Brenda Aubin on April 26, 2016
It’s Patient Experience Week, an annual event celebrating and raising awareness of the impact that healthcare staff have on patient experience every day. To further understand these experiences, Amplion recently conducted a nationwide survey with hospital patients and their family caregivers.
The study reveals how patients and their advocates interpret communication with hospital staff, particularly nursing staff responsiveness to patient calls and requests. The results demonstrate that, compared to patients, family caregivers have higher standards for the patient experience and are harsher critics of nursing staff performance. Most importantly, nurse response time is a critical component of the overall patient experience. Read on for more key findings.
Methods
The online survey was completed by 502 patients and 500 loved ones of patients who had stayed at least one night in a U.S. hospital in the past year. Amplion’s research partner,Catalyst Healthcare Research, invited 40 of the survey respondents to participate in an online discussion to provide more in-depth details about their specific experiences.
Key Findings
Loved ones feel less secure and more anxious than the patient
Six out of 10 patients have loved ones who actively support them during hospital stays. In our survey, loved ones were more critical of the patient experience than patients were, and loved ones were more likely to report negative feelings such as anxiety, frustration and disappointment.
