Patient Name Mispronunciation in Inpatient Encounters: An Institutional Quality Improvement Initiative and Experience

Belonging and inclusion are core values of healthcare institutions and impact patient experience. We conducted a quality improvement project to understand the impact of patient name mispronunciation during inpatient medical encounters. The current state was assessed via interviews of admitted patients and patient advocates (individuals representing patients’ interests) which showed name mispronunciation impacts patient trust and comfort. We also interviewed healthcare workers on their perception of the problem. We developed an intervention to address root causes discovered in our current state assessment. Our intervention included placing a customizable magnet in patients' rooms to improve rates of correct name pronunciation. The magnets contained a location for the patient’s name and pronunciation. Prior to implementation on a single hospital unit, we surveyed patients and providers on the importance of patient name pronunciation and the impact of mispronunciation. We then piloted the magnet on the inpatient cardiology unit. After implementation, patients and providers were surveyed to assess the effectiveness of our strategy to improve name mispronunciation and the impact on patients’ comfort and trust in healthcare. Our data collection showed a trend towards improvement in pronunciation and a positive impact on patients’ comfort and trust during hospitalization. Providers at our institution favored a centralized location for name pronunciation to help mitigate this gap in healthcare delivery.