28 May 2013
Moncton, NB (NBHC) - The New Brunswick Health Council (NBHC) is undertaking its second Acute Care Surveyin New Brunswick’s 20 acute care hospitals.
The survey is a follow-up to the 2010 Acute Care survey and is designed to measure several factors touching on the quality of the services delivered during the overall hospital stay, from admission to discharge, from the patient’s point of view. The results of the survey will be used to help decision-makers plan health services and potentially flag gaps in service and highlight successes, while also providing an opportunity to compare this year’s results with the results of the 2010 Acute Care survey.
“Our last Acute Care Survey provided valuable information to the Regional Health Authorities, and now we have the opportunity to measure any changes that have been made, or not, in the past three years,” says NBHC CEO Stéphane Robichaud. “Our goal is to repeat each of our surveys every three years, which will allow us to provide information to government departments and health care providers to help them make fact-based decisions to improve health care delivery.”
All medical and surgical patients discharged from acute care hospital facilities in New Brunswick between March 1st, 2013 and May 31st, 2013 could be selected to participate in this survey. Last time, over 10,000 questionnaires were mailed out with a response rate of nearly 50%. The results will be made public on the NBHC’s website in the fall of 2013. New Brunswickers will be able to see how each hospital in the province was rated by patients, and will be able to compare these new results to the 2010 survey results, currently available at www.nbhc.ca.
The NBHC has been established as an independent organization that measures, monitors and evaluates New Brunswick’s health system performance through a citizen-centered dual mandate of performance measurement and citizen engagement.
MEDIA CONTACTS
New Brunswick Health Council: Christine Paré, 506-869-6714, christine.pare@nbhc.ca
Highlights from the 2010 Survey:
- Communication with doctors was rated at 78.5%, which is comparable to scores from surveys done in other jurisdictions ranging between 72% and 78%.
- Communication with nurses was rated at 69.4%, which is comparable to scores from surveys done in other jurisdictions ranging between 65% and 71%.
- The percentage of patients who reported they would “definitely recommend” their hospital was 66.1%, and scores from surveys done in other jurisdictions range between 57% and 67%.
- Only half the respondents reported that staff “Always” explained about medicines before giving it to them.
- Just 57.5% of those surveyed said “Always” in answering questions about responsiveness. (quick response of staff to patient needs)
- Information about what to do during recovery at home varied among the hospitals and needs attention because of its relationship to quality care.
- Only 59.6% of patients reported that their room and bathroom were always kept clean, compared to similar survey scores that range between 60% and 70%.
- Language of service is an area where many facilities still have work to do, in both of the province’s official languages; where 91% of patients who preferred English always received it in that language and 74.6% of patients who preferred always French received it in their language of choice.