Richard T. Blizzard

Rick Blizzard, managing research director with the Gallup Organization, said future surveys would benefit from looking at the link between patient measures and clinical outcomes, but added that the stumbling block is the confidentiality of patient records."This creates a significant barrier to useful research in this area," Blizzard said.
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Blizzard said hospital satisfaction surveys such as PEP-C often miss some important questions, particularly when it comes to engaging employees into the health care mission.He sees staff surveys as an important element in the overall process of improving the way patients view their hospitals.

"The key to inpatient satisfaction is the relationships between patients or patients' family members and hospital employees," Blizzard said."Employees must be engaged to make these relationships successful, but they must also be supported by efficient hospital processes that enable them to succeed."

Gallup research contains five key items in its 12-question employee engagement survey that have a strong influence over hospital inpatient satisfaction scores, he said.
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"Everybody is concerned about improving the quality of care," Blizzard said.

Richard T. Blizzard, with The Gallup Organization, speaks to staff members and administrators Tuesday at Camden-Clark Memorial Hospital.The hospital is being recognized by the organization for the quality of patient satisfaction in its Emergency Services Department.
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Richard T. Blizzard, a principal with the Gallup Organization, was at CCMH Tuesday to talk with staff members on a variety of issues and to inform the hospital's board of directors of the award during its Tuesday night meeting.

Blizzard said CCMH was one of nine winners from a pool of 50 applicants chosen on the following criteria: difficulty of the hospital's challenge; innovation and creativity used in addressing the challenge; improvement through measurable results and demonstrated sustainability.

As an award recipient, CCMH's Emergency Services Department will present its case study on Patient Satisfaction to other award recipients and health care peers at the October forum in Omaha, Blizzard said.
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During that period, Blizzard has made periodic visits to the hospital to discuss issues like patient satisfaction, quality of service, meeting needs and many others with staff members and administrators.CCMH is one of about 400 hospitals of all sizes and types that work with Gallup, Blizzard said.

As part of its work, Gallup has been working with CCMH to measure patient satisfaction with services through ongoing surveys.The organization makes reports back to the hospital, which can use the information to make improvements.

‘‘I work with the hospital to not only explain the results, but also work with the managers on ideas on what they can do and what we have learned at other facilities across the country that would help them with the quality of service," he said.

Blizzard said the award results from a program conducted by Gallup each year inviting its member hospitals to submit proposals on their quality improvement efforts.