment (PCA) Rounds

Address the following in your executive summary:

• Recommend 3 appropriate alternate activities to fulfill PCA objectives.
• Explain your rationale for each of the 3 alternate activity recommendations that you provided.
• Create a measurable action plan that incorporates your 3 alternate activity recommendations.

As you complete the summary, consider opportunities to incorporate visuals (e.g., photo or table), especially if there were statistics or other vital information that could be communicated better visually.

Develop a title page that features a photo or is in the style of a report cover, as opposed to a formal APA-style paper title page.

Cite at least 3 scholarly references to support your recommendations.

Format your citations according to APA guidelines.

Course:

• DHA 711 : Administration of Complex Health Care Systems