Northampton County Improves Client Satisfaction

Summary

Impact Statement: 
Client satisfaction data are a critical component of an agency’s QI plan but can be difficult to obtain. Through a 4-day Kaizen event, Northampton County Health Department (NCHD) in North Carolina streamlined and simplified its client satisfaction survey process, resulting in a 100% increase in the number of surveys returned and a 0% error rate on completed surveys. The new annual process has positioned NCHD to be more responsive to making client-centered improvements in all of its programs.
Summary: 
Through a Kaizen event, NCHD improved its process for assessing client satisfaction. The QI team revised and significantly shortened the client satisfaction survey with input from staff and clients. A single survey is now used to assess all NCHD programs, and it is used once a year, during National Public Health Week. The team also expanded its communication efforts about the survey among NCHD staff and clients. As a result, the number of surveys returned increased 100%, and the error rate on completed surveys decreased from 10% to 0%.
Organization that conducted the QI initiative: 
NCHD
Citation: 

Vick, M. Public Health Quality Improvement Exchange. Northampton County Improves Client Satisfaction. Thu, 05/12/2016 - 17:19. Available at http://www.phqix.org/content/northampton-county-improves-client-satisfaction. Accessed March 28, 2024.

Submission Status: 
Completed
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Comments

Leann Orr's picture
Submitted by Leann Orr on

Great QI Project!  I like the use of the smiley faces which would be a great help for those with low literacy. Not to mention just makes the survey more interesting and fun. Thank you for sharing! 

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Submitted by mvick84 on

Thank you! It was actually suggested we use the smiley faces just for that reason and has proven to work really well with all populations!

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Submitted by kmunsey on

Sounds like  a great project. We are looking at implementing a satisfaction survey also and I love the tool you developed. Thanks for sharing your project, it will help us as we move forward.

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Submitted by tkane on

Were you been able to sustain the improvement that you achieved thru this project in 2014?

Ty Kane

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Submitted by djlankford on

I noticed the top row of program initials in order to designate the program for which the client made the visit.  Are clients expected to circle the program or does staff do this before handing it to the client?  I ask this because I assume most clients may not be familiar with what this series of boxes means.  

Thanks for sharing!

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Submitted by mvick84 on

A staff member circles the appropriate code once the patient signs in for whatever service they are here for.  Hope this helps!

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Submitted by mvick84 on

Yes, we have been able to sustain the improvement we achieved through this project back in 2014.  In fact we are administering client satisfaction surveys twice a year now instead of once to hopefully catch different clientele, track any improvement over the past six months, and fulfill a requirement for one of our Agreement Addendas. 

 

Hope this helps!

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Link to the resource where this submission is also published: 
http://www.centerforpublichealthquality.org/index.php/theqitoolbox/qi-project-profile-tool