Health is one of the major concerns of every individual. Kendall Regional Medical Center has had to involve other partners to establish and offer the best medical services in the nation. The health center is also collaborating with other competitors by participating in the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems survey to gauge its worth in the market.
Quality Issues
The institution has been in operation long enough to become the best healthcare provider. However, there have been various problems that have been hampering its growth. The success of the organization depends on the clients’ satisfaction. When they have good services, they make it the hospital of choice and refer their family and friends.
Admission Challenge
The hospital had issues that needed solutions to enhance the quality of duty. The patients had been complaining because of the organization’s poor services. Customers had problems at the admission desk. They spent a lot of time in the entry room. The problem was with the new system that the Information Technology team had just installed (Kemp et al. 2014). The previous one was not able to take in more information.
The delays with the new system cost the hospital its reputation as the best hospital. It also made the hospital to lose its high grade in offering the best care to its healthcare consumers. The hospital invited the IT experts to undertake significant steps for solving the matter. There were some missing links that the team discovered and managed to fix them within a day. It led to increased uptake of customers because it took less than a minute to admit a patient.
Pain Management
The hospital received many complaints about the management of pain during their stay at the hospital. It was a grave concern because almost a third of the clients had the same problem. Some had to go for further help in other institutions after discharge. The main reason was that the primary supplier of the drugs for managing pain had difficulties in providing the drugs for that week. There were challenges on their end that severely affected the work at Kendall (Abraham et al. 2014). The hospital doctors and nurses had to resort to the lesser pain management drugs that were not useful especially for accident patients. The management had to increase the number of suppliers in the following week. Now there are five suppliers if the same products.
The procurement department has distributed quotas to them and tightened the rules for supply. One of the changes requires that if the vendor is not able to avail the necessary drugs on time, they need to communicate to the hospital as soon as possible and subcontract the services or let the hospital make that decision. Another rule was that all the five suppliers had been asked to be ready for any eventualities and emergency orders. In the case of failure by as supplier, they will be required to provide certain drugs within the specified time and reason for the emergency request will be given (Abraham et al. 2014).
Environmental Cleanliness
The clients reported that the hospital compound was not clean. It is because they had been used to a thoroughly clean environment. The hospital had previously contracted a cleanliness and sanitation company to take care of the entire compound and building’s cleanliness. It had done so for two years without any complaints. However, upon investigation, the management discovered that the cleaning company had changed ownership without informing its clients (Madaras, 2014).
The new management was in the process of changing its business model. However, they did not handle the matter in good faith. They did not pick the waste on time and sometimes the compound went a day or two without proper cleaning. It is because their workers had to be recalled each day for training and they could leave before finishing their work. Kendall immediately terminated the contract and asked for a refund of their advance payments.
Kendall management changed the plan on the matter. It started by hiring staff for compound cleanliness. The organization committed them to whole week training. They would attend the training in alternation. Those who cleaned in the morning would learn in the afternoon and those who worked in the afternoon joined it in the morning (Siddiqui et al. 2014). The night duty staff had their sessions in the evening before starting work. The hospital procured only the collection of the waste to responsible companies. The change has attracted the praise of the customers who come to the institution.
Environmental Quietness
The hospital had a new neighbor. The organization used to provide gym services to its clients. The music from the gym at night was affecting the patients’ rest. It would keep them awake all the time. It led to them asking for sleeping pills. It happened in the block nearest to the edge of the compound. The medical center raised the concern with gym management, and they accepted to place bullet proof material. However, it took them longer to respond and the hospital had to take necessary measures with the relevant authorities. They managed to change their music system from loudspeakers to earphones and headphones.
Discharge Information
Some clients complained that during discharge, they did not get sufficient information. The hospital had so many customers booking that a majority of the staff concentrated on the intake of patients. The outgoing patients either received incomplete information or failed to get any information (Madaras, 2014).
It was necessary for the hospital to reorganize its staff. All clients who were leaving the hospital had to report to an Exiting Patients Room. Various nurses depended on the flow of the customers. All doctors and nurses dealing with patients had to communicate through email to the staff in this room. Once the information was clear, the patient could receive the clear report, prescription of drugs, and any further visit clarified (Kemp et al. 2014). The staff had to ask the patient they were dealing with if they understood everything. If everything was okay, they could then lead them out to the door. The patients felt that the organization was doing what was best in customer care. They were appreciative.
Similarities with the other Organizations
Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston also had similar problems with the clients. The discharge information lacked clarity and hence customers could not refer their colleagues. Duke University Hospital in Durham had issues with environmental quietness (Fenske, 2013). However, the problem was within the hospital arising from other patients. There were times when patients could not understand each other, and they started shouting at each other. They had to ensure that the nurse in charge prevented them from getting in touch with each other.
The Cleveland Clinic in Ohio had issues with the admission department. The admission into the hospital was taking time, and there was no official communication to the clients about the delays (Cherni et al. 2012). It reduced the customers’ morale, and they had to respond with negative answers to the HCAHPS questions.
HCAHPS are critical to every health organization’s growth. The survey helps the hospital management to develop value additions that to serve customers in the best way possible. Patients will only seek medical help at best-performing institutions.
References
Abraham, J., Jones, J., Baker, G., & Arpino, P. (2014). An analysis of hcahps scoring and the impact of the pain management dimension on hospital performance. Value in Health, 17(3), 164. Web.
Cherni, K., Ferraro, C., Green, G., Weber, C., & Kalaycio, M. (2012). Increase hcahps scores in autologous stem cell transplant patients at Cleveland clinic. Biology of Blood and Marrow Transplantation, 18(2), 392. Web.
Fenske, T. (2013). Duke university press out of print survey. Against the Grain, 6(2), 19. Web.
Kemp, K., Chan, N., McCormack, B., & Douglas-England, K. (2014). Drivers of inpatient hospital experience using the hcahps survey in a Sanadian setting. Health Services Research, 50(4), 982-997. Web.
Madaras, G. (2014). The effect of implementing an electronic sound masking system into a 42-bed oncology unit on “quiet at night” hospital consumer assessment of healthcare providers and systems (HCAHPS) scores. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 135(4), 2402-2402. Web.
Siddiqui, Z., Wu, A., Kurbanova, N., & Qayyum, R. (2014). Comparison of hospital consumer assessment of healthcare providers and systems patient satisfaction scores for specialty hospitals and general medical hospitals: Confounding effect of survey response rate. Journal of Hospital Medicine, 9(9), 590-593. Web.