Shore Medical Center, Physicians Group make it a priority
SOMERS POINT — It should go without saying that medical care is the top priority for Shore Physicians Group and Shore Medical Center. That’s kind of a no-brainer, but customer care is running a close second.
In a trend that reflects changing times and changing priorities, making sure patients have a good experience has taken on a new level of importance.
Shore Physicians Group (SPG) Senior Director Bob Gordon and Shore Medical’s Chief Nursing Officer Jill Shultz put an emphasis on customer care starting with hiring the right people and showing the importance of that concept right at employee orientation.
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Shultz has ben in nursing for almost 28 years, 25 as a registered nurse in a range of roles from critical care to emergency and medical/surgical. “I little bit of everything,” she said. At Shore Medical Center for three years, she began her new role as chief nursing officer in January after being the administrative director of nursing.
The focus in nursing “is that our patients come first.” She uses Shore Medical Center for her own family so she has her staff “treat everyone how you’d like your loved ones to be treated.”
“We have a diverse staff, but we also see diverse populations and we treat everyone the same. When you walk in the front door … that’s where our customer service starts,” she said.
Shultz wants to make sure the first staff member who greets the patients treats them right to ensure they feel welcome.
“I work with a patient experience team. They’re the ones who develop all the great customer service skills and service,” she said.
“Introductions are most important from any staff member you come into contact with. That is something we have pushed over the last number of years,” Shultz said.
Shore does bedside shift reports and patients meet the nurse who has been taking care of them and the nurse coming onto shift to continue that care.
“We do that twice a shift, at 7 p.m. and 7 a.m., so patients know who they’ll be seeing. Sometimes not knowing that causes anxiety for patients. We also work very closely with the hospitalist. We do daily rounds with doctors so the nurse, the patient and the doctor are all hearing the same thing. We invite families to that when they can.
“The case management team participates as well. We’re getting the plan in one conversation rather than five different conversations throughout the day,” Shultz said. “That should put the patient at ease as well.”
She noted the culture at Shore Medical Center is “very special,” one that isn’t replicated everywhere.
“We start that at orientation. You walk into orientation and we talk about our culture and our expectations,” she said. “I think the big thing is we’re one big family and we all help each other. From a senior leadership aspect of things, we’re always there all the way down to someone who is drawing bloodwork. We’re out on the floor showing our faces as well. You won’t see that at the big name hospitals … around the country.”
Schultz explained customer care is a big focus to ensure patients feel special while getting the care and response they need when they need it.
Gordon’s background is in finance and he has been with Shore for about 10 years. It’s his first foray into health care but he is quite familiar with Shore Medical Center; it’s where he was born.
He notes a lot has changed over the years.
Shore Physicians Group, he said, spends a lot of time and effort to hire the right people, whether it’s the doctors or the staff, including the patient services representatives.
In the interviews “it’s a big focus on do they have what it takes to support our patients, do they have the right customer service? We do a lot of focus on that on top of the technical training,” Gordon said.
“With our physicians, a lot of it starts with them. We’re fortunate that the physicians we get have the ability to go other places, so the ones who come here want to be in our community. They want to treat our patients. They live in our community. They treat their neighbors. They want to do it as opposed to (just taking) a paycheck. We’re very fortunate with that,” Gordon said.
“We have a great relationship with the Medical Center and with the hospitalists program. (Hospitalists are physicians who focus on hospital care, as opposed to the specialists at SPG.)
“With SPG, if you see one of our doctors you’re really seeing all of our doctors. We have a multi-specialist group,” Gordon said. “If you need different services we have a doctor to support it, including the hospitalist program that if you need to come into the hospital we have someone who can support you in there.”
For all of them, the customer service aspect has become an important focus, Gordon said.
– By DAVID NAHAN/Sentinel staff
At top, from left are Jill Shultz, MSN, RN, chief nursing officer, Shore Medical Center; Dante Marconi, MD, orthopaedic surgeon, Shore Physicians Group; and Bob Gordon, senior director, Shore Physicians Group.
Courtesy of Shore Medical Center/Special to the Sentinel