Out of Africa to the Emergency Departments (ED) of Johnson City Medical Center (JCMC) and North Side Hospital (NSH), has come a unique, technological advancement in patient-centered care - SurveyNow(tm). Accessible through a hand-held Palm(tm), the survey is a series of customized questions aimed at gauging the care received by patients treated at the Level I Trauma Center and at its sister-hospital, North Side. The two MSHA hospitals are the first in the United States to implement use of this system.
The SurveyNow(tm), a customer satisfaction measurement system, is compact, portable, user-friendly and rests in a cradle to allow data to be downloaded directly to a computer for translation into measurable information. ED patients at both JCMC and NSH have been invited over the past several months to help in a pilot program that was initiated March 17, 2003.
"We are very pleased with this implementation through our US subsidiary, Saratoga Technologies Inc. (STI)", says Saratoga Software CEO, Anthony Robinson. "This is our first stop in America with JCMC and NSH being the first in the United States to have this technology".
Patients who have been treated in the EDs of both JCMC and NSH, have been invited by caregivers to take the survey - customized for Mountain States Health Alliance - prior to their discharge from the emergency services areas at each hospital. The survey is completely confidential and requires that patients answer questions on the hand-held Palm(tm). Patients respond to the survey questions by selecting icons, which depict images ranging from a smiley face to a frowning face. The questions are designed to indicate satisfaction with everything from courtesy, wait time, helpfulness of caregivers and physician interaction.
There are two sample questions at the beginning of the survey to help patients move through the computerized offering. For Hampton, Tenn., resident Michael Jenkins, the bedside survey was easy to use and took little time once he was given a brief overview of how to use the survey device. "I like this," Jenkins, who was being seen for a laceration to his thumb.
"This allows us to know what we are doing to please our customers and what we are doing that may not be as pleasing for patients as far as the services we provide in the emergency room," said Registered Nurse Pam Kubisiak, who serves as a shift leader and has more than 25 years of experience. "Real-time is very important ... it's valuable on the frontline in the ER. We know right then what a patient perceives to be good."
Coupled with Press Ganey, another customer-satisfaction survey for healthcare providers, the SurveyNow(tm) will help caregivers to streamline services and identify areas for improvement as MSHA continues to improve its quality care and excellence.
According to MSHA Senior Director of Guest Services Tom Tull, the uniqueness of immediate feedback coupled with the strength of the measurement through Press Ganey, has enabled the providers to create services that not only meet high standards in quality, but also meet and exceed patients' expectations for the encounter.
"The care teams at JCMC and NSH are creating a great overall emergency treatment experience," Tull said. "Mountain States is making continuing strides improving the patient care experience based on the aspects most important to patients and families."
"SurveyNow(tm) has huge merit because this provides you with immediate feedback," said Washington County Facilities Chief Nursing Officer Judy Ingala. "With this system, we may be able to make patient-care improvements or increase patient-satisfaction at the time a patient is still in the ED." Ingala also said that caregivers must also be "ready to understand that concurrent satisfaction can be based on two or three surveys." Press Ganey provides national comparisons not yet available through Saratoga Technologies, she said.
"The real-time technology offers a way for MSHA caregivers to do some troubleshooting by unit. Press Ganey, the 'gold standard' for comparing JCMC to other like-systems, gives a more longitudinal method of scoring our patient-centered care initiatives," the administrator added.
In fact, the SurveyNow(tm) questions replicated those questions made available to discharged patients through Press Ganey. The Press Ganey questions arrive at the homes of former patients, received confidentially by mail and calculated for comparison with other facilities nationwide.
By using these patient-satisfaction tools, MSHA officials will be able to gain a better understanding of how to make necessary improvements throughout the system that will further support patient-centered care initiatives. Both Dr. Chris Gillespie and Dr. E.C. Goulding III have been instrumental in helping MSHA gain this technology.
"SurveyNow(tm) is an excellent, real-time patient-satisfaction measurement tool that has been beneficial in helping me as I deal with issues in the emergency department at JCMC," said Dr. Gillespie, Medical Director at JCMC. "Specifically, we can follow a number of parameters of patient satisfaction: courtesy, communication and patient perception of pain management. We get real-time information such that we can intervene in a timely manner to improve if we aren't doing well in a certain area."
"The emergency department at North Side Hospital was excited to have the opportunity to be one of the first hospitals in the country with this new technology for our patients," said Dr. E.C. Goulding, Medical Director at NSH. "Real-time responses enable us to make improvements faster than before."
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