Spencer Hospital wins second Summit Award

Spencer Hospital recently received the 2008 Summit Award for continued high scores in patient satisfaction.

Press Ganey Associates, Inc. has once again included Spencer Hospital as a Summit Award recipient.

Representatives from the hospital received the recognition at its annual conference held in Texas last month. The Summit Award recognizes top performing facilities that sustained the highest level of customer satisfaction for three or more consecutive years.

"Spencer Hospital is one of 13 emergency departments in a pool of probably 1,000," to receive the Summit Award, said Brenda Tiefenthaler, vice president of patient care services.

"Nice matters" is a mantra the hospital staff goes by.

"The patient comes first," Tiefenthaler said. "We want to make sure that we are communicating with that patient throughout the whole time that we're here. As soon as they hit the door, someone is talking to them. If they are in a room, we're coming in every couple of minutes to let them know where we are with the service."

Press Ganey partners with more than 7,000 health care facilities, including nearly 40 percent of U.S. hospitals, to measure and improve the quality of their care.

The company's databases are the largest in the industry and allow facilities nationwide to benchmark their results against peer organizations.

"Our goal has always been to provide the same quality care we would expect to receive," said Deb Brodersen, emergency department director. "That personal attention to detail and concern for each patient has yielded patient satisfaction scores above the 93rd percentile in patient satisfaction for 10 quarters, including two quarters this year."

Brodersen said the hospital wants to provide the best care, comfort and reassurance possible in a highly stressful moment for the patient.

"We are human so we know that we may miss the mark on providing optimal satisfaction every time; however, since we are human, our staff is able to provide an empathetic and human touch to their professional responsibilities," she said.

Tiefenthaler adds, the hospital is very proud of its Emergency Department and Ambulance staff.

"Our staff is dedicated to providing our patients and visitors with great care and comfort," she said.