ED ranked among tops in nation in patient satisfaction

Baptist Hospital Northeast’s Emergency Department (ED) has been ranked in the top 10 percent among emergency departments nationally in patient satisfaction, according to a Press Ganey survey. In the second quarter of 2011, patients ranked the Emergency Department “good” or “very good” in the following categories: overall (90 percent); likelihood of recommending the Emergency Department (91 percent); courtesy of doctor (93 percent); and courtesy of nurses (94 percent).

“Emergency Department scores are not typically high scores,” said Emergency Department Director Benita McNally, “because people are very sick or they’re in pain. It has to be about the quality of care, but it’s really about how you deliver that care.”

Over the past year, the Baptist Northeast ED has implemented charge nurses so that there is someone in charge around the clock ensuring staff accountability and doing service recovery; bedside reporting, when the nurse introduces the new nurse coming on shift and reports on the patient’s status to him or her at the patient’s bedside; hourly rounding with patients; keeping patients informed about delays; and complaint follow-up, all to put the patient first. “It has been a team effort,” said Andrew Rochet, MD, emergency physician. “We’ve been finding alternate ways to approach possible problems. It also helps to give each individual physician their scores and actual patient reports so it reinforces the importance of the physician/patient relationship and being able to communicate effectively.”