Patient satisfaction with cleanliness of room

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services created a patient survey to gather information about hospital care from the patient's perspective. The survey asks patients to rate their hospital stay based upon things like doctor and nurse communication, pain control, room cleanliness, and more. This survey is called Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS). It is a national, standardized survey of hospital patients. The HCAHPS survey is sent to a random sampling of patients who have been recently discharged from the hospital, asking them to rate their hospital experience.

The results of the survey are collected and posted on the CMS's Hospital Compare site where consumers can view the data about patient satisfaction and easily see how one hospital compares to any other in the country. State and national benchmarks are also provided to consumers so they have a better understanding of how hospitals in general perform in relation to the average hospital.

What is it measuring?

The question related to this measure was: “During this hospital stay…how often were your room and bathroom kept clean?” Possible responses are Never, Sometimes, Usually, and Always. The measure reflects the percentage of respondents who answered Always to these questions.

Why is it important?

Clean bathrooms and patient rooms can help prevent the spread of bacteria and viruses that can cause illness and serious complications. A higher score may indicate that a hospital provides a higher level of patient care.

How are we doing?

When compared to national and state benchmarks, our latest performance was worse than average. 

What are we doing to improve?

We have a number of hospital-wide initiatives that relate to room cleanliness and general sanitation. Keeping rooms clean and patients safe is a top priority of ours, and we are always working to improve. We encourage our patients and their family to let us know if their rooms or bathrooms need attention.

Note: In this case, a higher number is better.