24-HOUR MEDICAL NEWS AND INFORMATION

Medicare has two payment incentive programs for hospitals. Value Based Purchasing gives bonuses and penalties to hospitals based on clinical process factors (45% weight), patient experience/satisfaction (30% weight), and outcomes (25%).  Another program penalizes hospitals when the number of patients readmitted within a month are excessive. Both programs are in their second year. Hospitals could gain up to 1.25 percent in payments or lose as much as 3.25 percent from the two programs combined.

To assess patient care and satisfaction, a survey called the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) is used.  The survey is administered to a sample of adult patients between 48 hours and six weeks after discharge.  All short-term, acute care, and non-specialty hospitals are invited to participate in the HCAHPS Survey. Over 4,000 hospitals participate in HCAHPS. The goal is to get at least 300 completed patient surveys from each hospital each year.

Patient Experience encompasses eight important aspects of hospital quality:

1. Communication with Nurses
2. Communication with Doctors
3. Responsiveness of Hospital Staff
4. Pain Management
5. Cleanliness and Quietness of Hospital Environment
6. Communication about Medicines
7. Discharge Information
8. Overall Rating of Hospital

The first four questions of the survey target care given to the patient by the nurses. The questions address courtesy/respect given to the patient, nurse listening skills, nurse explanations, and nurse responsiveness. For maximum scores, nurses should keep these factors in mind and practice so their communications and actions are aligned with a positive patient experience.  With focus and practice, positive nurse behavior becomes second nature. Hospitals want and need staff members that provide excellent Customer Service at all times. Their reputation and the level of reimbursements from Medicare are tied to patient satisfaction. Keep all these factors in mind so we continue to be  rated highly on a consistent basis by the hospitals and patients we serve.  We want to be known for doing things the 24 Hour Way, which reflects all key points in this article.

Sources for article above:

(1) Rau, Jordan. “KHN: Kaiser Health News.” Nearly 1,500 Hospitals Penalized Under Medicare Program Rating Quality. N.p., 14 Nov. 2013. Web. 21 July 2014 . (2) “Survey of Patients’ Experiences.” Hospital Patients’ Survey Data. Medicare, n.d. Web 21 July 2014.

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Florence Nightingale was a famous nurse and icon who was also known as the “Lady with the Lamp.” She was given this name by British soldiers she treated in the Crimean War in their fight against Russia for control of the Ottoman Empire.  Florence was asked by the British Secretary of State in 1854 to organize a corps of nurses to tend to the sick and fallen soldiers.  Florence assembled a team of 34 nurses and sailed with them to Crimea where she found injured soldiers in horrid conditions in the British base hospital.  The hospital sat on top of a large cesspool which contaminated the water and the hospital building.  Nightingale quickly went to work.  She procured hundreds of scrub brushes and got the least infirm patients to help clean the hospital floor to ceiling.  Nightingale spent nearly every waking minute caring for soldiers.  In the evenings, she moved through her rounds in the dark hallways carrying a lamp.  Her work reduced the hospital’s death rate by two-thirds.

The soldiers under her care were both moved and comforted by her tireless care and compassion.  Florence was born in Italy to an affluent British family. Rather than live a life of high society, she felt a calling to help others.  From a young age, she actively ministered to the ill and poor people in a village near her family’s estate.  At 16 years old, it became clear to her that nursing was her calling.  As a nurse, Nightingale vastly improved sanitary conditions at Middlesex hospital in London where she worked and established a number of innovations that improved patient comfort. She helped save the lives of many British soldiers at Crimea.

From her experience there, she wrote Notes on Matters Affecting the Health, Efficiency, and Hospital Administration of the British Army, an 830 page report.  The British Government responded with changes that reflected Nightingale’s recommendations.  She continued to write, consult, and advocate for health care reform throughout her life.  She was conferred the merit of honor by King Edward.  In 1910, at age 90, she passed away at her home in London. More than 2,000 artifacts commemorating her life and career are housed in the Florence Nightingale Museum.

Excerpts for the above article from www.biography.com/people/florence-nightingale-9423539

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