When Grace Cottage Hospital
was recently named by U.S.
News and World Report as
one of the "Top Hospitals" in
the nation, the first question
was: how could a small, rural
hospital have come to their
attention? We discovered
that Grace Cottage had
achieved this "Top Hospital"
designation because of high
patient satisfaction scores.
Grace Cottage's patient satisfaction surveys are
conducted by a third party (Press Ganey Associates)
to assure that we're getting the most accurate feedback
possible. These surveys are sent to a random cross-
section of patients who visit Grace Cottage's ER, stay in
the hospital, or visit the doctors' offices.
Thanks to our patients' ratings, Grace Cottage is number
one in overall patient satisfaction among hospitals in
Vermont (and Vermont's hospitals generally receive
higher ratings than hospitals in other states). Our highest
ranking in patient satisfaction is wonderful news, but it
also makes us a bit nervous, for two reasons. First: we're
only as good as our last survey. Also, Grace Cottage is
relatively small and many patients don't take the time to
fill out and mail their surveys back, so our results can
be considered statistically insignificant. One bad or one
good survey can make a huge difference in the statistics.
However, the good news is that Grace Cottage's patient
satisfaction scores have been consistently high over the
years and, if they dip in any category, we take immediate
action to correct the situation. Feedback is what enables
us to make improvements. We value yours -if you've
been a patient here, and you receive a survey in the mail
from Press Ganey in Indiana, please fill it out and send it
back to them so that we can make any changes necessary
to continue to be in the ranking of one of the "Top
Hospitals" in the nation. It's you, our patients, who have
put Grace Cottage there, and you who will help to make
sure that we stay there (or improve where and when we
need to), by returning your Patient Satisfaction Survey.
To view bar graphs which detail all questions asked on
the surveys and the results for all of Vermont's hospitals,
go to www.gracecottage.org and click on Hospital Report
Card at the bottom of the page, and then click on Patient
Satisfaction Scores.
Mick Brant
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