Date of Award

5-2026

Document Type

Project

Degree Name

Master of Science in Health Services Administration

Department

Public Administration

First Reader/Committee Chair

Okpala, Paulchris

Abstract

Patient satisfaction reflects more than the technical quality of healthcare; it represents patients' perceptions of communication, respect, and emotional trust throughout the care experience. Ineffective communication contributes to poor comprehension, reduced treatment adherence, preventable readmissions, and disparities in patient outcomes. Conversely, clear, culturally responsive communication improves patient engagement, safety, and satisfaction. This project proposes a leadership-driven communication improvement initiative for a mid-sized acute-care hospital located in Southern California serving a culturally and linguistically diverse population, including Hispanic, Asian, and limited-English-proficient patients. The initiative is guided by the Patient-Centered Care Model and Hersey and Blanchard's Situational Leadership Theory. These frameworks position communication as both an ethical responsibility and an organizational leadership priority. The proposed strategy integrates evidence-based communication practices, including the teach-back method, plain-language communication, interpreter services, multilingual educational materials, and empathy-focused communication training for clinical and nonclinical staff. Leadership accountability, interdisciplinary collaboration, and community engagement serve as sustainability mechanisms. Evaluation measures include patient satisfaction survey scores, teach-back documentation audits, interpreter utilization rates, readmission trends, and patient comprehension indicators. The initiative aims to improve patient satisfaction scores by 15%, increase teach-back compliance to 85%, and reduce communication-related readmissions within 12 months. By translating research into operational practice, this project positions communication as a measurable quality indicator, safety mechanism, and equity-centered strategy that improves patient satisfaction and healthcare outcomes.

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