How do you measure patient satisfaction?
Patient satisfaction is very important to us. We care about patients' impressions of Virtua and their feedback. As a result, we send a satisfaction survey to 50 percent of our patients. These names are randomly selected and the surveys are processed by Press Ganey Associates in South Bend, Indiana. Press Ganey is the company used by almost 6,000 medical facilities nationwide.
These satisfaction surveys ask patients to give their opinion of their entire experience - from the food to the nurses and physicians. Patients complete and return the survey directly to Press Ganey which ensures the results are processed objectively. The data is reported to Virtua on a monthly basis and we constantly review the results. We monitor trends and institute actions that ensure improvements. These surveys help us to identify areas where we can do better.
Approximately 24 percent of the patients who receive a survey take the time to complete and return it to us. If you would like to comment on a recent experience, please call 1-888-VIRTUA-3 (1-888-847-8823).
Providing outstanding patient experiences
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Josh Cain, patient representative, and Teresa Lawlor,
patient relations manager (standing) assist a patient
who is filling out a satisfaction survey. |
“We want every patient to be a satisfied patient,” says Teresa Lawlor, patient relations manager at Virtua Marlton. “We want our patients to use our services again and recommend us to family and friends.”
This goal is at the heart of our core values – to provide an outstanding patient experience, and Virtua has an arsenal of tools to drive this goal. One of them is Voice Your Choice. It is designed to give patients more of a voice in their care. As part of this initiative, employees are expected to:
- Ask permission
- Explain treatment options
- Offer choices
For example, a nurse asks a patient’s permission before performing a test, or a physician discusses treatment options with a patient and his family.
Josh Cain, patient representative at Virtua Marlton, explains how patient satisfaction initiatives are created: “We survey patients while they are here. We take their feedback and identify areas of oppor tunity to improve our service. Then, we build programs around these areas.”
Committees at each hospital then educate their co-workers about these new programs, which serve to foster outstanding experiences for all Virtua patients.