Sue Murphy, Chief Experience Officer, UChicago Medicine, Chapter 2

The word ‘audit’ has never conjured up a positive image. No one wants to be audited — especially nurses, who already face a tremendous burden being the front line of patient care. The last thing they need to worry about is receiving poor ratings from the individuals for whom they’re providing care. What both nurses and patients needed was a way to facilitate productive conversations, and so University of Chicago-Pritzker School of Medicine has done just that. For the past four years, the organization has partnered with Vocera to provide a more accurate care picture for providers and help them access information in more efficient ways. The result? A more open, honest dialogue with patients.

In this interview, Sue Murphy talks about how the organization has transformed rounding and discharge procedures to improve the patient experience, and how they’re leveraging data to continue to tweak those processes. She also discusses the critical role CXOs play in building and maintaining strong relationships across departments, how she utilizes the tactics she learned as a nurse to care for caregivers, and why social media has truly “changed the world for patients.”

Chapter 1

Chapter 2



* Experience workshops with UChicago’s hArt of Medicine

* Obeserving care providers – “We’re not auditing behavior; we’re shining a light on what they do.”

* Tracking trends & outcomes with Press Ganey’s Tableau

* “It brings me joy to see the growth in people.”

* Role of empathy in care – “It has to be genuine.”

* Patient experience vs patient satisfaction

* “Social media has changed the world for patients”



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Bold Statements

What’s really different — and what I love — about this program is we’re not auditing their behavior, but shining a light on what they do well.

I wanted to be a nurse and care for others, and I believe I’m able to care for those who care for patients using some of the tactics I learned as a nurse. It really brings me joy to see the growth in people and see them achieve outcomes.

One person’s empathy is different than another’s. I have never been successful in saying, ‘Everyone, today we’re going to show empathy. Get in there and be empathetic.’ It’s understanding what it looks like when they show empathy, what the patient feels, and the joy it brings.

When you’re implementing telehealth or any new technology, make sure you have patients around the table to help with the decision-making, with the strategy, and where are we going with it. I’ve been much more successful when patients are at the table.

When they have an impact, go back and tell them the impact they’ve had, and they’ll want to do it again. I think sometimes we move on to the next thing, and we never take the time to go back and acknowledge the patients that are doing this.

Gamble:  As far as the hArt of Medicine program at UChicago Medicine, how is this structured? Are you sitting down with different groups and looking at what needs to be improved? Does Press Ganey factor into that as well?

Murphy:  A little bit. In the beginning when we’ve worked with groups — and I’ll use radiology as an example — we’ve worked with the whole department. And so, prior to even starting with hArt of Medicine, we sat down with leadership members and we looked at what qualitative and quantitative outcomes we want to see with the program, and then we talked about the schedule. We start by bringing people to workshops, and once we’ve decided on the data, we figure out how the logistics are going to work.