At Stony Brook Hospital, Playing Make-Believe Has a Purpose

tests its employees' ability to keep cool and carry out meaningful customer service for its patients by playing out make-believe scenarios involving impatient patients, Health Leaders magazine reported Monday.

The magazine reports the process helps improve patient satisfaction ratings at SBUH, and Stony Brook isn't the only one employing this approach.

According to the report: While the Heart Center won SBUH awards this year, it achieved only a 73 percent satisfaction level from its patients when it came to how well the nurses communicate with the patients; the national average is 77 percent. The statistics were lower for information delivered regarding medications, with SBUH scoring 57 percent satisfaction as opposed to the 61 percent national average.

"We have actors pretending to be patients, and these four-hour sessions are scenario-based, for nurses specifically to hone their communication skills," Michael Maione, SBUH's director of customer relations, told Health Leaders.

Click here to read the full article from Health Leaders.