Tuality’s Emergency Department makes strides in customer satisfaction

July 26, 2012

Other departments at Tuality Healthcare should be green with envy over the recent customer satisfaction scores rung up by the Emergency Department. Department customer satisfaction scores in the June report all glowed in green, signifying an increase in customer satisfaction over the previous quarter. The ED showed substantial improvement in all 10 categories, and substantial improvement in how Tuality ranks against other Northwest and National hospitals.

Leading the way:

• Confidence that staff provided care in a safe and secure manner? Score of 91.
• Care from nurses? (Overall). Score of 90.
• Information you were given about caring for yourself at home? Score of 90.

The scores denote what percentage of patients answered the question(s) “Very Good.”

“Congratulations to the Emergency Department,” said Eunice Rech, RN, Tuality’s chief clinical officer. “Great results, keep the trend going.” Chris Meyers, RN, director inpatient services, said: “Fantastic job to you and your staff.”

David Miller, director of emergency, respiratory and ambulatory services, cautioned that the Emergency Department doesn’t deserve all of the credit. Multiple departments helped make the outstanding scores possible, he said.

Miller mentioned the following departments, among many others, for praise:

• Housekeeping for their work in keeping the department and the hospital clean and tidy.
• Admitting for their willingness to change their entire work pattern to bedside registration.
• Diagnostic Imaging and Laboratory for their quick turnaround times.
• 4th and 5th floor, PCU and ICU for helping with the quick transition of patients from the ED to the hospital.
• Hospital administration for funding Rapid Care Unit equipment.
• Information Systems for making changes in Cerner and to the location, operation and efficiency of information flow.
• Engineering and Biomed for the never ending changes and repairs to the ED.

“It really is a team effort involving all the other departments,” Miller said. “Every change builds on previous changes and allows other changes to occur afterward. Our challenge now is to continue improving in all areas.”

Miller singled out Janneth Nakamura, RN, Kari Marks, ED Tech, Dr. William Powell and Dr. Darren Alexander, ED physicians, for their roles in the staff-driven change process.