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Ivanhoe Newswire) -- A first of its kind survey provides a revealing look at how patients feel about the care they receive in hospitals.
Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) researchers found most patients are generally satisfied with the care they receive in hospitals. On average, 67 percent of patients reported they would definitely recommend the hospital at which they were treated. Yet, patient satisfaction varied greatly across the country. For example, 71.9 percent of patients in Birmingham, Alabama gave high ratings to their hospitals while only 49.9 percent of patients in East Long Island, New York, did.
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Hospitals that had a greater ratio of nurses to patients received higher ratings. The study also revealed some areas that need improvement, including pain management and discharge instructions. The data was gathered from more than 2,400 hospitals across the nation.
According to Ashish K. Jha, M.D., M.P.H., lead author and an assistant professor of health policy at HSPH, Americans spend more than $2 trillion each year on health care.
These data really represent a sea change for the health care system, Dr. Jha, was quoted as saying. Patient-centered care is at the heart of a high-performing system and until now, we have lacked information on how patients feel about their care. With this information now freely available, providers and policymakers can begin to focus on improving patients experiences in the hospital, he added.
SOURCE: The New England Journal of Medicine, 2008;359:18
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