Question 1 of 3
At St. Anthony Medical Center, an urban hospital that is part of the Vila Health network, patient satisfaction scores have been declining. The data has been synthesized and some of the key findings were shared out to staff. Some of the highlights included:
75 percent of patients were slightly unsatisfied with their wait time
10 percent of patients were very unsatisfied with their communication with floor nurses
45 percent of patients were moderately unsatisfied with the noise level
80 percent of patients were satisfied with the information received at discharge
Of these highlights which one would be the first you would try to address and why?
This question has not yet been answered.
There is no one right answer to this question. The least likely survey finding to identify as a problem to address would be the 80 percent satisfaction with discharge communications. The other three options are problems that are likely worth addressing. The 75 percent of patients that were slightly unsatisfied with their wait times represents a large number of patients for St. Anthony Medical Center. Additionally, they were only slightly unsatisfied. So, it would likely take less effort to bring some or all in this group into the satisfied category than the other two unsatisfied findings. This means you could potentially see a big uptick in satisfaction scores with only incremental improvements. However, this could leave more serious problems unaddressed. The 10 percent of patients were very unsatisfied with their communication with floor nurses represents a small number of patients, but they are a group that had a significant issue. Addressing this highlight should help raise satisfaction scores. However, it is likely to be a longer and more difficult effort.
Question 2 of 3
Let us presume you selected the wait time satisfaction issue from the findings above. If you were to develop a policy to try and improve satisfaction, what area(s) or process(es) would you focus on? Why? Note: You will have to make some assumptions as to the root cause of the wait time issue. As an example, if you had chosen the floor nurse communication point in the previous question you might choose to develop a policy around when to bring in a translator or a multi-lingual colleague (assuming you found the root cause to be difficulty communicating across language barriers).
This question has not yet been answered.
There is no one correct answer to this question. Your answer will be highly dependent on what assumptions you make as to the root cause of the wait time issue. For example, if you assume that long wait times are being caused by lack of provider availability, you may focus on scheduling or staffing policies. If you assume that the unsatisfactory responses are a result of lengthy or inefficient check-in, you may focus on policies to improve check-in procedures.
Question 3 of 3
Let us presume you have created a policy around the use of overhead paging at St. Anthony Medical Center in an effort to improve satisfaction around hospital noise level. With which stakeholder group(s) would be the most important to create buy-in with for a successful implementation of the policy?
This question has not yet been answered.
There is no single correct answer. However, floor nurses, specifically those who are work overnight shifts, could be a primary stakeholder group for the policy as they will have a role in implementing and abiding by the guidelines that will likely be outlined in any overhead paging system policy. This is especially true if the goal of the policy is to reduce nighttime noise.
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