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2013
Awards
StairMaster, a spinning class
or the free weights 2.5 times a
week?
Community
Awareness With
Community Benefits
CONVERSATION STARTER At the Reading Hospital
SurgiCenter at Spring Ridge's "Family Palooza."
Reading Hospital SurgiCenter at
Spring Ridge, Wyomissing, Pa.
One way of marketing your center to the community is to educate folks
about their health while also educating them about your potential role in
it. An open house that features health and safety displays and offers free
blood pressure, cholesterol, cancer and other screenings would play
both roles. Administrative Director Pamela Ertel, RN, BSN, CNOR, RNFA,
FABC, CASC, says more than 300 people attended her center's "Family
Palooza," which also included recreational activities and a World War
II-style mobile army surgical hospital setup.
An empowered staff is its own reward, but high marks from patients
are even more valuable. In addition to sending patients home with satisfaction survey forms, Mr. Ellinger's center calls randomly selected
patients beforehand and asks if they'll play "secret shopper." In another call after recovery, "we say, 'Tell us everything you can remember
about your experience, from walking through the front door to leaving,'" he says. "We don't pigeonhole them with yes-or-no questions or
1-to-10 scales, we just let them talk. We mine as much information
from them as possible." Taking the news to staff that patients felt welcome and confident on the day of surgery never gets old, he says.
For a facility that's expecting to host its 100,000th patient this fall,
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O U T PAT I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E O N L I N E | S E P T E M B E R 2013
