This telephone survey validated CS training

The following is a sampling of questions from a successful telephone survey conducted by Inova Fairfax Hospital in Falls Church, VA. (See "Customer service training program boosts survey ratings," p. 139.)

- How satisfied were you with your ED visit?

- Was your visit better or worse than you expected?

- How did it compare to visits to other institutions?

- If a family member needed emergency care, how likely would you be to use this ED again?

- How serious was your medical condition on arrival?

- How would you rate the ED staff's efforts to keep your family informed?

- How would you rate the cleanliness of the hospital?

- How would you rate the respect shown to you as a person?

- How would you rate the appearance of the hospital overall?

- How would you rate the quality of the medical care you received?

- How would you rate the responsiveness or sensitivity to the needs of children?

- How quickly were you seen by the nurse?

- How would you rate the explanations provided by the nurse?

- How would you rate the nurse's sensitivity to your pain?

- How did the nursing staff fail to meet your expectations?

- How would you rate the overall registration process?

- How would you rate the caring and courtesy of the registration staff?

- How would you rate the efficiency of the registration process?

- How would you rate the information about financial insurance matters?

- How would you rate the amount of paperwork involved?

- How satisfied were you with the wait in the lobby area?

- How satisfied were you with the wait in the treatment area?

- How would you rate the doctor's communication with you about condition, diagnosis, and treatment?

- How would you rate the skill of the ED doctor?

- How satisfied were you with the amount of time you waited to be seen by a doctor?

- How would you rate the staff's respect for your privacy?

- How would you rate the caring and courtesy of the ED physician?

- How would you rate the comfort of treatment areas?

- How would you rate the cleanliness of treatment areas?

- How satisfied were you with the amount of time you had to wait to have your X-ray performed?

- How satisfied were you with the timeliness of receiving X-ray results?

- How satisfied were you with the discharge instructions provided when leaving the hospital?

- How satisfied were you with the total amount of time spent in the ED?

- How would you rate the skill of the laboratory technician taking your lab sample?

- How would you rate the timeliness of receiving lab results?

- How would you rate the skill of the ED nurses?

- How would you rate the caring and courtesy of the ED nurses?

- How would you rate the nursing staff's ability to keep you informed?

- Were your medical needs met?

- How would you rate the rapidity of evaluation by the triage nurse?

- How would you rate the triage nurse's sensitivity to pain?

- How would you rate the overall respect shown to the patient?

- How would you rate the explanation by the triage nurse?

- How satisfied were you with the overall process?

- How would you rate the skill of the ED technicians?

- How would you rate the courtesy of the ED technicians?

- How did the ED physician fail to meet your expectations?

Scoring was based on a seven-point Likert Scale: 1 = low, 7 = high.