Summary Of The HCAHPS Survey

Communication is one of the basic survival skills of human and also a fundamental part of nursing. Effective communication would help to promote a positive nurse-client relationship which is crucial for the delivery of quality nursing care (Sheppard, 1993; McCabe 2003).

Communication is usually taken for granted in our every day to day living as we use it without thought. Good communication skills are needed in the workplace and especially with nursing staff to and from patients when giving first hand care. Good or bad communication can make there experience within the health care setting a positive or negative one and can leave a lasting impression. A good health care provider can use there communication skills to put a patient at ease with a few comforting words or gestures, a lack of positive communication in the health care setting could leave the patient feeling neglected, ignored and not valued as a patient.

An important aspect of nurse practice is communication as it is the process of transferring information, feelings and ideas (RCN, 2015). It also provides knowledge based on identifying behaviour patterns, establish a relationship between nurse and patient and it is also

Communication is any form of expressing and receiving of messages between individuals. The importance of Communication in the nursing profession is to maintain high quality care for the patient but also maintain effective collaboration between professionals. Boykins, D (2014) states that the “registered nurse is expected to communicate in various formats and in all areas of practice”. Various formats include speaking to patients and coworkers as well as utilizing appropriate protocols and systems to effectively communicate regards to patient’s status.

Communication in nursing is important in patient teaching, patient understanding, and patient care; it is important to have the ability to communicate with the healthcare team, the patient, and the patient’s

Every health care organization is struggling to address the mandated Centers for Medicare (CMS) core measures, the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers (HCAHPS) patient satisfaction scores, in addition to the reportable events requirements. Given the reimbursement tied to outcomes, the organization is taking a serious stance in addressing the quality and safety initiatives, in addition to patient satisfaction scores. Furthermore, the organization has a patient safety counsel that focuses on nursing professional practice through the utilization of evidence based initiatives, assuring that nursing is deeply entrenched in working towards quality and safety goals.

According to http://www.mghpcs.org/eed_portal/Documents/PatExp/What_is_HCAHPS.pdf, the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (known as HCAHPS) is ‘the first national, standardized, and publicly reported survey of patients' perspectives of hospital care administered by MGH. This patient satisfaction assessment is required by CMS (the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services) for all hospitals in the United States. The Survey is for adult inpatients, excluding psychiatric patients. This assessment is ordered to a random sample of adult patients across medical conditions between forty-eight hours and six weeks following discharge’. It is conducted via mail, telephone, mail with telephone follow-up,

Communication is a key quality in many professions, but none more so than in the profession of nursing. Nurses are primary health care professionals; therefore, they are usually the first health care professional the client will encounter in a health care setting (Potter & Perry, 2010). This emphasizes the importance of communication skills for nurses in two ways: first, nurses will need to effectively communicate with the client to appropriately gather all needed

Patient safety, and care are the top priorities for healthcare providers, and that is why communication is greatly encouraged (Coiera, 2006). Examples of communication in the healthcare setting are face-to-face, emails, SBARs, rounds, phone calls, and meetings (Coiera, 2006). In order to disseminate information regarding the change topic, it is crucial for the stakeholders to practice good communication skills. Nurses for example give report to nurses through an SBAR, which is great because they can explain to the incoming nurse how the patient, and parent reacting to the skin-to-skin contact care (Daughtery et al., n.d). Not only is it essential for these stakeholders to communicate in the various ways listed, but it is important that they are trained, and educated enough to be able to support the

The HCAHPS survey is a subjective questioner that asks the patient their perception of the care they received while hospitalized. Different from traditional data measures, there are many variables that attribute to the patient’s perception of care. Interpretation of the survey questions, literacy levels, and ethnicity all are factors in the way patients rate their care. There is however, a direct correlation between higher HCAHPS scores and improved patient outcomes (Stein, Day, Karia, Hutzler, & Bosco, 2015). This finding strongly supports quality initiatives that center on improving HCAHPS performance.

Achieving the goal as a successful nurse is not easy as it requires not only a broad knowledge but also clinical skills (Raya 2006). One of the crucial factors leading to that is learning to create therapeutic relationships between health care professionals and patients through professional communication. This is long-term training since nurses must know how to apply different communication methods to help their patients with kindness and sincerity (Varcarolis 2005). The purpose of this study is to assess knowledge of how diversified communication types are used and their efficiency in building a therapeutic relationship.

The communication and relationship-building domain are vital fundamentals when establishing a healthcare team. This domain specifies effective communication which places emphasizes through oral and written presentations to facilitate effective communication efforts. This domain fosters building trusting, collaborative and effective communication with all healthcare disciplines that will contribute to new and innovative strategies, thus favorable results (AONE, 2011). The nurse executives can utilize this competency to prepare and support the novice nurse leader by influencing their behaviors through engaging the novice nurse in

One of the foundations of a positive patient experience is communication — both between providers and patients and among providers. Several questions on the HCAHPS survey address communication. For example, the survey asks patients:

Nurses tend to spend more time with patients than any other member of the health care team. As a person that spends a lot of time with each patient, he or she is a communicator for the patients in view of the fact that they interact with all roles within the healthcare system. Ms. Jennings states that “As a communicator, the nurse understands that effective communication

Now for my conclusion which offers some suggestions on how hospitals can improve on their HCAHPS scores. In my opinion, communication is the most important thing that can have the biggest impact on a score, more importantly the communication between a patient and the staff members taking care of them. I think it’s so important that staff members make sure that their patients understand the instructions you are giving them because maybe they don’t comprehend what you are telling them, and you just assume they understand and they may even say yes. I think it’s a good idea to give the information once, ask if they have any questions, then repeat giving them the information again, then ask do they have any questions. After two times the staff