Town Meeting addresses patient satisfaction- BWH Bulletin - For and about the People of Brigham and Women's Hospital
Town Meeting addresses patient satisfaction- BWH Bulletin - For and about the People of Brigham and Women's Hospital
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February 14, 2000
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In This Issue:
Needle Safety Conversion Completed
Black Achiever Award
Mission to Honduras
Town Meeting addresses patient satisfaction
Action teams to form
Obituary
Pike Notes
At a Town Meeting on February 4, BWH President Jeffrey Otten took time to emphasize that inpatients at BWH in February and March will be surveyed about satisfaction with their hospital stay. These responses will be the basis for a report to be issued publicly by the Picker Institute and the Massachusetts Hospital Association in the fall. Chief Operating Officer Matthew Van Vranken added, “We should all be thinking about ways to sustain our commitment to patient satisfaction moving forward. It is essential to our mission of taking care of patients.” Anthony Whittemore, MD, Chief Medical Officer echoed that message, pointing out that keeping patients first is what we are about. Patient satisfaction is but one very important component of that commitment; patient safety/reducing medication errors is another, he said. The following is a sample of questions asked at the Town Meeting: Q. I’ve read that community hospitals and smaller hospitals are not in a position to take on the subordinated debts from Harvard Pilgrim that the larger hospitals can. Will that create dissension in the Massachusetts Hospital Association? A. Jeffrey Otten (JO): Right now teaching hospitals, who are owed the lion’s share of the $265 million that HPHC owes, are preparing to sit down to work out principles of negotiation, including how to handle subordinated debt. Once a mechanism is developed to participate in the rehabilitation of Harvard Pilgrim, all Massachusetts hospitals will have the opportunity to participate. This is a very fluid process now but should firm up in a couple of weeks. Q. Do you think the media is providing an accurate picture of the Harvard Pilgrim situation? A. JO: I would give the media a “B.” They have done some responsible reporting, and I think people are getting the essential elements of the story. Q. What would it take to rehabilitate HPHC? A. JO: The Attornery General is estimating between $200 and $300 million. That would bring the company’s net worth to positive $100 million and pay its debt. Q. Are there programs that address “taking care of each other” in a way that can make our work experience more satisfying? A. Matt Van Vranken: We have developed a structure that engages the whole organization to address the opportunities for improvement identified in the Staff Survey we conducted in June. It takes an action-oriented approach to improving the way we work together. Cheryl Locke: Five key areas were identified in the survey, which are connected to both quality of worklife and quality of care that our patients receive, and include leadership, quality patient care/customer service, communication, respect, and teamwork. The survey showed that we understand what is expected of us as team members and we work well together within our departments, but we need to work better across departments. As part of this process, everyone who is interested will have the opportunity to join teams to make improvements in these areas. Anthony Whittemore: In conjunction with the Medical Staff Organization, there has been an on-going effort to improve the physicians’ quality of worklife, an example of which is the Office for Women’s Careers headed by Carol Nadelson, which addresses the issues for women trying to grow professionally. Additional questions and answers will be printed in next week’s Bulletin.