Maria Parham Recognizes Top Performers in Overall Quality of Care

5/11/2011

The quality of care that patients receive at Maria Parham Medical Center is of utmost importance and is something that the hospital constantly endeavors to improve. Each month, based on the Press Ganey patient satisfaction scores that are compiled, a trophy is awarded to the inpatient and the outpatient department who have the highest ‘overall quality of care’ score.  The winners for April were the Surgical Unit for inpatient and the Medical Oncology Unit for outpatient.  The trophies, filled with candy and adorned with balloons, are presented with much fanfare to the winning departments each month by both the “High Five” Team (the committee that developed the idea), as well as the Administrative Team, which is made up of the hospital President and CEO, as well as other members of senior management. 

 

Becky Janssen, Assistant Vice President of Patient Care Services, is on both the “High Five” Team and the Administrative Team.  “I think it is important for the employees to have members of upper management present the award.  It shows them that Administration values how hard they work to achieve great patient satisfaction scores,” says Janssen.

 

Janssen also believes that the recent increase in patient satisfaction scores is due in part to “hourly rounding”.  She explains, “Members of the nursing staff check on each patient at least once an hour to assess their needs.  They ask the patient questions like:  Is your room temperature comfortable?, Do you need assistance going to the restroom?, Are you in any pain?, and Would you like your room door open or shut? as they are exiting.  Asking questions like this truly shows the patient that they are cared about, both as an individual and as a patient at our hospital.”

 

Bob Singletary, President & CEO of Maria Parham, comments, “Patient satisfaction is something that we take very seriously here at the hospital.  Receiving such high marks for overall quality of care is a direct result of how patients perceive the treatment they receive here—both on the clinical and the personal level.”  He goes on to say, “We are especially proud of the Surgical and Medical Oncology departments at Maria Parham last month for their outstanding performance.”