Doylestown Hospital Wins
Press Ganey Award for
Patient Satisfaction
November 15, 2012
Doylestown Hospital is proud to announce it has been named a 2012 Summit Award
®
winner by Press Ganey Associates, Inc.
The Summit Award recognizes top-performing facilities that sustain the highest levels of patient satisfaction performance for three consecutive years. The Press Ganey Summit Award is one of the health care industry’s most coveted symbols of achievement. Doylestown Hospital is one of 114 organizations to receive this prestigious honor in 2012, and one of only 13 to receive it for achieving and sustaining excellence in patient satisfaction. Doylestown Hospital’s Emergency Department was recognized for its patient satisfaction performance. Press Ganey partners with more than 10,000 health care facilities, including more than half of all U.S. hospitals, to measure and improve the patient experience.
Doylestown Hospital’s new, 55,756-square foot Emergency Department (ED) opened with 41 beds in April 2010. A collaborative team of physicians, nurses, hospital administrators and patients, aided by experts in emergency department design, designed an ED that focuses on how care should be delivered, not how it is traditionally delivered. Various efficiencies promote faster movement through the system, reducing the time that patients spend in the ED.
In working to improve systems, the main area of focus was the impact of wait time on patient care and satisfaction. Several protocols were initiated to move the Emergency Department visitor out of the “waiting room” as soon as possible and into a treatment room. These included: instituting standing order sets for the treatment of most common ED complaints to expedite the delivery of care, and empowering nursing staff to initiate the order sets within their scope of practice before the patient is seen by a physician.
Finally, all physicians in the ED adopted the same standards for patient communication and visibility. Electronic medical records consolidate and coordinate charting. A “tracker board” is plainly visible to staff to monitor who is next to be seen, the amount of wait time and the acuity of the patient. To improve communication, staff members carry cell phones with speed-dial connectivity.
“Our model of care is completely patient-centered,” said Lawrence Brilliant, MD, Medical Director, Emergency Department. “With support from the staff, physicians and Administration, we have been able to create an environment from the ground up that focuses on patient experience and the way care should be delivered to ensure the best and safest possible experience for each patient.”
“We are proud to partner with Doylestown Hospital,” said Patrick T. Ryan, CEO of Press Ganey. “Achieving this level of excellence in patient satisfaction reflects the organization’s commitment to delivering outstanding service and quality. Doylestown Hospital’s efforts benefit patients in the community and will lead to improved patient experience.”
About Doylestown Hospital
Doylestown Hospital is a comprehensive 238-bed medical center serving families throughout Bucks and Montgomery Counties and Western New Jersey. The Medical Staff includes more than 420 physicians in more than 40 specialty areas. Doylestown Hospital is one of the 100 best hospitals in the U.S., according to the Thomson Reuters 100 Top Hospitals® study released in 2012. The Heart Institute of Doylestown Hospital is a regional center of excellence for cardiology and cardiac surgery and was named one of the Top 50 cardiovascular hospitals in the nation (Thomson Reuters 2012). Areas of clinical emphasis also include emergency medicine, oncology, maternal-child health, orthopedics, interventional radiology, gastroenterology, urology, general surgery and robotic surgery.
Press Ganey Associates, Inc.
Recognized as a leader in health care performance improvement for more than 25 years, Press Ganey partners with more than 10,000 organizations to create and sustain high-performing organizations, and, ultimately, improve the overall patient experience. Harnessing a unique integrated data platform, Press Ganey provides sophisticated analytics to help discover and prioritize key performance improvement efforts and reveal opportunities to enhance patient care, improve outcomes, and control costs. Press Ganey works with clients from across the continuum of care, including 50 percent of all U.S. hospitals. For more information, visit
www.pressganey.com
.
