MGH ED Wins Patient Satisfaction Award
California Emergency Physicians, a medical group that provides emergency room doctors to some 50 California hospitals, has given its annual ‘Patient Satisfaction’ award to Marin General Hospital’s Emergency Department.
CEP, which has had a contract to provide specially trained emergency physicians to MGH since 1977, recognized the hospital’s ED for having very high patient satisfaction scores.
The scores are based on quarterly patients surveys conducted by Press Ganey Associates, South Bend, IN. Press Ganey currently works with more than 6,000 healthcare facilities in the U.S. and assists them in collecting and using patient evaluations in their quality improvement initiatives.
Dr. Jeffery ‘Jim’ Dietz, chief of the Division of Emergency Medicine at MGH, said, “This award recognizes the work we’ve done to deliver excellent service to our patients.”ED Director Mark Kobe, RN, said, “Patients want the shortest door to doctor time possible, lots of information and call backs the next day…and that’s what our physicians and staff attempt to do.”
One of the reasons patients are satisfied with the care they receive, Kobe said, is the ED’s Emergency Express service for those who have less severe conditions that can be treated more expeditiously than others that come in for more complex issues. In most instances, Express patients will be treated and discharged within about an hour.
Emergency Express is available seven days a week between 10:30 a.m. and 8:30 p.m. The full service ED is open around the clock.
The department sees about 90 patients daily or about 35,000 a year.
Nov. 2, 2005