September 15, 2006

Children’s Hospital scores high on survey

Children’s Hospital scores high on survey

The Monroe Carell Jr. Children's Hospital at Vanderbilt ranks among the nation’s elite when it comes to the satisfaction of its patients, according to recent survey results.

The survey was completed by 395 randomly selected family members of patients who had received inpatient care at Children's Hospital between April and June. A survey was also conducted with 405 families of children who had recently been brought to the Pediatric Emergency Department.

Professional Research Consultants (PRC), an outside consulting firm, conducted telephone interviews with the participants.

The comparison data is based on the data collected by PRC from other children's hospitals across the country. Some questions are specific to Children's Hospital and do not have correlating national data.

Results are listed by the percentage of participating respondents who answered “excellent” to questions regarding the care their child received while at Children's Hospital.

"The PRC data provides not only a score for each unit and the percentile ranking, but also includes key drivers and specific feedback for each unit. This allows us to look at each unit within the hospital to develop individualized action plans that address the areas of concern,” said Pat Givens, assistant hospital director of Nursing and Clinical Services at Children's Hospital.

“Additional information is gathered through focus groups and through rounding with patients and families. The information is reviewed monthly with each manager, along with quality indicators and metrics specific to each area."

The following are some of the hospital satisfaction results:

• 93.5 percent said the overall quality of care was excellent (National average is 88.2 percent).

• 93.7 percent said the likelihood of recommending Vanderbilt Children's Hospital to friends and relatives was excellent (National average is 87.6 percent).

• 89.1 percent said the teamwork between doctors, nurses, and staff was excellent (National average is 86.1 percent).

Pediatric ED satisfaction survey results include:

• 92 percent said the level of safety for their child during the emergency room visit was excellent (National average is 84.5 percent).

• 89.3 percent said the overall quality of care provided was excellent (National average is 81.8 percent).

• 89.1 percent said the likelihood of their recommending the Vanderbilt Children's Emergency Department to friends and relatives for emergency services was excellent (National average is 80.7 percent).

The results are listed on the Children's Hospital Web site, www.vanderbiltchildrens.com, in the “About Us” section.