Susan E. Mazer, Ph.D. Blog

Thoughts and ideas on healthcare

Hi, and welcome to my blog! I’m Susan E. Mazer — a knowledge expert and thought leader on how the environment of care impacts the patient experience. Topics I write about include safety, satisfaction, hospital noise, nursing, care at the bedside, and much more.

LATEST POST

4 Ways to Practice Environmental Compassion

September 18, 2025

Environmental compassion starts with a simple promise: notice everything that affects a person’s senses, then design it to help them heal. It means being intentional about sound, light, visuals, temperature, touchpoints, and timing

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How Does the Hospital Room Support the Patient Experience?

March 11, 2016

A patient is admitted to a hospital room. Next to everything that happens — the tests, admission processes, many unknown people who continually enter and ask questions, the hospital room is her first entrance

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Music for the Elderly: The Dark Side of Nostalgia

March 4, 2016

The neurological benefits of music for the elderly with dementia have been well documented. The phenomenon of elderly stroke patients with aphasia (not being able to speak, but being able

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The Patient Experience Lives in the Details

February 19, 2016

We are buried in the patient experience metrics, advice, processes, workshops, and standards. And, while the HCAHPS survey has reduced the patient experience to its 31 multiple choice questions, much

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7 Features of A Compassionate Hospital Waiting Room

February 12, 2016

Compassion is evidenced in many ways, many of which are not verbal. Being compassionate is about a universal kindness that is real and genuine that shows itself in every aspect of

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Don’t Confuse Your Google Search With My Medical Degree

February 5, 2016

I read this statement on a mug recently and wondered if I was confused or believed what I read. How many Google searches have I done about any particular disease, drug,

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Impressive Outcomes for Geriatric Emergency Department

January 29, 2016

Going to the Emergency Department is frightening enough, but even more so if you’re a frail senior who is exposed to people who’ve ended up there as a result of gunshots or drug

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Encore Post: 5 Ways to Improve the Hospital Waiting Room Experience

January 22, 2016

No new post this week, but enjoy the encore post — one of my most-read in 2015! Waiting is not good in the American culture. If we were Buddhists, we might

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4 Ways to Improve the Intensive Care Experience

January 15, 2016

Critically ill patients in intensive care often endure invasive, life-saving technologies and procedures. They may have periods of semi-consciousness and confusion. They may be frightened. Once discharged from the ICU, memories of the

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5 Ways to Optimize the AHRQ Teach-Back Technique

January 8, 2016

Are you using the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) Teach-Back technique of asking patients to repeat what they have been told and/or explain their understanding of their condition?

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Mobile Medical and Health Apps: A Step Into Self-Care

December 11, 2015

Do you use mobile medical and health apps to monitor your health? Are your physicians using them with patients? Modern Healthcare reported last month on the varying increase in use of

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