Kenneth A. Buckwalter MD, Moderator: Nothing to Disclose

Ella A. Kazerooni MD, Presenter: Nothing to Disclose

Brent Joseph Wagner MD, Presenter: Nothing to Disclose

Bruce Jonathan Barron MD, Presenter: Stockholder, Immunomedics Inc

1) Understand who the customer is in Radiology and why customer satisfaction scores are important. 2) Review how Radiology can document the added value role it plays in the enterprise. 3) Discuss how to manage workplace interruptions.

ServiceExcellence in healthcare is used generally to refer to patient or customer satisfaction, and our ability tto consistently meet if not exceed the expectations of patients, their families and visitors. It can be more widely expanded to include interactions among staff within a group, across groups or job descriptions or across departments. Inherently it is the concept that healthcare is more than just the technical act of delivering service, in radiology that would be the performance of a diagnostic test for example that hit high marks for classic quality metrics like image quality, radiation dose optimization and clarity and accuracy of the interpretation. Service excellence embraces the notion that healthcare must address the psyche, emotions and worries of those we care for, who come to us for service because they are ill and concerned about their health, the impact of disease on themselves and their families. It is about HOW we deliver the care too. From looking people in the eyes at check in, asking if there is anything else we can do for them, letting then know how they will get their test results, acknoweldging when we can do better without blame, and knowing when and how to say thank you. On a more tangible level, high marks for Service Excellence also translates into higher employee engagement, retention of staff and a drop in time and resources spent doing serivice recovery. Hiring for Service Excellence is important to having the right people in your organization, and sometimes letting those go who cannot live up to those expectations may be necessary to move forward. In the end, a committment to Service Excellence is not about an expensive program delivered by others to you to train to, it is about treating everyone with respect and both setting and often exceeding expectations. With higher patient satifaction scores comes retention of patients/customers, and word of mouth marketing that your programn is THE destination for care now and in future.

Buckwalter, K, Kazerooni, E, Wagner, B, Barron, B, Service Excellence in Radiology (Sponsored by the RSNA Professionalism Committee) (An Interactive Session).  Radiological Society of North America 2014 Scientific Assembly and Annual Meeting, - ,Chicago IL. http://archive.rsna.org/2014/13011742.html