St. Joseph's named a top ten hospital for patient satisfaction

The fact that St. Joseph's Area Health Services ranks as one of the nation's leaders in patient satisfaction comes from patients themselves. They confirm, overwhelmingly, that St. Joseph's provides some of the best care in the country.

So when you hear the words, "We're number one!" from a St. Joseph's Area Health Services employee, they're not exaggerating or speaking figuratively.

St. Joseph's once again earned national first-place honors for its award-winning care this year.

Catholic Health Initiatives (CHI) named St. Joseph's a Top Ten Hospital within its system. The designation goes to hospitals with the highest ranking in inpatient care, obstetrics, emergency, same-day surgery and imaging combined.

Further, St. Joseph's placed first in the nation for both inpatient and obstetrics patient satisfaction. Services provided through the imaging department also took a third place for patient satisfaction. The awards are based on the fiscal year care provided from July 1, 2006 through June 30, 2007.

Earlier this year, St. Joseph's learned it placed first in the country for Overall Inpatient Satisfaction as well as Overall Employee Satisfaction by HealthStream Research.

Ben Koppelman, St. Joseph's President/CEO, gives high praise to staff who worked to provide that award-winning care.

"More often than not, it's not the big things that make a difference," he says. "It's the small ones. Consistently doing the little things for our patients on a daily basis, that personal touch, is what separates us from others."

Koppelmen says it takes dedication and commitment to provide that added touch.

"Our staff takes pride in their work," he continues. "It's easy to provide a high level of patient care when it's convenient or when there's time to do so. Our staff does so consistently, even when it's not easy or when there's competing demands on their time. They take a step back and do their very best to give the patient the time and care they need."

Physician care is also a part of that equation, he adds. St. Joseph's is fortunate to have a great medical staff committed to patient satisfaction. "We couldn't do it without them," Koppelman says.

It doesn't end there. He believes the entire staff plays a role in this success, even the ones that may not necessarily experience patient interaction.

"We view patient satisfaction in our organization as the role of every single employee," he says. "It takes a complete effort by all of our staff. Everybody. Without them we wouldn't be able to get top results."

Quality care

Deb Haagenson, St. Joseph's Patient Care Vice President, agrees that it feels great "to work in a place that cares so much about taking good care of patients and making sure they are satisfied."

She believes St. Joseph's standout performance in patient satisfaction can be partially attributed to concentrated initiatives directed towards service excellence and work from department teams to keep patient survey scores strong and improve on them when possible.

In addition, Haagenson says St. Joseph's pays a lot of attention to quality care and improved patient safety and outcome for patients.

"One of the things that impressed me about St. Joseph's when I came to work here two years ago was the emphasis placed around quality initiatives," she says. (Many of these initiatives are endorsed by the "100K Lives Saved" campaign in which St. Joseph's participates.) "There are a number of initiatives being implemented throughout the country, and St. Joseph's participates in just about every one of them. I was so impressed."

These efforts back St. Joseph's choice to implement "evidence-based" practice around quality care, she notes.

"Another thing I really appreciate about working at St. Joseph's is that everybody cares that the patient experience is a positive one," Haagenson says. "Our staff cares about patients, you can tell that by their interactions and the things they try to do to meet the patients' needs."

Inpatient satisfaction

The term "inpatient" as it is discussed here, refers to the intensive care unit managed by Bob Sauser, medical/surgery/pediatrics/bariatrics (2nd floor) under Sonda Tolle's supervision, and obstetrics headed up by Janine Brostrom.

The inpatient satisfaction first place honors in the CHI system as well as HealthStream's national top ranking indicates the bar has been set high for patient satisfaction standards.

Tolle thinks a culture has been created and nurtured within St. Joseph's organization that is centered around its core values: excellence, integrity, reverence and compassion.

"All of the staff from every department really embrace those core values and implement them on a daily basis," Tolle says. "I think that's why our patients receive such excellent care."

She also believes the efforts by staff in regard to quality initiatives and patient safety goals contribute to patients' satisfaction.

"My staff is a great group of people that work well together and with a collaborative spirit," Tolle says. "Not only do they work well amongst themselves, they really work well with every department that touches the patient." That includes dietary, lab, imaging, surgery, housekeeping, maintenance, and etc.

"The reason we are number one in inpatient satisfaction is because we value teamwork," she says. "Working together really makes a difference, and the staff has embraced this philosophy. We also have a passion to provide the very best care to all patients."

Specific to the nursing staff, she notes they work with patients of all ages for medical conditions or surgical procedures. "Our nursing care is individualized to meet the needs of each patient and to promote healing and restoration of health."

Employee Dawn Fishel, LPN, who has worked for St. Joseph's for more than 16 years, is a classic example of someone who walks with a kick in her step as she carries out her nursing assignments.

Fishel cares for Dr. Daniel Smith's weight loss patients following their surgery. She says she loves everything about her job especially the patient interaction and the people with whom she works. "It's the best job I've had since I've been here," she smiles, but, of course, she's the kind of person who says that about every role she's had at St. Joseph's.

She adds there are lots of opportunities for self-improvement and training," she says.

Obstetrics

Brostrom wasn't all that surprised that the maternity care provided at St. Joseph's took first place in the CHI system.

"There are a lot of hospitals that we are compared against, but our patient satisfaction numbers have been consistently high," she says. In addition, she tries to meet with every parent prior to their discharge or gives them a follow-up call by phone to make sure they are satisfied by the care received. She expects all patients and babies to get excellent care.

"I feel as though the patients are recognizing we do have a really good staff here, and our practice is good," Brostrom says. "It feels like we've met their needs; maybe even exceeded them."

One area Brostrom especially looks at with obstetrics patients is their satisfaction with pain control -- a tough thing in labor and delivery since pain is a given while giving birth. Her desire is that patients are educated about what they can expect and know their plan.

Labor and delivery staff comprise a big part of the obstetrics equation. "They really touch people's birthing experience during an intimate part of their life," Brostrom says. Patients can feel even better knowing the high level of training that is expected of staff in order to carry out their jobs successfully.

Neonatal resuscitation courses, advanced fetal monitoring education, workshops and continuing education keep obstetric nurses at a high skill set.

St. Joseph's also carries the optimum nurse/patient ratio for expectant mothers. They receive one-on-one care during labor and the first few hours after delivery. This exceeds industry standards.

In addition, a core group of physicians have indicated a special desire to practice in the obstetrics field and are very engaged in that process.

Looking at the bigger picture, Brostrom says it takes a team effort to be able "to provide the excellent maternity care that we give." The post-partum care team, the lab staff who are drawing blood when a laboring mother doesn't feel good or when she's hurting, or the anesthetist who arrives to give relief when she passes her pain threshold, the dietary personnel who deliver meals, or the people they meet when registering at the front desk all play an important role.

"I really feel like the entire hospital contributes to the total patient experience," Brostrom says.

Imaging

Technology is the giant in the room when a patient enters the radiology department. Staying current with advances in medicine is certainly a goal at St. Joseph's, but there more to it says imaging manager, Joel Danielson.

"A patient can't tell if a test is going well, but they can tell how the staff responds to them and how well they feel welcomed by the staff," he says.

That personal touch (or "the small things" that mean so much, as Koppelman would say) can help put patients at ease during tests or procedures being conducted. That kind of service brought them third place honors within the CHI system.

"It's the friendliness of the staff, their willingness to put themselves in the place of the patients and understand where the patient is coming from that has set us apart," Danielson says. "And it's happening all of the time."

"Our staff has made the extra effort, and it really shows," he says. "I'm proud of them. It's been a team effort, everyone wants to do well and is interested in doing so."

Construction

In an ongoing effort to continue to bring quality care to Park Rapids and the surrounding communities now and into the future, St. Joseph's finds itself in the heart of a $26 million construction project. Dakota Clinic is building a brand-new facility next to St. Joseph's and the two entities will be connected in a central location under one roof.

Construction has the potential for disruptions, however, but Koppelman says the staff is prepared to meet the challenge.

"While we're headed into a critical phase of facility construction that involves the remodeling of many of our patient care areas, patient satisfaction will continue to be a very strong focus for us," he says. "We'll be working very hard to sustain the level of care patients expect from us throughout the process."