Page 99 - Harnessing the Management Secrets of Disney in Your Company

80 The Disney Way

argued that the community was growing with people of child-bearing age
and that if these newcomers did not choose to have their babies at Griffin,
they would be unlikely to return to the hospital for other services. In the
end, the board voted to save the maternity ward.
According to Patrick Charmel, then assistant administrator of the
hospital, this marked the birth of a new patient-centered movement at
Griffin Hospital. “Today when patients come here, they expect a superior
patient experience. Certainly they expect to have a good surgical outcome,
but they also want a good experience. They want a friendly environment
that smells good, they want great food, their families embraced, their
20
questions answered,” explained Patrick.
At such a critical juncture in Griffin’s history, Patrick thought, “I
don’t know a lot about maternity service, but I know who does: women of
child-bearing age, especially those who have had children.” That one seed
of truth launched the philosophical shift at Griffin, from following old
school principles to treating women like guests and finding out what they
wanted from maternity units. What seems obvious to many businesses
today was not so obvious back in the 1980s. The concept that talking to
customers and changing direction based on their input was both a novel
and a good idea. In hospitals, however, you’d be lucky if you found any-
one who believed that this practice was the least bit acceptable.
Griffin orchestrated focus groups as a first step, but in Patrick’s mind,
that wasn’t enough. So, he and a Griffin marketing manager turned them-
selves into “secret shoppers.” Posing as husband and wife, they contacted
several hospitals around the country and pretended to be shopping for
an obstetrician and a hospital suitable for delivering their child. Most
hospital staff who received their calls were taken aback, stating, “we don’t
do tours.” The rest viewed their request as a bother. After all, people were
traditionally supposed to find their obstetricians first. Finally, a number
of hospitals begrudgingly extended an invitation to Patrick and his “wife,”
who stuffed a pillow under her skirt to fake pregnancy.
After several months of visiting various maternity units, they returned
with great ideas and began knitting them together into what was to become
a state-of-the-art program. Griffin emerged with a patient-centered, edu-
cational focus—one that embraced patients’ families. Sibling preparation
classes, grandparent classes, and intensive programs for both moms and
dads were pioneered. Gone were the posted visiting hours that had frus-
trated both patients and their families. And, the facility’s facelift was just