What you think of the care you receive at the hospital or one of its clinics matters. Memorial Regional Health is continually taking steps to improve your patient care experience. The health system welcomes your input and feedback.
“We can’t improve if we don’t’ know how you experienced your care. We encourage you to follow up and tell us how we did,” said Adrie Camp, MRH’s patient experience manager.
That’s why MRH has implemented simple surveys to complete in the emergency department and clinics, as well as the inpatient side. It is also visiting with patients directly about their care and creating a more healing, quiet environment for patients.
“We offer a simple survey that takes less than a minute to complete, giving us immediate feedback before you walk out the door,” Camp said.
If you’ve stayed in the hospital, you likely received a survey shortly after your stay asking you to rate the care at MRH. MRH encourages you to fill out and return the survey.
Camp also goes room to room to visit patients staying in the hospital to ask how the care has been. She asks about nursing care, if call lights are answered promptly, if questions are being answered by the doctor, whether you understand your treatment plan, how the meals are and if the room is clean.
“If I can address a concern immediately, I take the time to do it right then and there. If I can’t, I let someone know who can,” Camp said.
Sometimes, she simply plays the role of liaison between patients and doctors to clarify medication or treatment plans, or to have the doctor stop back in to provide more explanation. Other times, she corrects simple problems, such as fetching needed items or relaying requests to the staff.
In addition to surveys and room visits, MRH has implemented suggestions from patients and staff to improve patient care. For example, the next time you stay at the hospital, you will notice a quiet initiative has been put in place, which promotes keeping noise levels down so people can rest and heal. Along with this, Quiet Packs are available, that include a sleep mask, ear plugs and headphones to block out noise and light. You can also request a white noise machine to drown out noises or ask for a sound amplifier to hear the television better if it’s noisy.
Other new strategies to improve your stay include tablets in the inpatient unit, day surgery unit and OB, so you can surf the web while you rest in bed. You’ll also find cards in your room with the name and number of your housekeeper if you need to call for cleaning.
Besides a patient experience manager, MRH has a quality team, including a quality steering committee that works continually to improve quality at the hospital. Camp encourages you to call her at 970-826-2173 with comments, concerns or suggestions.
“Our goal is to create that ideal patient experience,” Camp said.