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Guidelines for sites linking to mayoclinic.orgThe scores listed in the bar graph below indicate how many Mayo patients said that these activities measured in the survey take place "always" in a specific hospital.
Graph key
About the survey
The Hospital Consumer Assessment of Health Plans Survey (HCAHPS) asks consumers
and patients to report on and evaluate their experiences with several different
aspects of hospital care. The survey has 18 patient ratings and perspectives
in seven general areas: communication with nurses, communication with doctors,
the hospital environment, pain management, communications about medications,
information received at discharge, and the patient's overall rating of
the hospital.
This information is designed to provide patients or potential patients with
the opportunity to compare the perspectives of patients who have received care
at various hospitals. Hospitals also can use HCAHPS data, in addition to other
survey data, to guide internal quality improvement initiatives. You may review
the entire report on the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services consumer
web site at http://www.hospitalcompare.hhs.gov/.
Hospital Ratings
Patients were asked to rate their hospital on a scale of one to 10, with 10
being the best.
Patients were asked to describe how willing they would be to recommend their hospital to others.
Explanations for the seven patient perspectives are summarized in the following table. Each of these activity categories reflects several aspects of care. To collect the data, researchers use telephone surveys or paper surveys to get information from a sample of patients. The patients are asked to indicate whether the activities take place "never," "sometimes," "usually" or "always" in a hospital where they recently had an overnight stay for treatment. The only responses reported are those that say the activity "always" took place.
| Patient care activities evaluated | Explanation of this care | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Communication with nurses | Includes information on how often nurses treat patients with courtesy and respect, and how often they listen carefully and explain things in a way that could be understood. | ||
| Communication with doctors | Includes information on whether doctors treat patients with courtesy and respect, and whether they listen carefully and explain things in a way that could be understood. | ||
| Communication about medications | Includes information on how often staff explain what medications are used, the reason for the medication, and possible side effects of new medications – all in a way that could be understood. | ||
| Responsiveness of staff | Includes information on staff responses to patients who pressed the call button, how often patients received help when they wanted it, and how often patients received prompt help getting to the bathroom or in using a bedpan. | ||
| Cleanliness of hospital environment | Includes information on how often the patients' rooms and bathrooms were kept clean. | ||
| Quiet of Hospital Environment | Includes information on how often the area around the patients' rooms were quiet at night. | ||
| Pain management | Includes information on how often the patient's pain was well-controlled and how often staff did everything they could to help with pain. | ||
| Discharge information | Includes information on whether the hospital staff talked with patients about the help they would need when they left the hospital. Also addresses whether the patients received written information about what symptoms or health problems to look out for after they left the hospital. | ||
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