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The Springfield News-Sun knows health care is important to you and is committed to following patient satisfaction ratings.
Patient satisfaction scores at Springfield Regional Medical Center continue to inch closer to state averages, according to the latest report from Medicare’s Hospital Compare.
In the key measures of whether patients would give the hospital a 9 or 10 or would “definitely recommend” the hospital to others, Springfield Regional advanced to 59 and 58 percent, respectively.
Those percentages are 3 and 4 points higher than results of surveys taken from July 1, 2011, to June 30, 2012, but continue to lag 12 and 13 points lower than the Ohio average of 71 percent.
It still represents a major improvement over 2009 when the first measure fell to 44.6 percent as Mercy Medical Center and Community Hospital went through an awkward and difficult merger.
In the latest survey the medical center fell just two percent short of stage averages on two questions put to patients: Whether their doctors always communicated with them well and whether their pain was always well controlled.
Springfield Regional was four points off state averages on measures of whether a patient’s room and bathroom were always clean and the area around the room was always quiet at night.
The medical center’s results came in at six percent behind the state average on whether nurses always communicated well with patients; seven percent behind on a question about whether patients were given information about what to do during recovery at home; and eight percent behind on the measure of whether staff always explained to patients about their medications before administering them.
“We are confident our patient satisfaction scores will continue to show steady improvement,” said Springfield Regional spokesman Dave Lamb.
“That improvement applies not only to the patient’s inpatient experience, but also in the emergency department, where recent survey results have been extremely positive. We are transforming care in our hospital and are on a quest to become a top 100 hospital.”
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