May 5th, 2010 by JessicaBerthold in Better Health Network, Health Policy, Opinion
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Some interesting points were raised at a recent Society of Hospital Medicine (SHM) session by Winthrop Whitcomb and Nancy Mihevc on patient satisfaction. To improve satisfaction scores:
1. Review the patient’s chart before you go in the room. It makes a big difference if the patient perceives you know what’s going on without having to bury your face in a chart.
2. Patients are often confused about who they are supposed to see after discharge. This, of course, is a safety issue as well as one that affects patient satisfaction.
3. Sit down when you are visiting a patient. Patients are happiest when they perceive you’ve spent enough time with them, and they are more likely to perceive this if you are sitting than standing with your hand on the doorknob. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at ACP Hospitalist*
April 28th, 2010 by KevinMD in Better Health Network, Health Policy, Health Tips, Opinion, Research
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Patient satisfaction, as I wrote about previously, is being increasingly focused upon.
Doctors are often pressed for time, and appear rushed — which can potentially lead to unhappy patients.
I saw this small study showing that the simple act of sitting down while talking to patients can have a profound effect. Many doctors I know already do this, but now there’s some data to support sitting. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at KevinMD.com*
April 11th, 2010 by KevinMD in Better Health Network, News, Opinion
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A version of this op-ed was published on March 15, 2010 in USA Today:
If you recently saw a doctor, you might subsequently receive a survey in the mail asking whether your physician was friendly, spent enough time with you, or showed the appropriate level of concern for your medical issues.
Read the rest of article here: Op-ed: Patient satisfaction doesn’t mean the best medical care
*This blog post was originally published at KevinMD.com*
March 26th, 2010 by Happy Hospitalist in Better Health Network, Humor, Opinion
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From the Tonight Show and the Jay Leno News Service comes this morsel of information about doctors, nurses, patients and hospitals. According to Jay, a Men’s Health poll indicates that 65 percent of men would prefer a sexy nurse over a competent doctor. That’s shocking, but not surprising. I suppose it takes a lot of pressure off the doctors for a perfect hospital outcome. Unless, of course, the nurse happens to be ugly.
I can see it now: In an effort to improve patient satisfaction and reduce malpractice risk, hospitals just need to fire the ugly nurses and keep the hot ones. In fact, as a hospitalist, my malpractice risk depends on it. Forget about all the other quality improvement junk we put ourselves through. I’d put my money on hot nurses any day.
*This blog post was originally published at The Happy Hospitalist*
