Patient Satisfaction and HCAHPS

HCAHPS (Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems) is a surveying instrument of data collection for measuring a patient’s perceptions of their overall experience. Many hospitals collected feedback on patient satisfaction on their own, but HCAHPS is now the national standard for collecting and reporting information about patient experience of the care they received. HCAHPS reports on three goals: (1) data about patients’ perspectives of care, (2) create new incentives for hospitals to improve quality of care and (3) public reporting for increased transparency of the quality of hospital care provided in return for the public investment.

The era of patient-focused healthcare and value-based reimbursement is nothing new to the healthcare landscape. As healthcare facilities seek to integrate and streamline processes to provide better care and communication for patients, technology has played a large role in helping these facilities meet goals and increase patient satisfaction. Technology that lowers noise, reassures patients and staff and promotes better communication leads to greater staff satisfaction and can translate to a more healing and comfortable environment. While there are many technologies helping to meet these goals, we’re going to focus on two that have brought great value to both the patients and the staff: Nurse Call Systems and Real Time Locating Systems (RTLS)

Nurse Call Systems

Integrating a robust nurse call system into a long-term care facility has given a better voice to the needs of those they serve and to those who provide care. In doing so, patient satisfaction has increased. Seamlessly sharing information across multiple systems, nurse call systems are able to create more efficient shift changes because of the transition of critical patient care information between caregivers during shift changes and eliminating data entry redundancies.

 

With guidelines for healthcare ever evolving (HIPPA, ACA, HCAHPS..etc), having an integrated nurse call system that not only provides great communication but also evolves with the industry standards is vital in providing the best care possible.

RTLS

Healthcare facilities have many moving parts, but keeping track of those moving parts can prove difficult (and costly) without robust asset tracking technology. Having a RTLS that is integrated into the nurse call system allows for not only the tracking ability to locate staff and equipment but also plan for the future. Integrated systems archive important data and trends that allow healthcare facilities to know what equipment is being used most, by whom and what time of day (or night). RTLS not only track the movement and placement expensive medical equipment but, with integrated reporting abilities, can help administrators evaluate goals and make improvements in providing the best care.

Conclusion

Care for one patient might involve many individuals. They could range from both inside and outside the healthcare facility and include the patient’s primary care, specialists, a rotating nursing team, technicians and support staff . All of these providers need to communicate with each other and be able to locate each other whenever needed to make sure the best care if being given. When all of these elements work together, the patient feels heard in an environment that promotes healing.

Are you looking to bring better communication technology to your healthcare facility?