Discharge issues addressed in patient satisfaction survey
Physician-Related Section Results

All Teams to Focus on Discharge
While results from the sixth period of the Press Ganey patient satisfaction survey are mixed, there is reason to be proud, according to Patient Satisfaction Steering Committee members.

“Some are up and some are down, but certainly there are successes to celebrate,” said Robert Goldszer, MD, associate chief medical officer.

During April - June 2002, patient attitudes toward the admission process, meals and tests and treatments all are up slightly.

The Steering Committee has established goals for the coming year as the hospital strives to continually improve upon patient satisfaction. That goal is for the hospital to rank in the 90th percentile in each area of the survey, compared with other academic medical centers of similar size. The 10 areas of the survey include admission, tests and treatments, room, meals, physicians, nurses, overall assessment, visitors and families, personal issues, and discharge.

“Our performance in the overall assessment category is consistently in the 90 percentile range,” said Michael Gustafson, MD, MBA, executive director, Center for Clinical Excellence. “What we want to do now is strive to achieve the same level of service excellence in each individual dimension, which translates into a desired improvement for each section by 1-4 points.”

The Steering Committee has asked each Care Improvement Team to place an emphasis on evaluating and enhancing their discharge processes—evaluation of how discharge plans are discussed early with the patient and family, what discharge teaching materials exist and how they are used, and how the logistics of leaving the hospital can be expedited on the day of discharge.

Those interested in working on patient safety goals should contact Goldszer or Gustafson.