Voice your visit: Patient advocates engaging, April 1

Photo By Marcy Sanchez | (From left) Lorenzo Lovejoy, Nanette Seann, Neima Nuñez and Rafael Tijerina, all patient assistance representatives for William Beaumont Army Medical Center, will be engaging and surveying patients regarding their care and visit to WBAMC beginning April 1, 2016. Nuñez is the patient advocate for the East Bliss Health Clinic, McAfee Health Clinic, Mendoza Center, Rio Bravo Medical Home and Soldier Family Care Center while Lovejoy, Seann and Tijerina provide assistance for patients at WBAMC. Through the engaged patient advocates, WBAMC will stress its mission of providing innovative, life-saving care to the largest power projection platform in the Army in support of any mission, anytime, anywhere making WBAMC the flagship of Army Medicine.  

FORT BLISS, TX, UNITED STATES

03.28.2016

Story by Marcy Sanchez  

William Beaumont Army Medical Center

Fort Bliss Soldiers, families and retirees may soon notice a change during clinic visits.
Beginning April 1, William Beaumont Army Medical Center’s (WBAMC) patient advocates will begin surveying patients on customer service, patient understanding and expectations.
“Our patient advocates will circulate surveys to get an understanding of what kind of care we are providing,” said Sgt. First Class Angela Cox, noncommissioned officer in charge, Clinical Operations Division, WBAMC. “If we are performing services that are not to the patient’s standards, we can intervene before a small issue becomes a larger problem.”
Currently patients can provide feedback by visiting the patient assistance offices at WBAMC and Hugo V. Mendoza Soldier Family Care Center or by submitting an Interactive Customer Evaluation, better known as ICE, comment. Placing patient advocates throughout the clinics will ensure additional feedback for WBAMC leaders.
Patients are often unsatisfied when they contact patient advocates or make an ICE comment, said Cox, a native of Garfield, New Jersey. Patients may not know or be able to provide the feedback required to help fix issues.
“We are in the service of patient care,” said Cox. “After patient safety and quality care, everything revolves around patient satisfaction and what we can do to make their experience better.”
Currently there are four patient advocates: Lorenzo Lovejoy, Nanette Seann, Rafael Tijerina and Neima Nuñez. Nuñez is the patient advocate for the East Bliss Health Clinic, McAfee Health Clinic, Mendoza Center, Rio Bravo Medical Home and Soldier Family Care Center while Lovejoy, Seann and Tijerina provide assistance for patients at WBAMC.
“We really feel by engaging them, the hospital will have a better sense of what the customer expects and how we can deliver that excellence to them,” said Maj. Matthew Geiman, Chief of the Clinical Operations Division. “Our perspective of our service and the patient’s perspective of our service don’t always match. “By having someone out there engaging them, we can take our service to the next level.”
Patients are encouraged to seek out the patient advocates in order to improve services at WBAMC. “If we’re doing something right, we still need to know about it,” said Cox.
“Receiving positive feedback in turn will produce excellent service for patients, building a culture of extraordinary customer service,” said Geiman. “We need to understand the little distinctions of how we can improve service to get to the level of excellence our patients deserve.”
According to Geiman, the face-to-face interaction will also provide the patient advocates a better means of addressing patient concerns through spot-on corrections, something digital forms of communication may not afford.
Through the engaged patient advocates, WBAMC will stress its mission of providing innovative, life-saving care to the largest power projection platform in the Army in support of any mission, anytime, anywhere making WBAMC the flagship of Army Medicine.

• Date Taken: 03.28.2016
• Date Posted: 03.28.2016 17:21
• Story ID: 193717
• Location: FORT BLISS, TX, US
• Hometown: GARFIELD, NJ, US