Excellence in Action: Patient Survey Results Reflect Improvement Efforts

Old habits can be hard to change. That’s why we are taking a fresh look at our processes, one by one. Our leadership, staff and physicians are committed to continually redirecting our focus on how well our care habits and procedures work for you, rather than for us. We are making progress. The result is that our culture is changing, for the better.

One way we keep tabs on your experience is by conducting patient satisfaction surveys on key behaviors. Have you heard of HCAHPS (Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems). This national assessment method provides a standardized survey for all hospitals to collect data from patients. It’s one of several survey methods we use.

“In past years, our scores didn’t show consistent improvement, but this quarter I was thrilled that we exceeded our goal of having 5 of the 9 care areas above a 50% approval rate. We actually hit every care area above the 50th percentile, and in fact, we were over 75% in most areas,” says Mary Barks, Manager of Patient and Physician Relations for CCH. She credits some of these improvements to the adoption of AIDET – a best practice for communicating with patients.

“AIDET is really about decreasing a patient’s anxiety about being in the hospital. It’s also about providing consistent care throughout the system. Wherever you are in our system—whether it is in the hospital, lab, clinic or therapy—we want you to have the same, high quality care experience,” Barks says

To learn the best ways to implement positive change, CCH joined with the Studer Group, nationally-known leaders on healthcare excellence, and adopted Lean process change improvement techniques. The two combined give a base for the hospital’s personal drive toward “Excellence Every Day.”

“What I love about where we are going is that I now hear staff talking about how every contact with patients makes a difference – and they’re excited about the positive impact on the people they serve,” Bark concludes.

By taking a hard look at our internal processes through the lens of your care experience, we continue to improve. If you haven’t visited us lately, we encourage you to try us again.