Isn't There A Better Way to Serve Patients?
In 2007, the Journal of the American Medical Association reported that more than 42,000 qualified nursing school applicants were turned away at nursing schools in 2006, compared with less than 5,000 in 2002. The reason cited was that nursing schools have a shortage of faculty.
There are a lot of patient satisfaction surveys out there, which go to great lengths to gain data on a wide range of criteria. But, are they really getting to the heart of how patients really feel?
Recently, research published in the British Medical Journal found that it is better to ask patients about their actual care experience than provide them a checklist to rate their satisfaction in various areas. I agree. Instead of general survey questions where patients are asked to rate physician performance, waiting times, etc., wouldn’t we learn much more by asking specific questions about how the patient felt during their care experience?
For instance, did they feel the physicians and nurses really cared about them? Did they feel the professionals showed compassion while administering care, tests, etc.? How was the communications? Were procedures explained clearly and patiently?
Case managers have an important role in this area which is to assure that patients are being cared for at the highest level in a kind, compassionate and efficient way. It’s not enough that a top surgeon, for example, performs an outstanding operation if the patient is left feeling neglected? Don’t you think that if we simply asked patients to tell us how their experience was we would gain tremendous insight into the quality of care our healthcare system is delivering? It has to provide more information than formatted surveys with point scales simply asking patients to provide ratings in predetermined categories.
What would a patient survey you create look like? Let me know how you would improve on traditional surveys.