Do They Deserve A Medal?

The United Hospital Fund has posted a quarter page promotion inwards the New York Times, entitled "They deserve a medal."  The promotion celebrates infirmary trustees whose "leadership as well as dedication brand life improve for all New Yorkers," as well as in that location volition survive a presentation inwards their honor at the Waldorf-Astoria.  This is an annual lawsuit past times the UHF.

I firmly believe that infirmary trustees are dedicated as well as thoughtful folks, who devote time, energy, as well as coin to back upwards local institutions.  We should indeed survive grateful for their devotion to the cause.  But it's been my sense that many infirmary governing boards neglect to address fully the patient experience.

So, I wondered what, other than personal commitment, the boards of these hospitals convey achieved on that front.  I tapped the government's Hospital Compare website to explore simply a few of the named hospitals.

I looked at the grades for patient sense as well as institute the next for St. Barnabas Hospital. (The showtime column is the hospital, the side past times side is a comparing to New York hospitals, as well as the final column is a comparing to the national average.)

The infirmary was below both the regional as well as national average when it came to getting information to patients almost what to produce during recovery at home, how good patients understood their tending when they left the hospital, the percent of patients who gave the infirmary the highest ratings, as well as the percent of patients who would recommend the hospital.

Ditto for Wyckoff Weights Medical Center:

In contrast, Eastern Long Island Hospital did well, matching or beating the average inwards all 4 categories:

Not fair, to a greater extent than or less volition claim.  For i thing, the Hospital Compare numbers don't demo a trend.  But the information are reasonably electrical current (from July 2013 to June 2014) as well as are collected inwards a uniform mode across the portion as well as country.

I bring together the UHF inwards praising these trustees for what they convey done.  And peradventure a pose out of trustees mentioned inwards its promotion have been champions for the form of results nosotros all seek.  If so, it would survive dandy if the UHF could connect the dots betwixt private trustee action, governance processes they convey pose inwards place, as well as the results for patients.

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