The facility uses Press Ganey to track patient satisfaction. The company as chosen based on its experience and performance in tracking patient satisfaction. A research was carried out on the reviews of various facilities that use its services too. According to the information we gathered, it is the number one provider of patient experience measurement, strategic advisory and performance analytics for health care facilities and organizations in the health care system (Hwang et. al , 2015). The facility found out that the company has 30 years of experience in this field and it is the pioneer in determining patient satisfaction and offering performance improvement recommendations to health care organizations. The above stated reasons lead to the choice of the company.
The surveys are given between a period of forty-eight hours and six weeks after the patient is discharged. It is administered through electronic mail. Data gathering ends six weeks after the onset of data collection for every patient in the survey. The feedback received from the discharged patient is used to improve every part of the patient’s experience in the facility. The information is useful in helping understand the patient requirements and enables the provision of exceptional health care encounter to each patient. The HCAHPS survey comprise of thirty-two questions. The questions are based on the patient’s hospital stay before discharge.
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The survey questions are categorized under the following topics: patient’s care from the nurses, care from doctors, patient’s experience during their stay in the hospital, the overall hospital environment, period of discharge, patient’s hospital rating and about the Patient. The survey queries are then channeled in the following domains: Communication with doctors , communication with nurses , responsiveness of hospital staff , pain management , communication about medicines , care transition , cleanliness of hospital environment , quietness of hospital environment , discharge information , overall hospital rating , likelihood to recommend ( Hwang et. al , 2015 ). Patients qualify for sampling for the HCAHPS survey once every month considering the discharge date.
The information the facility receives from the Press Ganey questions help in addressing and focusing on issues related to communication and controllable aspects that lead to patient agony and suffering. Some of the aspects that lead to patient suffering include poor communication, inadequate education and skills, and absence of compassion (Land et. al , 2013). In addition, the information received helps in addressing the various issues associated to the psychological and physical suffering that are found in the health care process (Land et. al , 2013). Moreover, it assists in taking steps to rectify the controllable factors that can lead to distress in patients during their stay in the hospital.
The society today has developed increased demands for transparency. In addition, an increased need for access to information has developed in the world that we are living in today. This is attributed to the fact that information leads to decision making that is informed (Mann et. al , 2015). Our facility believes that by offering the present and future patients and their relatives information on doctor ratings and comments, they receive increased understanding into the experiences of other patients. This enables them to come up with informed decisions when deciding on a health care provider.
Internally, the information we gathered about the facility from Press Ganey survey is used to assist the facility’s patient experience team look into issues of much value to our patients and their families too. The accessibility of patient satisfaction information enables to make modifications in our policies, practices and communication methods in order to make sure that we offer the best health care experience to our clients. However, the facility does not allow direct posting of comments to a provider’s profile. All the comments are retrieved from the Press Ganer surveys carried out for the facility. When patients from the facility get the surveys from Press Ganer, they are allowed to make the comments on them. However, only the comments that do not have elements of the exclusion criteria can be posted on the profile of the provider. The facility currently does not have the exact figure of the comments that meet the exclusion criteria, but early signs indicate that approximately 3.5% of the total number of comments meet the exclusion criteria. They are therefore not posted. This happens between two and three weeks after being received.
The surveys are offered to patients seeing doctors in all the specialties in the hospital. However, the surveys are slightly different in structure and questions because of the different specialties. The average return rate of the survey for the health care facility is usually 20%. However, this rate varies slightly by specialty. When a physician or their practice gets a negative review, the review is still posted. In this case, the patient experience team collaborates with the health care providers who ask for coaching or assistance on how to make their patients’ experiences better.
In conclusion, the hospital has an established number of comments that can affect a doctor’s rank. A more than 30 ratings are required to ensure statistical validity. Health care providers who have ratings that are below thirty still have data appear on their profiles. However, it is their choice to have the information appear. In cases where the health care staff member has less than 30 surveys returned, the ratings have the possibility of varying because of surveys with extreme feedbacks which can be positive or negative. Patient privacy is also ensured in these comments. Any kind of comment that has the potential to cause risks to patients’ safety is not posted.
References
Hwang, C., Lipman, G., & Kane, M. (2015). Effect of an Emergency Department Fast Track on Press-Ganey Patient Satisfaction Scores. Western Journal of Emergency Medicine,16 (1), 34-38. doi:10.5811/westjem.2014.11.21768
Mann, R. K., Siddiqui, Z., Kurbanova, N., & Qayyum, R. (2015). Effect of HCAHPS reporting on patient satisfaction with physician communication. Journal of Hospital Medicine,11 (2), 105-110. doi:10.1002/jhm.2490
Land, L., Sizmur, S., Harding, J., & Ross, J. D. (2013). Patient Satisfaction Survey. PsycTESTS Dataset . doi:10.1037/t69312-000
