Patient Satisfaction

Patient satisfaction is a very important gauge of healthcare quality — and is linked to safety, quality, and the patient experience.  It measures patients' perception regarding the quality of the healthcare and services they receive.  Middlesex Hospital measures patient satisfaction in all major areas, including inpatient, emergency department, outpatient surgery, outpatient tests and treatments, behavioral health, and outpatient oncology.

Middlesex Hospital utilizes a nationally recognized patient satisfaction survey company, Press Ganey Associates, Inc., to collect results and compare them to other hospitals on a national basis.  This allows us to measure our performance in this area against other healthcare organizations throughout the country.  The survey asks for patients to rate several aspects of their healthcare experience, including those related to physicians, nurses, food services, housekeeping, admitting, discharge and billing services and diagnostic tests and treatments.

Our patient satisfaction scores for fiscal year 2014 were above the national average benchmark in inpatient services, outpatient surgery, outpatient tests and treatments, emergency departments, and outpatient oncology services.  The Emergency Departments at the Middlesex Hospital Shoreline Medical Center and the Middlesex Hospital Marlborough Medical Center had results for the year both in the top four percent of the national sample.

Middlesex Hospital's Marlborough Medical Center Emergency Department and Shoreline Medical Center Emergency Department were awarded the prestigious Press Ganey Guardian of Excellence Award for patient satisfaction.  Each Guardian of Excellence Award winner must rank in the 95th percentile or above in the Press Ganey Associates, Inc. National Database for an entire year.  The Emergency Departments at Marlborough and Shoreline were two of approximately 200 organizations receiving this award in 2014.

All clinical staff and departments review results of the patient satisfaction surveys in order to find ways to improve the level of patient satisfaction and make the entire healthcare experience the best possible for our patients and their families with each encounter.

The mean score represents the mathematical mean (average) for all questions asked on the survey.  The five area surveys are Inpatient, Outpatient Surgery (two sites), Outpatient Tests and Treatments (four sites),  Emergency Departments (three sites), and Oncology Services.  The table shows the Middlesex Health System score compared to the National Database Mean Score in the specific service lines.