Seattle Children’s Hospital boosts engagement with recognitions from patients via Achievers API

Seattle Children’s, a top-tier pediatric medical center, has always been committed to excellence in care. Serving patients from across Washington, Alaska, Montana, and Idaho, it provides specialized treatment for complex and rare conditions, while maintaining its reputation as one of the nation’s leading pediatric institutions.

In 2019, Seattle Children’s partnered with Achievers to launch its “Wave” recognition and rewards program. Wave played a crucial role in fostering staff engagement and features a real-time recognition newsfeed visible to all employees. It also includes both points-based and social recognitions, allowing employees to redeem rewards of their choice. Using Wave, leaders can easily add points to recognitions through the Achievers Boost feature, while custom celebration cards for birthdays and milestones further enhance employee engagement. Through Wave, exceptional performance is rewarded with awards and spot bonuses, and interactive quizzes and surveys help to further drive staff participation.

Leveraging Achievers’ flexible and scalable API, the hospital took recognition a step further by integrating patient recognition directly into their platform, ensuring all staff members, from custodial to clinical, are acknowledged for their vital contributions to patient care.

Empowering patients to recognize all caregivers

Seattle Children’s frequently received requests from patients and their families seeking a direct way to recognize and express gratitude to the diverse team members who contributed to their care. While patients could offer verbal thanks or post on social media, feedback was often delayed, misdirected, or limited to specific caregivers, such as doctors and nurses.

The organization wanted a more inclusive, real-time solution to ensure that every member of the care team, from custodial staff to administrative workers, could be acknowledged. They saw this as an opportunity to boost visibility and engagement by recognizing contributions across all roles, particularly those that are often overlooked.

Leveraging Achievers’ API for seamless integration

Seattle Children’s team leveraged Achievers’ open API to bridge the gap between patient feedback and staff recognition, launching a pilot program to test this integration. This pilot introduced a unique recognition channel within the hospital’s mobile app, allowing patients to submit kudos directly to all caregivers involved in their treatment, regardless of their role. This innovation empowered patients to recognize not only doctors and nurses but also the broader team contributing to their care.

The integration had two key innovations:

1. Identifying care team members: The API matched patient-submitted recognition to individual staff members, even when patient details were incomplete or imperfect.
2. Sanitizing messages: To protect patient confidentiality, the system automatically filtered out any sensitive health information or constructive criticism, ensuring that only positive feedback reached the staff.

Fostering engagement and improving patient experience

The results were promising. During the pilot, 144 patient-submitted recognitions were received, resulting in an impressive 10% increase in employee engagement with the Wave platform. This engagement came in the form of likes and comments from peers and managers and helped foster a greater sense of belonging and community among staff members, many of whom work behind the scenes.

Due to this initiative, Seattle Children’s noticed a rise in participation from staff who received kudos, fostering a “pay it forward” culture where recognition sparked more recognition. To promote this new feature, campaigns were launched through Achievers’ Communication Center, increasing staff awareness and program engagement.

A first-of-its-kind innovation

This patient recognition channel was one of the first innovations of its kind in the healthcare industry. By allowing patients to directly contribute to an internal recognition platform, Seattle Children’s transformed how feedback was shared. Unlike traditional survey feedback, where only a manager might see the praise, this system ensured the recognition was celebrated organization-wide, contributing to a vibrant, appreciative work culture.

Through its collaboration with Achievers, Seattle Children’s created a recognition system that elevated patient care and significantly impacted staff morale. This integration continues to play a key role in strengthening engagement and nurturing a positive work environment — ultimately benefiting the children and families they serve.