Munson Medical Center
Constant Focus on Patient Satisfaction
Munson Medical Center is a 391-bed, nonprofit hospital located in Traverse City, Michigan. By focusing on patient satisfaction and engaging frontline staff in improving care, it has become one of the better large hospitals in the United States in terms of overall patient satisfaction, as measured by Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) survey. The following strategies appear to contribute to the hospital's success: ongoing measurement and feedback; high nurse-to-patient ratios, greater nurse authority under the "shared governance" model; acuity-adaptable patient rooms; mandated quiet time and staff relaxation rooms; and shift-to-shift bedside reports.
Performance Improvement Strategies
- Organizational model in which staff nurses are given a voice in determining clinical practice, standards, and quality of care.
- Unit managers have financial incentives to improve: about 20 percent of their annual bonus is tied to meeting goals for patient satisfaction.
- Patient stays in the same private room from admission through discharge--reducing patient transfers means fewer medical errors, falls, missed treatments, and lost belongings; improves staff and patient satisfaction, clinical outcomes, and efficiency.
