VHI publishes hospital patient satisfaction information on website

Virginia Health Information (VHI) has published hospital patient satisfaction information on their website. The survey includes ratings on whether patient's pain was always well-controlled. Was help available as soon as it was needed? Would this hospital definitely be recommended? These are some of the survey questions patients answer when treated in Virginia hospitals. VHI provides this and other survey results on its website https://www.vhi.org/satisfaction_compare.asp

"When consumers choose a hospital, they want to know they'll be treated well and their needs will be met," said Michael T. Lundberg, Executive Director at VHI. VHI provides this information along with quality rankings on cardiac and obstetric care to help consumers make fair and objective comparisons between hospitals.

In Virginia, 69 percent of patients would definitely recommend the hospital to their friends and family while the national average was 71 percent. Although scores vary across area hospitals, during the past five years, patient satisfaction ratings of Virginia hospitals are increasing.   

"Not only does VHI's Patient Satisfaction Report provide information for patients to compare hospitals, but it also provides hospital staff with feedback from patients to help them improve," Lundberg continued.

In addition to overall hospital satisfaction, patients rated doctors, nurses and staff on how well they communicated. Patients were satisfied 78 percent of the time with how nurses communicated with them and 81 percent satisfied with the way doctors communicated. On another measure, patients reported their rooms were quiet at night at hospitals between 43 percent and 71 percent of the time.  Statewide, the rate was 60 percent.