NRC Health HUB26 Pre-Conference Workshops: Patient Experience, Training, and Rounding

Healthcare teams are carrying a lot right now and that pressure shows up in ways people don’t always name out loud. 

A nurse runs behind. A leader cuts a conversation short. A patient hesitates before asking a question. None of these moments stand alone, yet they add up. 

Patients still expect clarity and personal care. Staff still want to do their work well. The gap sits in the middle. 

Human Understanding Beyond | HUB26 takes place September 2–4 in Nashville, Tennessee. NRC Health will bring together healthcare leaders from across the country to focus on what happens in real settings, not ideal ones.  

The conversations center on patient experience, workforce engagement, healthcare marketing, and trust in care delivery. 

Pre-conference workshops open the event with a closer look at everyday challenges. These are not new problems. They’re familiar ones that have become harder to manage under pressure. 

Ready to go beyond? Register for HUB26 and reserve your spot today. 

Rounding in healthcare is built into the day. It should feel like a point of connection. 

But often, it doesn’t. A leader walks into a room, asks a few questions, and moves on. The interaction stays polite and efficient, but rarely stays with the person on the other end. 

That’s the tension this session takes on. Ashley Nelson, Strategic Advisor, Nursing at NRC Health, joins Erin Shipley of Cooper University Health Care and Bryce Watanabe of Hawai’i Pacific Health. Their experience comes from settings where time is limited, and expectations are high. 

The session focuses on behavior, not intention. That’s because most leaders intend to connect, but what matters more is what people feel in the moment. 

Participants work through simple shifts: 

• Moving away from familiar scripts 
• Paying attention to tone and posture 
• Letting a pause sit instead of filling it 
• Treating brief conversations as real opportunities 

 One detail tends to come up in conversations about rounding. When people say they need more time, what they’re often asking for is something else: they need space to pay attention. 

A short interaction can feel rushed or meaningful. The difference is clear to the person receiving it. 

Most healthcare organizations invest in training, but that effort isn’t the issue. The real question is what sticks after people leave the room. 

A team sits through a session and nods along. The ideas make sense. Then a shift starts, and priorities shift with it. By the end of the week, very little has changed. 

Reimagining Patient Experience Training: Modern Methods, Meaningful Impact looks directly at that pattern. Toya Gorley, Strategic Advisor, Experience Management at NRC Health, presents with Kali Bechtold of UCHealth, Kaitlin Hodges of Wellstar Health System, and Timberly Priest of MetroHealth, each bringing up examples from organizations that had to adjust quickly when training didn’t translate into daily work. 

The session stays grounded in what people actually do after training ends. Key areas include: 

• Training that fits inside existing schedules 
• Coaching that happens in real time 
• Measurement that reflects behavior, not attendance 
• Reinforcement that doesn’t depend on reminders alone 

 There’s a practical test behind all of this. A staff member finishes training, then walks into the next patient interaction. Do they do something different from that point on? If the answer is no, the design needs work. 

This topic tends to surface quietly, then all at once. 

Perimenopause care doesn’t always receive consistent attention. For many patients, that lack of focus stands out more than any single clinical detail. 

Women in midlife often coordinate care for others. They carry context across appointments, providers, and systems. Their own care experiences influence how they make decisions going forward. 

The Midlife Loyalty Risk: How Perimenopause Care Is Reshaping Women’s Healthcare Choice, Trust, and Retention examines that connection. Research from NRC Health shows a pattern that repeats: women who feel dismissed don’t always raise a complaint. Many simply choose a different path next time. 

Steve Koch and Nate Rogers of Cast & Hue join Michelle Silva, Strategic Advisor, Consumer Experience at NRC Health. The session draws from behavioral research and patient experience work that focuses on decision-making over time, allowing participants to examine how trust forms in specific moments. 

Topics include: 

• Gaps in perimenopause care that lead patients to look elsewhere 
• Communication habits that shape confidence 
• Provider knowledge and how it affects decisions 
• Growth in virtual and specialty care options 

These choices rarely remain isolated. They influence where families go for care over months and years. 

Healthcare organizations collect more feedback now than ever. Surveys, comments, real-time signals; the information is all there. The challenge sits in what happens next. 

Patients want to feel heard without having to repeat themselves. Staff want support that fits into real work. Both groups notice when something feels rushed or incomplete. 

Each workshop focuses on a part of that experience: 

• Rounding reflects how leaders show up each day 
• Training shapes what staff do under pressure 
• Perimenopause care affects long-term trust 

 And across all three of these areas, one idea holds steady: people remember interactions that feel genuine but they remember the opposite just as clearly. 

Here’s where we move nurse rounding from a necessary task to a strategic advantage.

This work isn’t stuck with paper checklists and clipboards anymore. 

Our digital rounding tool allows you to see patient-specific journeys and identify themes of strengths and opportunities across the care continuum.  This transforms rounding from a checklist to get done to a tool that provides meaningful insights that positively impact care.

Technology isn’t here to replace the human connection. It’s here to amplify it, freeing up our brilliant nurses to be where they matter most: with their patients.

We have a chance to use innovation to work smarter, not harder, which is key in today’s demanding healthcare environment.

• Real-time feedback: Digital tools, like NRC Health’s surveys, bring the patient’s voice forward instantly. This isn’t waiting weeks for a survey; it’s getting feedback in the moment so leaders can close the loop and celebrate staff today.
• Smarter communication: Those smart communication boards on the wall? They’re now synced with the EMR. This means patients and families always see the latest plan, which builds trust and reduces the need for the nurse to constantly relay basic information.
• AI for prioritization: Imagine AI-enabled prompts that flag patients with a higher risk of falls or pressure injuries, gently reminding a nurse who to prioritize. This ensures our attention is where the acuity is, making care safer and more intentional.
• Automation eases the burden: The most exciting part? Automation and integrated technology drastically reduce the documentation burden. When a system handles the checkboxes, our nurses can lift their heads from the computer and spend those precious minutes sitting down, listening, and delivering the compassionate care they came here to give.

Technology is the tool that helps us stay faithful to our calling. It gives us the time back to truly see, hear, and understand the human being in the bed.

HUB26 brings together healthcare leaders, clinicians, and experience professionals from across the country. It creates space to step back and compare what different organizations are seeing. 

Pre-conference workshops offer a starting point, with smaller groups, more focused discussion, and less distance between ideas and action. Participants leave with changes they can try right away. 

Teams return with clearer priorities. They adjust rounding, rethink training, and take a closer look at how certain patient groups experience care. 

Registration for HUB26 is now open. Secure your place, plan your sessions, and join healthcare leaders working to improve care experiences.