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St. Mary’s and Clearwater Valley Hospital and Clinics are contracting with Professional Research Consultants to conduct patient satisfaction surveys with their hospital and clinic patients. The company conducts surveys using short telephone interviews a week following a patient’s hospital stay or clinic visit. PRC is located in Omaha, Nebraska. Founded in 1979, they are the longest standing healthcare research company in the country. “PRC is highly respected in the healthcare field. They are unique because they use a phone call to touch base with patients rather than a mailed survey. The time between a patient visit or hospital stay and PRC’s phone call will be about one week. Survey results will be available a lot quicker than through a written form,” said Iris Hawley, RN, SMHC/CVHC Director of Quality Improvement. “We’ll use the data to improve our services and celebrate our successes.” According to Hawley, not all patients will be surveyed, but randomly selected patients will be contacted. “It will be a completely confidential process. PRC will not receive any information other than a patient’s phone number which will only be used for the survey process. No other information, medical or otherwise, will be exchanged and all responses will be compiled in regular reports so there is no way to track an individual’s response.” SMHC and CVHC have a joint Quality Improvement committee that works to improve clinical outcomes by reviewing processes and setting improvement goals. “We’re constantly looking at ways to improve patient care. We examine what other hospitals are doing and what national standards are in place then set our own goals for clinical improvement,” continued Hawley. The patient satisfaction scores will also be reviewed and action plans will be developed to address issues identified through the phone surveys. When Professional Research Consultants makes their call the caller ID at the patient’s home will display either PRC or some variation of their business name. “Patients can certainly opt not to take the survey when PRC calls, but we’d sure appreciate it if they answer the questions on the ten minute phone survey because it would help us improve,” said Hawley. “Also, the nursing staff from our hospitals will continue to call our hospital patients shortly after they’ve been discharged to see how they are doing and if there are any questions about their follow up care. Every patient will receive the call from our staff, but, in addition, some will receive two calls: one from us and one from PRC, our survey company.” Winter Yoga Series Want a reason to get out of the house during the long winter months; consider attending the nine week yoga class sponsored by St. Mary’s Hospital. The classes will begin on January 4 and will be held every Wednesday through February 29 from 5:30 to 6:30 pm. They will be held in the basement of the Cottonwood Community hall. Cost for the nine week series is $63 or a drop in fee of $10 per class. Fees are collected at the beginning of class; checks or cash will be accepted however they are not set up to accept credit or debit cards. Participants should wear comfortable stretchy clothes; bring a yoga mat, towel and a belt. If you do not have a yoga mat you may be able to purchase/borrow one from the instructor. No registration is needed; and participants do not need to attend all nine classes. Sue Lattin, Registered Yoga instructor will facilitate the classes. Lattin completed a 280 hour program in Yoga Motion Teacher Training. She has over 60 hours experience in teaching yoga. Lattin is also a licensed Massage Therapist. Diabetes support group cancelled for December Due to the holidays; the December meeting of the St. Mary’s Hospital and Clinics Diabetes Support Group has been cancelled. The next meeting will be held on January 18th at Oscar’s Restaurant in Grangeville with an informal lunch from noon to 1:00 and the educational session from 1:00 to 3:00. The Sanofi-Aventis Drug Company will be sponsoring this meeting and they will be presenting an A1c Champion class. This support group is provided as a public service by the Grangeville Medical Clinic and St. Mary’s Hospital and Clinics. Please watch for more information regarding the A1c Champion class. |
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