By Katherine Adams
Quality of care rankings and awards can go a long way in helping patients make more informed decisions on how best to move forward with their health challenges.
Upon discharge from UTMB hospitals, patients receive a survey that asks for patients’ feedback in the standard of their care and other areas. Their responses help health care providers assess and improve the quality of the care they provide and consistently gauge patients’ experience.
Issued quarterly at UTMB, the Always Award recognizes outstanding work and patient satisfaction as determined by those surveys.
Most recently, the Inpatient Always Award was given to the Family Medicine Inpatient Unit, and the Ambulatory Always Award went to the Primary Care Pavilion Geriatrics Clinic for their excellent scores and significant improvements across most domains listed on the survey.
Dr. Vicente Resto, chief physician executive for Faculty Group Practice and senior vice president for Health System Ambulatory Operations and Surgical Services, presented the Ambulatory Always Award to the PCP Geriatrics Clinic, located at 400 Harborside Drive in Galveston.
“The awards are tallied based on patients’ comments from the survey. We focus on the comments we receive through the surveys for scores related to satisfaction and services, and we also focus on comments about patients’ likelihood of recommending us to others,” he said. “The PCP Geriatrics Clinic scored over 90 points, which is excellent. They were assessed along with the scores from all clinics, and on a quarterly basis we choose the one that is most meritorious.”
The clinic’s high marks were also reflective of the impact of the university’s Best Care initiative, which Resto said seeks to bring together excellence across all domains of the hospital, which combine to serve patients and their care.
“Geriatrics stood out, but it’s not because they did one thing,” Resto said. “The patient encounter begins on the phone, then when patients come in and register, the nurse’s aide helps them to a room and takes vitals, and the nurse and physicians come in and speak to them.
“What they do in those satisfying encounters is show a high level of responsiveness,” he said. “They answer calls efficiently, they take care of requests and are good resources.”
The clinic did an outstanding job of ensuring patients did not have a long wait time, and all expectations were met.
“It’s not just about patients getting what they came for,” Resto said. “It’s about getting it efficiently and in a friendly and helpful way.”
Malinda Roque, nurse manager for the PCP Geriatrics Clinic, said the award was a great honor but also a reflection of the dedication of the team in the clinic.
“We always tell our team to remember to take care of our patients as though they were our own family,” she said. “The differentiator is the team’s dynamics. We start caring for our patients the minute they check in, then the medical assistants, and all the way through the appointment and afterwards.
"Our team has been together for many years, and our collaboration has played an important role in our success,” she said.
Roque added that the nurses, in particular, work to put faces to names. When a patient arrives, a nurse comes out and says hello and makes sure to begin developing a relationship with each patient.
“Linda Lundgren, our team’s registered nurse, works very hard to stay involved with patients and make sure they know they have her office number,” Roque said. “She’s very engaged and stays connected to our patients.
“Linda and our two nurse practitioners, Beverly Pennington and Carla Henderson, make sure our patients feel they’ve been seen and heard, and they know they have a nurse who’s just a phone call away,” Roque added.
She said all the nurses and the doctors work collaboratively and there’s a high degree of partnership with each patient’s care.
Resto added there are over 100 clinics at UTMB, and when a certain clinic is recognized, it’s a very proud moment for that clinic’s entire team.
“The winning clinic receives a trophy, but the prize is really the recognition,” he said. “Attention to detail and hard work in the clinic produces results.”
Vice President and System Chief Nursing Executive Dr. Jerry Mansfield, who presented the Inpatient Always Award, said this quarter’s winner, the Family Medicine Unit in Jennie Sealy Hospital on the Galveston Campus, had received very high scores on the survey and demonstrated a significant pattern of improvement.
“We look very carefully at the patient survey scores, especially at the question about whether a patient would recommend us to family or friends,” Mansfield said. “I look at the responses a unit gets over the course of three months.
“In addition to seeing the numbers, it’s nice to see the comments because they give us more description about how they perceived us,” he said. “It demonstrates the Best Care initiative’s impact, because it’s inclusive of quality, safety and patient experience.”
Embracing the concept of Best Care changed the culture on the unit, according to Family Medicine Unit Nurse Manager Daniel Adame.
“We always have Best Care in mind, but what has really contributed to our success is mindfulness of safety, attention to patient responsiveness, rounding every hour and ensuring staff is always there,” he said.
“Being proactive with Best Care initiatives takes everyone’s effort,” he added. “We know it’s working because our patients say they are comforted to know that someone is always looking in. It’s a collaborative approach, and it includes everyone.”
Primary Care Pavilion Geriatrics Clinic