When I left the hospital was the topic of choice for the Hospital Consumer Evaluation of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) Survey. When I first arrived at the hospital, I went directly to my house. Throughout my hospital stay, the medical staff, nurses, and physicians told me that I would receive the required assistance even after I left the hospital. While in the hospital, I was given information, though not in writing, about health problems or symptoms to watch out for after I left. Use of patient satisfaction as a balance measure and not driver for outcomes
When a patient receives quality care and feels much better about the doctor, the patient will highly comply with the treatment recommendations. However, in cases such as cancer diagnosis, a patient may have adverse outcome despite the positive experience.
The health system ought to use the satisfaction of patients as a balance measure and but not a driver for a desirable outcome. The balance measures empower health systems to improve the quality of healthcare services while having considerations for the adverse consequences. The patients’ experience as a balance ensures that improving one area of the service does not affect other areas (Jadotte, Chase, Qureshi, Holly & Salmond, 2017).
Evaluation of the entire healthcare service provider team and not an individual
Survey data are indicators of the effectiveness of the whole team and not an individual. When surveyors analyze all the health care factors that influence the overall patient experience scores in a healthcare setup, nursing care and communication were more predictive than interactions with specific clinicians.
Use of technology and innovation
Healthcare technology innovations are changing the patient’s experience. Hospitals ought to efficiently implement the use of innovative technologies such as real-time location technology that manages patient flow hence reducing waiting and discharge time. Communication devices and electronic patient feedback systems would help alert staff in real time. In addition to the oral information, clinicians give to patients during medical prescriptions, interactive education technology as an innovative system would enhance relevant information regarding a patient’s care.
Management, nurse and staff
Hospitals require nurses, the management, and the team needs to adopt some recommendations to receive credit for the quality healthcare services they provide which would increase the patient satisfaction hence improving their scores. The proposals include;
The management needs to educate and train nurses and the staff on how to care for patients both in hospitals and those who have left and are at home. A well-trained management, nurses and hospital staff are essential in supporting hospital efforts of providing quality outpatient care (Carter & Silverman, 2016)
Creating a culture of shared responsibilities for accountability within the nurses as a team will support each other in responding to a patient’s needs even if they are out of the hospital also if the patient out of the hospital was not in their care.
Hospitals should recruit, train and retain staff that appreciates the importance of positive patient’s experience. Impressions are necessary, and when a single member of the faculty performs poorly, the patient’s dissatisfaction degrades the entire team’s performance and negatively portrays the image of the hospital (Carter & Silverman, 2016).
Brief review
When I left the hospital, I had encountered some different experiences both positive and negative. When I left the hospital, I went directly to my house because I had received adequate care and there was no need of visiting another health facility. However, my discharge process took quite a long time hence the need for the use of technology to improve patients’ waiting and discharge time.
During my stay at the hospital to the point I left, the hospital staff, doctors, and nurses talked and assured me that I would receive help even when out of the hospital. The assurance reminded me of the need for all healthcare facilities and management to create a culture of shared responsibilities among nurses that will support patient even when they leave the hospital.
The caregiver provided gave an oral information on the symptoms or health problems to look out for which was not adequate. Quality guidance would be through the use of technology would provide more explicit information if a patient has no background in health and diseases hence supporting their recovery.
Conclusion
The Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) Survey helps in collecting patients experience to aid in decision making, policy formulation and financial allocations for hospitals based on their performance. HCAHPS survey scores indicate a level of health care hospitals provide, the hospital’s reputation and implications on financial reimbursement for the healthcare service providers. The survey was thus necessary for providing feedback after leaving the hospital as a means of improving the services of the health facility.
References
Carter, J., & Silverman, F. (2016). Using HCAHPS Data to Improve Hospital Care Quality. The TQM Journal, 28(6), 974-990
Jadotte, Y., Chase, S., Qureshi, R., Holly, C., & Salmond, S. (2017). The HCAHPS Survey as the Potential Tool for Measuring Organizational Interprofessional Competency at American Hospitals Nationwide: A Content Analysis Study of Concept Validity. Health & Interprofessional Practice, 3(2).
