How do patients feel about the care they receive in U.S. hospitals? A new study by Boston researchers supported by the Commonwealth Fund shows that while patients are generally satisfied with their care, satisfaction levels are not as high as they could be and rise significantly when hospitals have more nurses at the bedside. The study, published in the October 30 New England Journal of Medicine (read abstract), reveals that patients frequently feel hospitals fall short in addressing basic quality issues--controlling pain, communicating about medications, and coordinating discharge planning.
In the first analysis of its kind, Harvard School of Public Health researchers examined patient experience information collected by the federal government through its Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) survey. They examined patient views on communication with doctors, communication with nurses, nursing services, communication about medications, pain control, room conditions, and discharge information. The HCAHPS analysis is based on data from 2,400 hospitals, and illustrates how patients perceive care at U.S. hospitals.
While two-thirds of patients gave their hospital care a high rating, very few hospitals received the highest rating from 90 percent or more of their patients. The performance of for-profit hospitals was worse than that of private and nonprofit hospitals in all areas, but differences between teaching and non-teaching hospitals were small and insignificant.
