Patient Recognition Week; Important to return patient surveys
Patient Recognition Week at VMH ... This is National Patient Recognition Week which concentrates on promoting and emphasizing patient satisfaction. The mission of Veterans Memorial Hospital includes providing an exceptional health care experience to each and every one of their patients. However, VMH relies heavily on the return of patient surveys to see how well they are doing at meeting this goal. They ask all patients who receive a survey to take the time to fill it out and return it so they can continually improve. Pictured above is Marian Meier of Lansing, surrounded by some of her nursing care team including Krystal Grotegut, RN; Miranda Bieber, RN; and Dannette Hermeier, RN. Submitted photo.
National Patient Recognition Week is held nationally during the first seven days of February and concentrates on promoting and emphasizing patient satisfaction. The week serves as a reminder and an opportunity for health care professionals to focus on the care they give their patients, to reflect on even better ways to provide their care and recommit to the pledge of superior healthcare service delivery.
The mission of Veterans Memorial Hospital includes providing an exceptional health care experience to each and every patient; however, they rely heavily on the return of the patient surveys to see how well they are doing in order to make needed improvements.
“Veterans Memorial Hospital health care staff strives to give exceptional care to each and every one of our patients and we hope we are fulfilling that goal,” explains Bailey Estebo, RN, Assistant Chief Nursing Officer who coordinates the hospital’s patient satisfaction program. “The best way to measure how well we are doing is by closely reviewing the patient survey results we receive back each month through the Press Ganey survey program.”
These Press Ganey patient surveys are sent out by mail, email or text message. The results from these surveys are summarized and returned monthly in report form to Estebo, who then shares them with staff who together work to improve the scores.
“We can’t express how important it is for our patients to take the time to provide this feedback for us,” adds Estebo. “Without this data, we don’t know what areas we need to work on and improve, so we greatly appreciate our patients and their family members taking the time to return the survey.”
Patient Recognition Week serves as an opportunity for healthcare service providers to find ways to better care for their patients and attend to some of the most common complaints around healthcare service delivery in the U.S., including noisy nurses stations causing loss of sleep, which has also been found as a problem locally.
“This week is a great opportunity to remind our staff and our providers to refocus their attention on our patients and the ultimate goal of providing an exceptional overall patient experience,” adds Laura Baxter, RN, Clinic Director. “At both our Waukon and Postville Clinics, we continue to grow quickly, yet strive to provide that exceptional care with each and every patient. That patient feedback is so important and we thank all of you who take the time to provide us the feedback we need to keep improving!”
For questions concerning the Press Ganey patient satisfaction program at Veterans Memorial Hospital, contact Bailey Estebo at 563-568-3411.
