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In This Issue:
Recent Patient Satisfaction Results Show Slight Improvement
Improvement Highlight: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology
W ith patient satisfaction at the center of service-oriented improvement efforts at BWH, the hospital showed overall improvement in the most recent patient satisfaction survey conducted by Press, Ganey Associates, Inc. (PGA). The feedback was collected from more than 2,000 patients whose hospital stay occurred from October to December 2002.
BWH’s overall mean score for the eighth round of results placed the hospital in the 69th percentile when compared to other academic medical centers with more than 500 beds. This marks an improvement from the hospital’s placement in the 62nd percentile in Q7. In addition, BWH continues to realize high response rates—more than 33 percent of medical/surgical inpatients and more than 38 percent of obstetrics patients voluntarily completed this survey.
“Our latest results reflect the high quality of care provided by our physicians and nurses, which continues to be a major strength for BWH,” said Robert Goldszer, MD, MBA, associate chief medical officer. “As we fine tune our improvement efforts, we expect to further improve results in future rounds of the survey.”
Of note, in a recent shift in the BWH reporting structure, the Department of Patient/ Family Relations is now falling under the advisement of Dr. Goldszer, providing an opportunity for BWH physicians to play a larger part in patient satisfaction efforts.
“BWH has also seen consistent improvement in the areas of admissions and meals,” said Michael Gustafson, MD, MBA, executive director, Center for Clinical Excellence, who explained that the mean scores for each of these areas have risen steadily since the survey’s inception in January 2001.
Opportunities for improvement that remain in the Q8 results include the discharge process and instructions, and attention to personal issues and needs. According to Gustafson, comment reports, provided on a monthly basis by PGA, offer valuable insight into overall patient satisfaction at BWH. “These comment reports are especially useful in that they help generate action items that can be carried out hospital-wide,” said Gustafson.
The Center for Clinical Excellence is responsible for oversight of survey administration and result reporting. For more information, contact Gustafson via email at (mgustafson@partners.org). Directors and managers are encouraged to contact Gustafson or Goldszer for reports or other available tools to help enhance patient satisfaction in their areas.