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Our hospital utilizes a company to survey our patients. The survey is fairly long, and I don't feel like repeat customers will complete it every time they come in. It does not give me information that I feel that I can use to actually make improvements for my my patients.

About once a year for a quarter I will give my pateints out a survey that is just for my surgical services.

I believe in the Studor Group. I ask patients to complete the following questions for me. I have as much as an 80% return rate.

1. What are we doing well and what would you like to see us keep doing?

2. What could we do better or what should we be doing?

3. Would you and your family want us to care for you in the future.

4. Is there anyone you feel should be recognized for providing you with excellent care?

Ermel Heuer (Director, Surgical Services/Director of Nursing) at July 25, 2012 (7:05 pm)

Our hospital utilizes a company to survey our patients. The survey is fairly long, and I don't feel like repeat customers will complete it every time they come in. It does not give me information that I feel that I can use to actually make improvements for my my patients.

About once a year for a quarter I will give my pateints out a survey that is just for my surgical services.

I believe in the Studor Group. I ask patients to complete the following questions for me. I have as much as an 80% return rate.

1. What are we doing well and what would you like to see us keep doing?

2. What could we do better or what should we start doing?

3. Would you and your family want us to care for you in the future.

4. Is there anyone you feel should be recognized for providing you with excellent care?

Ermel Heuer (Director, Surgical Services/Director of Nursing) at July 25, 2012 (7:04 pm) [last edited on July 25, 2012 (7:05 pm)]

We had a local vendor which really did not give us much feedback, had no innovation in cusomizing questions and had little or no range in responses to analyize the level of customer satisfaction (mostly "yes" or "no" reponses).Also,currently the vendor we use had an average 8% response rate.

We are in the process of switching to CTQ Solutions as they are able to customize survey questions and have great benchmarking data which is really helpful in your accreditation process. I have worked with them before for over a year in another ASC and found them superior to anything out there. What I like most is the ability to respond almost instantly to any patient dissatisfaction reply. Then you can set those negative issues up with their QI module and trend it in a report. You can benchmark internally in your organization if you have multiple sites or services as well as externally. Your providers will also have their "stats" individually to compare how they rate against each other in the organization and how the services rate nationally.

I have been involved with Patient Satisfaction surveys for various healthcare organizations for over 10 years and find CTQ Solutions far superior and the easiest to work with compared to anything out there with a response rate higher than 30%. You should look into them as they are customer oriented, reports are benchmarked and they provide a wealth of information about your customer/patient response base.

Marie Bromm, RN, MSHA--Quality Improvement Manager

Marie Bromm (Other) at July 25, 2012 (10:40 am) [last edited on July 25, 2012 (10:43 am)]

We also use an electronic survey that the patient can fill out on the iPad before they leave, or if they are still too sedated, they can take it by email. We love it, and so do the patients. It's also far more affordable than our pervious mailer system, and the capture rate is significantly higher. www.CODESURVEY.org

Breanna B. (Director, Surgical Services/Director of Nursing) at July 24, 2012 (6:21 pm)

First of all its "Ridiculous" not "Rediculous". Second in surgery centers it is usually required as part of QA to have patient satisfaction surveys. Thirdly, since most of the surgeries that occur at an outpatient surgery center, whether an ASC or office based, are elective, patients do have a choice and thus yes they are also customers.

My company employs an online patient satisfaction system that is able to get a high return rate of the surveys and we are able to relieve the facility of the extra cost of postage.

Regarding the types of questions The questions should be tailored to meet the criteria you would like to know about. If you are concerned about wait times then questions should be geared towards wait times and how the patient feels the wait can be reduced or made less onerous. Sometimes we want to know about the patient's satisfaction with new staffing models, or a new set of post-operative instructions, new type of procedure, etc.

I would be happy to follow up with anyone who may need more information. I can be contacted at universalhc@universalhc.com

Debbi Conn (Administrator/Director/Manager/Owner/Exec. Officer) at July 24, 2012 (12:01 pm) [last edited on July 24, 2012 (12:02 pm)]

KUDOS to Ms. Parks, who thinks "it is a rediculous concept to actually consider patients customers. They are people and if you have high trained quality compassionate employees with an administration that cares for its workers all this would be a thing of the past and unnecessary"... SADLY, this sort of thing actually DID used to be a thing of the past and is a sign of the questionable times for healthcare --caregivers have either abandoned it, or have no realization of the difference due to their shorter careers. She has hit the nail squarely on the head. I look for the day when we will be doing surgery at the Marriott for "guests" or perhaps at Wal-Mart for "customers" --this is the insidious infiltration of business, which has no business in caring for people. Having much experience in healthcare myself, clinically and administratively, if someone refers to me as anything but a patient, I probably would prefer not having them touch me.

Julie White (Administrator / Director / Manager / Owner / Executive Officer) at July 24, 2012 (11:47 am)

We also use the survey (which is emailed to patients and when they respond are eligible to win a $25 restaurant gift card)as a infection/wound site question tool for our monthly infection/complication study. Most of our patients are out of state, so this is the best and most productive way to keep in touch

1.When you were in your private preop room, were
all your concerns and/or questions addressed
prior to being taken to the Operating Room?
2. Was the staff, while you were in the Operating
Room, professional, courteous and attentive?
3. Did you feel your anesthesiologist was
supportive/attentive/caring the day of your
surgery?
4. Did you feel you received good pain control
during your procedure?
5. Did you feel that you spent enough time in the
Recovery Room before being discharged to your
caregiver?
6. Did the surgeon communicate what was happening
during your procedure?
7. If surgery services become necessary in the
near future would you return to our facility?
8. Would you recommend our facility to family and
friends for surgery?
9. Overall rating for the care and treatment
received

Dawn Ernst (Director, Surgical Services/Director of Nursing) at July 24, 2012 (8:54 am)

We ask patients to rate us on a scale of 1-5. (1 = poor, 5 = exceeded expectations)
1. Did all staff members introduce themselves and treat you with respect and courtesy?
2. Were you able to observe all staff members using frequent hand hygiene?
3. During your stay, did you find the doctor and his operating team to be competent and professional, sympathetic and caring?
4. Did you find our facility clean and sanitary, warm and inviting?
5. Rate your overall experience with our surgery center.
6. Would you recommend our surgery center to your friends and family?

I wrote these questions myself to try to ilicit some feedback that was usable to us. Our responses to #2 have been eye-opening. I know my staff uses frequent hand hygiene, but it's been interesting to hear the patient's perception of how we're doing. It's been another way to initiate better compliance with hand hygiene, from BOTH staff and patients!

Jackie Dayton (OR Manager / Supervisor) at July 24, 2012 (8:12 am)

I might be a cynic after being an ICU, PACU, and ER nurse for almost 20 years but when I went into hospital for surgerys/childbirth I just wanted a healthy safe outcome. I didn't care about the waits the gowns or the food. I think it is a rediculous concept to actually consider patients customers. They are people and if you have high trained quality compassionate employees with an administration that cares for its workers all this would be a thing of the past and unnecessary.

Sally Parks (Anesthesiologist/Nurse Anesthetist) at July 23, 2012 (11:34 pm)

We have all our Surgery Center use CTQ Solutions.
We are receiving responces greater than 38%
CTQ Solutions sends email notifications (appx 96%. If patient does not have an email address we provide them with a paper survey and postage paid evelope which they mail directly to CTQ Solutions. Great benching marking data. Can pull results by specialty and surgeon specific.

Marilyn Christian (Administrator/Director/Manager/Owner/Exec. Officer) at July 23, 2012 (5:49 pm)

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