Patient Satisfaction Survey Essay

“Patient satisfaction is undoubtedly on the minds of hospital administrators in an increasingly consumer-driven healthcare system. With patient

With patients today using the threat of reporting low satisfaction rates in the hopes of receiving faster or higher quality care, they seem to have taken the upper hand in some of the decision making of what will take place in the healthcare world (Sullivan). But is it really the survey results that will make the drastic changes that are needed?

Patient satisfaction levels is an established indicator of the effectiveness and quality of care in the healthcare system. Patient satisfaction is further related to patient safety in a way that it impacts patient compliance with prescription medication, medical recommendations and follow through with regimens (Palese et al., 2011). The relationship made between the nurse and the patient is imperative in the overall patient experience and the perception of the care received. Patient satisfaction is directly related to quality of nurse caring during nurse-patient interaction. As stated by Watson, a

patient and family satisfaction could go a long way to advance the quality of patient care throughout the hospital.

Quality of service should be one of the most important and well monitored goals for any medical facility, from your small town family doctor’s office, to nursing and rehabilitation facilities, all the way to large hospital systems. The quality of service provided in a facility doesn’t just affect the patients. Quality of service also affects the bottom line, or whether or not the hospital system is profitable. In order to better access the system’s current quality of service and to devise improvement plans I would need to explore issues that have significant effect on quality of care such as, patient satisfaction and retention, medical errors

The second concept is the patient satisfaction of the services that are provided at different medical facilitates. Some indicators for patient satisfaction are the number of patients that took patient satisfaction surveys and the number of comments from patients that wanted to see changes. More variables of

Throughout the United States, patient satisfaction has become increasingly significant in the quality of healthcare that is delivered to patients (Bleich, Özaltin, & Murray, 2009). The Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) survey is one national survey that has become more widely used in hospitals that measures patients’ perspectives of hospital care today (CMS, 2015). There are two

Measuring and reporting on patient satisfaction has become an integral part in healthcare and has become an industry of its own. The rising importance of patient satisfaction has not only been a determinant in incentives and reimbursements the hospital will receive (Mehta) and of quality of care for the patients, but it enhances the accountability to provide the quality of hospital care. Hospitals use HCAHPS (the Hospital Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems) which is required by CMS to measure patient satisfaction. It is a survey targeted towards patients to receive their feedback and perspectives of hospital care. It is focused to provide valid and up to date information to the public and give hospitals reports on patient expectations to work towards improvement and a greater standard (CMS).

Patient satisfaction is a driving force in today’s health care system. Incorporating the patient in their care will help with the patients healing process as well as encouraging the patient to be more compliant with their prescribed care. Bedside reporting is a practice that some organizations have incorporated in their standards of care. The patients care does not stop when the nurse’s shift ends. Therefore, it is important for the patient’s information to be conveyed accurately to the oncoming nurse. Conducting shift reports at the bedside allows the oncoming nurse to both visualize and interact with the patient much sooner than if the nurse had received report in another manner. Furthermore, bedside reporting allows the patient to interact with both nurses; and allows them to see that their care is being properly managed. This type of reporting also allows the oncoming nurse to ask questions, as other methods of shift reporting limits the oncoming nurse from interacting and asking questions of the off going nurse. Patient satisfaction as well as accurate transfer of information and patient safety is a crucial part in providing quality patient care.

Transforming care at the bedside (TCAB) was developed through a joint effort by the Institute of Healthcare Improvement (IHI) and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (Lavoie-Tremblay et al., 2014). The initiative has four main areas of focus: safe reliable care, vitality and teamwork, patient-centered care, and value added processes (Lavoie-Tremblay et al., 2014, p. 16). The most notable change witnessed in practice as a result of this initiative has been a shift to patient-centered care. The current investigation considers this issue and the application of TCAB to the Institute of Medicine’s (IOM) six aims for improvement and patient centered teams.

In years past, the hospital experience has been a big issue when it comes to the quality of healthcare. Most hospitals that don’t meet national standards included lengthy stays, several misjudgments and holes in prevention control. In general they have lacked patient respect, according to medical historians and health care professionals. However, these issues have improved substantially over the years. Because of cultural shifts, policy adjustments, healthcare prices, and technological advances, hospitals have moved toward a more patient based approach that emphasizes the importance of prioritizing prevention in all cases. Patient satisfaction is now a priority in healthcare nationally.

At UCF Community Care Center, our main focus and concern is our patients. Our main goal is to ensure that each and every one of our patients is satisfied upon leaving our office. “Patient satisfaction is an important and commonly used indicator for measuring the quality in health care. Patient satisfaction affects clinical outcomes, patient retention, and medical malpractice claims. It affects the timely, efficient, and patient-centered delivery of quality health care” (Prakash, 2010).

The health needs of the campus community is the Student Health Center’s utmost priority. This is demonstrated by the monthly meetings called Continuous Quality Improvement, facilitated by the medical personnel in order to discuss Patient Satisfaction. The process includes surveying students on the Health Center, allowing them to provide both suggestions and commentary regarding the services and their experiences, respectively. Towards the end of each month, the data is collected and presented to the employees who are responsible for relaying the abbreviated content of the meetings to the Administration department of the Health Center. Subsequently, necessary actions are implemented to improve the services and, if necessary, provide incentives

Several researchers documented Dissatisfaction amongst the patients in Outpatient clinics, over many years. (Uehira and Kay, 2009; Bielen and Demoulin, 2007; Kujala et al., 2006; Barlow, 2002; Hart, 1996; Gupta et al., 1993; McKinnon et al., 1998). Hart (1996) claimed that patient dissatisfaction is one of the most consistent features that have been expressed for outpatient service. The overall efficacy of healthcare delivery with quality service in an outpatient setting is affected by the physical environment of a Hospital (A.I.A., 2004). Extra waiting time becomes the non-value adding time as the hospital resources are not used to improve patients’ medical condition (Kujala et al., 2006). Barlow (2002) argues that excessive waiting time is

Fixing problems that face health care in many health facilities demand a system wide set of solutions. The systems used in these facilities must be assessed and redesigned to identify factors that will aid in the achievement of the set goals. The enormous task of achieving the goals should be undertaken collaboratively by all the key stakeholders, who include, health care professionals, planners and policy makers, administrators, payers, and patients and their families. These partnerships must begin with a common understanding of the problems together with a shared commitment to cooperate and work together to eliminate the problems. With this knowledge, therefore, an action plan for redesigning the health care system can be developed and later implemented. For a successful health care service to be realized, there are various factors which should be employed and which are not found in the traditional business setting. These include unique economic processes, proper regulatory requirements and the perfect quality indicators. This creates a need for every leader within the healthcare industry to create or develop unique skill sets that will harmonize both organizational leadership and the inter-professional team development. It is, therefore, important to understand the comprehensive approach to the management of patient care and also how the concepts of team development and organizational leadership support healthcare leaders in creation of a patient-centric