Quality can mean many things to many people and is usually described as an attribute or a property. In healthcare, quality refers to the extent to which healthcare services are provided to individuals and patient populations to improve health outcomes. The role of quality management at Memorial Hospital is to support the healthcare team as they continually strive to improve their processes of healthcare delivery. Essentially our quality team monitors and evaluates trends within the hospital and focuses on improving our patients' experiences at the hospital and increasing overall customer satisfaction. Our quality management department is headed by Missy Swanson, BSN, RN, and includes representatives from customer service and infection prevention.
Hospitals voluntarily report quality data to the Department of Health and Human Services and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. The data is available to the public through hospitalcompare.hhs.gov. Users are able to enter their zipcode, and the database searches for every hospital within a 200-mile radius. The user can then click on any three hospitals they wish to compare. While there are several categories to look at, the most popular comparison is "Survey of Patients' Hospital Experience." The patients' experiences tab lists 10 basic questions asking how well staff communicates and whether patients would recommend the hospital to family or friends. See how Memorial Hospital stacks up.