Nurse Communication

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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?

This measure compiles answers to three separate questions that relate to nurse communication:

“During this hospital stay, how often did nurses treat you with courtesy and respect?”
“During this hospital stay, how often did nurses listen carefully to you?”
“During this hospital stay, how often did nurses explain things in a way you could understand?”

The possible responses are Always, Usually, Sometimes, and Never. The measure reflects the percentage of surveyed patients who answered Always to all three questions.

What does it mean and why is it important?

Good communication between healthcare providers and patients (and their families) is important to a successful overall healthcare experience. When nurses and patients communicate well, the risk of medication or treatment errors is reduced, and it helps patients feel like a part of their care team, which can also lead to improved outcomes. 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 nurse/patient communication. Open communication between hospital staff, including nurses, and patients and their family is a goal we always strive to reach. We encourage our patients and their family to let us know if communication is lacking.

See more quality measures.