Goal #4: Understand the role of the unit in promoting patient satisfaction including the best care

Funny that the clincal goal listed as number 4 is the first one I feel was accomplished. Today Dave showed me how patient satisfation is recorded in HCAHPS scores. These are reports that track the units deficiencies and goals met, and are based of the WOW cards that patients are asked to fill out before being discharged to go home.

After we reviewed the HCAHPS scores from January, Dave explained that there are certain steps he takes to help improve these scores. One way is by patient rounding. The nurse manager is responsible to round on a certain number of patients per week to find out the quality of care the patient has been given as well as offer any care that is needed at that time. During our rounding that day, most of the patient and family were so nice, but I was suprised by the few that had negative things to say about their time at the surgical center. It was then Dave's job to try and smooth things over so the patient would leave happy... and hopefully their stay would reflect positively in the HCAHPS scores.

Another thing that contributes to patient satisfaction are the "Thank you" cards that are sent to each patient. This is delegated out the the nurse responsible for the individual patient. At first I thought it was pretty cheesy to send out a generic card that everyone hurridly signs, but then I saw that the nurses were actually writing things that were applicable to each patient and the interaction they had with them.

The WOW cards are given to Dave daily and he sorts through them and analyzes what factors contributed to the patient be satisfied with their care. Some of them are reallly fun to read. The ones that aren't so WOW (I think they are OOPS cards) are usually for things beyond the control of any staff. For example, a surgery has run long so the next case ends up getting started late. If the OOPS cards are very disconcerning, I've seen Dave make phone calls to the individual families to apologize for their unpleasant experience.

So, overall, the until manager has a large part to play in promoting patient satisfaction.