It's about care, not bells and whistles
It’s about care, not bells and whistles
Patients say staff caring most important
Forget speedy admissions, tasty food, and talented phlebotomists. The real issue affecting a patient’s impression of a hospital is staff empathy. They want staff to treat them with respect, acknowledge the stress caused by their health problems and hospitalization, and keep them informed about their care.
These revelations are based on a study conducted by Press, Ganey Associates of South Bend, IN. Press, Ganey reviewed surveys from 1,007,612 patients at 545 hospitals between December 1995 and November 1996, covering issues that affect their overall satisfaction with a hospital and their likelihood of recommending it to others.
"The results clearly and emphatically show that interpersonal issues such as attitude, interactive skills and caring behavior dominate the factors most closely associated with" patient satisfaction, says Rodney F. Ganey, PhD, co-director of Press, Ganey.
Ganey says many hospitals continue to ignore the importance of interpersonal issues in hospital care.
"Despite data that consistently show hotel services’ such as quality of food, room temperature, and noise level among the least correlated issues, we continue to observe providers focusing on amenities," Ganey explains. "Perhaps this is because managers view changing the noise level and the food quality as easier fixes than asking employees to be more empathetic."
While it is clearly the case that identifying problems with hospital service delivery is critical, particularly for evaluating contract management services, staff performance and quality improvement initiatives, they are not the determinants of overall patient satisfaction. Patients will make do with marginal amenities, but not with impersonal or insensitive care.
"For example, nurse friendliness, while listed in the top 10, nevertheless falls below other nursing issues such as taking the patient seriously, attention to personal needs, and sensitivity to their personal stresses caused by being sick and hospitalized.
"This suggests that the rather simplistic notion of smile at the patient and be nice’ isn’t sufficient. Patients want and demand more."
Here is a list of the top 10 issues:
1. Staff sensitivity to the inconvenience that health problems and hospitalization can cause.
2. Overall cheerfulness of the hospital staff.
3. Staff concern for patient privacy.
4. Amount of attention paid to patients’ special or personal needs.
5. Degree to which the nurses took patients’ health problems seriously.
6. Technical skill of nurses.
7. Nurses’ attitude toward patients’ calling them.
8. Degree to which the nurses kept patients adequately informed about tests, treatment, and equipment.
9. Friendliness of the nurses.
10. Promptness in responding to the call button.
Here is a list of the bottom 10 priorities.
1. Length of time patients had to wait in the X-ray department.
2. How well things worked (TV, call button, lights, bed, etc.).
3. How well IVs were started (quick, little pain, etc.).
4. How well patients’ blood was taken (quick, little pain, etc.).
5. Temperature of food (cold foods cold, hot foods hot).
6. Speed of admissions process.
7. Noise level in and around room.
8. Quality of food.
9. Likelihood of getting the food that was checked off on the menu.
10. Room temperature.
Subscribe Now for Access
You have reached your article limit for the month. We hope you found our articles both enjoyable and insightful. For information on new subscriptions, product trials, alternative billing arrangements or group and site discounts please call 800-688-2421. We look forward to having you as a long-term member of the Relias Media community.