Good or Bad, They Want to Hear from You

Carla Raboin, North Country Hospital Information Systems Department, is chair of North Country’s “measurement team” and also is the hospital’s VIP for February.

It’s human nature, most of us like to receive praise. The same is true at North Country Health System - but they also want to hear complaints. Responses to the surveys that are mailed to patients after they receive hospital services are taken very seriously.

“We like to know when patients think we provide excellent care, but we also want to know if we didn’t. We want to know what you think about your stay at North Country,” Carla Raboin says. “It’s great if you enjoyed your stay, but if you weren’t happy, we want to know that too.”

Carla is a Financial Application Specialist in North Country’s Information Systems Department. She is also the chairperson of North Country’s Measurement Team. This team is made up of six staff members from a cross section of departments throughout the health system, such as representatives from patient care services, a provider practice, and the patient billing department.

Part of the role of the Measurement Team is to help both patients and staff understand the importance of patient experience surveys and to help departments encourage their patients to fill out and return their surveys.

To help healthcare professionals understand how patients feel about the quality of care and the general quality of their experience at North Country, patients receive a survey at their home a few days after receiving services. Patients receive this survey based on the services they received:
• Outpatient Services -- such as laboratory, x-ray, physical therapy or respiratory care services, that is, services that don’t require an overnight stay
• Inpatient Services -- medical services that require an overnight stay in the hospital
• Emergency Department
• Healthcare Provider Practices -- the appointments you have with your doctor or nurse practitioner
• Derby Green Nursing Home

It’s important to know that it only takes a few minutes to answer the questions on the survey.

Like all hospitals in Vermont, and most in the US, North Country uses a company called Press Ganey to carry out the survey process. This means that Press Ganey actually mails the survey forms to patients at their home address. Press Ganey is a company that is committed to providing important information about patient satisfaction to over 7,000 health care facilities in the US. These healthcare facilities use this information to continuously improve the quality of their services and how they provide those services.

Here are examples of the items on one of the surveys that patients are asked to score. Remember, it takes only a few minutes to complete the survey, because the patient scores each item on a scale of 1 to 5 (very poor to very good).

Admission
• Speed of admission process
• Courtesy of person who admitted you
• Overall rating of pre-admission process

Room
• Pleasantness of room décor
• Room cleanliness
• Courtesy of person who cleaned your room
• Level of noise in and around your room

Meals
• Temperature of the food
• Quality of the food
• Courtesy of the person serving your food

Nurses
• Friendliness / courtesy of the nurses
• Promptness in responding to the call button
• Nurses’ attitude toward your requests

Physician
• Time physician spent with you
• Physician’s concern for your questions and worries
• How well physician kept you informed

Overall Assessment
• Overall cheerfulness of hospital
• Likelihood of your recommending this hospital to others
• Overall rating of care given at this hospital

Once completed, patients mail their surveys directly to Press Ganey using postpaid envelopes that come with the survey. At Press Ganey, results are analyzed and scored mathematically. These scores are reported on a regular basis to hospital officials.

In addition to the fact that it takes only a few minutes to complete the survey, it’s important to know that patients do not need to identify themselves. No name or signature is required. On the other hand, the patient can include his/her name and telephone number if he/ she want to be contacted by a hospital representative.

Unfortunately less than 30 percent of the patients who receive the surveys take the time to fill them out and mail them. “Sadly, many people don’t think filling out the surveys is important” states Raboin. “That just isn’t true. The surveys that are returned help us improve our services and our care.” Raboin also notes that the while positive comments are appreciated negative comments are taken very seriously. “When a negative comment is received, the problem is reviewed. Members of that particular department study what can be done to remedy the situation or issue. Sometimes this means changing a policy or process to more effectively serve patients.” Raboin further explained that “Positive comments from patients help the staff determine what they are doing right. In some cases that information can be used to make a system-wide improvement.”

Raboin and all her colleagues at North Country Health System encourage all patients who receive care at North Country to take just a few minutes to fill out the survey when it arrives at their home. “We want to know what we’re doing right, and we want to know what we can improve so we can better serve our patients,” explains Raboin.

To find out how the quality of care at North Country compares to hospitals in other regions, go to www.nchsi.org and click on Act 53 Reports. For more information specifically about the survey process at North Country, contact Nancy Goss, Community Relations at 334-3225 or e-mail ngoss@nchsi.org.

(Submitted by J. Fedele and North Country Measurement Team)

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