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Patient Time Spent In the ER At Westerly Hospital Significantly
Lower Than Rhode Island, National Averages
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A recent report by Press Ganey
Associates, Inc., a South Bend,
Indiana firm specializing
in health care performance measurement and improvement, showed nationally
that in 2007, patient perception of the average time spent in the
emergency department (ED) was 4 hours, 5 minutes. The “Emergency Department Pulse
Report: Patient Perspectives on American Health Care” analyzed the
experience of more than 1.5 million patients treated at 1,656 emergency
departments nationwide. The report
showed a wide variation from state to state in the amount of time spent
in the ED. Average visit times by
state ranged from 2 ¾ hours to nearly 6 ½ hours.
Compared to the national average, Rhode Islanders did
not fare very well. According to
the report, the average total time spent by a patient in a Rhode Island
emergency department in 2007 was 4 hours, 44 minutes, which ranks Rhode
Island 45th in terms of total time. However, at Westerly
Hospital, the average total time
spent in the ED was significantly lower than both the Rhode Island and national
averages. Based on statistics
provided by the Hospital, in 2007, that average total time was 2 hours,
20 minutes.
Patient satisfaction associated with this shorter time
was also high. For 2007, the
average score for overall satisfaction among patients visiting the
Westerly Hospital ED was 90.0.
When compared to the Press Ganey data,
this rate places a visit to the Westerly Hospital ED among the top 2.2%
of hospitals nationwide for patient satisfaction.
“I am pleased that Westerly
Hospital compares so favorably
to the national and Rhode
Island data,” said President/CEO Charles
S. Kinney. “A visit to any
hospital emergency department can obviously be a very stressful
experience. Our comparative
position demonstrates our ongoing commitment to quality and service. Kudos to all the hard working staff of
the Westerly
Hospital emergency
department who are responsible for these ratings.”
7/3/08
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