All-time Patient Satisfaction Highs Continue- Clinical & Research News - For and about the Physicians and Researchers of Brigham and Women's HospitalAll-time Patient Satisfaction Highs Continue- Clinical & Research News - For and about the Physicians and Researchers of Brigham and Women's Hospital

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All-time Patient Satisfaction Highs Continue

For the past year, BWH has seen steady improvement, record scores and all-time highs on BWH Inpatient Satisfaction Survey quarterly reports. This upward trend, which began in April 2008, has pushed BWH into the 98th percentile on overall survey score compared to the 90 teaching hospitals with 500 beds or more that use Press Ganey.

On the most recent quarterly report covering 2,486 responses from patients discharged between April and June of this year, BWH earned its highest-ever scores on all 10 sections of the survey—from admission to discharge and everything in between.

Physicians earned their highest marks since BWH began using Press Ganey in 2001. For the most recent quarter, inpatients gave Brigham physicians a survey mean score of 90, a half point higher than the previous high score the quarter before. That puts BWH physicians into the 98th percentile compared to 500-plus bed teaching hospitals. Nurses, too, continue to receive high marks, ranking in the 99th percentile at the top of the list of like-size hospitals that use this survey.

Improved satisfaction scores are not limited to the Tower, Shapiro and Connors Center patients. Faulkner Hospital received its highest overall survey mean score on the most recent quarterly inpatient satisfaction report, and patients are giving high marks in satisfaction to BW/F ambulatory practices, too.

“We are seeing consistent improvement in patient satisfaction across the entire BW/F family on both the inpatient side at Brigham and Faulkner and in our ambulatory practices throughout the distributed campus,” said Michael Gustafson, MD, MBA, BW/F senior vice president for Clinical Excellence.

During the last year on the BWH Inpatient Satisfaction Survey, scores have increased significantly in the visitors and family section. Between 2002 and 2008, inpatients gave BWH a score of approximately 85 when asked about accommodation and inclusion of their visitors and families. The overall score for visitors and families shot up to 87.2 last spring, and on the most recent survey, the score in that category rose to 88.1, which puts BWH in the 98th percentile for this section.

In addition to high marks for nurses and physicians, BWH patients are reporting improvements in service areas, too—a recognition that dozens of improvement projects in Food Services, Environmental Services and Patient Transport have made positive contributions to patient experiences at BWH.

At Faulkner Hospital, inpatients gave the highest satisfaction scores on the most recent quarterly survey, with a survey mean score of 87.3 and all-time high scores on admission, room, discharge and overall assessment. Patients gave Faulkner nurses their second highest score of 90.8, and physicians their second highest score of 90.5, both one-tenth of a point off all-time highs since FH began using Press Ganey in 2004.

The upward trend of patient satisfaction throughout BW/F ambulatory practices continued, with patients who visited one of 70 practices between April and June giving BW/F a mean survey score of 90.3. This pushed BW/F Ambulatory Services into the 78th percentile when compared to University Health Consortium (UHC) facilities that use Press Ganey.

“When we had one year of data as our baseline, we set a two-year goal to reach the 75th percentile compared to UHC facilities, and we accomplished that goal in one year,” said Sharon Vitti, vice president of Ambulatory and Women’s Health Clinical Services. “This is reflective of the hard work and dedication of hundreds of staff across Ambulatory Services to improve patient experiences while delivering the top quality care patients expect at the Brigham.”

Patients gave practices high marks on the overall assessment section of the survey, which asks them to rate the cheerfulness and friendliness of the practice, care received and the likelihood of recommending this practice to friends and family. The overall assessment score for April through June was 92.5, and when asked about recommending their practice to friends and family, patients gave BW/F a 93.5.