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EDITOR'S PAGE
Dan O'Connor
Hospital or Hospitality?
Direct-to-patient marketing might not be such a bad idea nowadays.
e've long preached to you in our pages a seemingly contradictory truth: Your surgeons are your primary customers,
not your patients. That's difficult for some nurses to accept,
but the fact of the matter is that surgeons sit alone atop the surgical
food chain. They control where patients go for surgery. You might run
the best ORs, have the greatest staff and the latest equipment, but
they'll all collect dust if surgeons don't book cases at your facility.
So you can imagine our surprise when we saw a TV spot for a local
hospital's joint replacement program (tinyurl.com/mr6kcbm) that's
aimed squarely at prospective patients. The Total Joint Center at
Springfield (Pa.) Hospital bills itself as "the hospitable hospital." The
message is this: If you need hip or knee replacement surgery, why not
make going in for artificial body parts as comfortable as it can be?
Why not have it at a place that has private, newly updated rooms, contemporary hardwood floors and subdued ambient lighting, plush
robes and room-service menus that you'll enjoy on fine china, crystal
glasses and real silverware, a pull-out bed for your family member or
support person to stay with you overnight, flat-screen TVs and Wi-Fi
Internet access?
"While providing a high level of care is our top priority, we also recognize that little conveniences and comforts can make a big difference," the commercials say.
Good outcomes. Nice amenities. It's working.
In the 9 months since the joint replacement program's launch, about
150 patients have been treated. "We're ahead of budget," says Frank
Giammattei, MD, chief of orthopedic surgery at Crozer-Chester
Medical Center. "We've done very, very well with patient-reported outcomes about their experience.
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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 | O C T O B E R 2013