The success of any healthcare organization relies on the relationships it builds with several important groups – its employees, patients, community members and physicians. That is why it is crucial to understand the principal drivers that lead to high levels of satisfaction, a good reputation, a safe environment, and employer and hospital of choice status.

The Planetree team can assist you in developing and administering a variety of surveys that assess your hospital’s current standing with employees, patients, physicians, and residents of the local community. We can support your organization’s efforts to increase employee satisfaction and customer loyalty and create the safest environment possible for your patients through results-oriented survey instruments and actionable management consulting.

Our survey team has over 20 years of experience in the healthcare field with a focus on quality, service and patient safety. We offer phone, web and paper-based surveys to ensure that the right customizable method is used for your organization. Your results are delivered to you in a matter of weeks, allowing you to respond to pressing needs when it matter most – as soon as possible.

Look to us for the following surveys:

• Employee Satisfaction
• Physician Satisfaction
• In-patient Satisfaction
• Emergency Room Satisfaction
• Community Image Monitor
• Patient Safety Assessment

Let us do the work:

• We guide you in selecting the appropriate survey medium.
• We design the survey.
• We handle inbound survey returns.
• We manage data input.
• We analyze and interpret the data.
• We provide benchmark and trending analysis.
• We submit the findings in an executive summary outlining the conclusions.
• We deliver on-site presentations to important constituent groups.

You can count on our results:

• Timely
• Accurate
• Personalized
• Cost-effective
• Tied to specific Planetree initiatives

Our commitment doesn't stop with the delivery of your results. We will work closely with you to optimize the Planetree model, creating a better environment for employees and patients. We believe you will find that the Planetree approach is more timely, personalized, and cost-effective than similar services offered by other vendors.

For more information about surveys, contact
Cindy Jecusco, Planetree Resource and Survey Manager
(203) 732-1366
cjecusco@planetree.org

Following is a description of each of the surveys we currently offer to healthcare facilities:

With the high cost of recruitment and training compounded by shortages in nursing and other health care positions, retention of qualified individuals is a critical business strategy. A key to understanding the driving force behind employee turnover starts by gathering useful, relevant information from your employees. A Planetree employee satisfaction survey can assist you in your efforts. Some of the dimensions covered in the Planetree employee satisfaction survey include:

• The employee orientation process
• Employee recognition
• Integrity in leadership
• Employee engagement
• Equitable work environment
• Valuing the organization
• Healthy environment

In addition to the standard report, a section benchmarking your hospital against a Planetree peer group can also be included. While we will design the questionnaire to suit your specific needs, it is important to start with key questions that have strong benchmark potential assuring consistency, quality and testing reliability. We provide you with the tools to ensure that you collect a representative sample with statistical validity of 95% + or - 5%. This survey can be administered on paper or via the Internet.

PPhysicians play a vital role as primary providers of healthcare services at your facility, so it is essential to fully understand their needs, perceptions, and levels of satisfaction with your organization. Our physician survey will provide your organization with specific, actionable data that you can use to strengthen the loyalty and satisfaction of your medical staff. Below is a list of some of the key areas that we measure in our survey:

• Nursing care satisfaction
• Surgical services evaluation
• Communication between primary care physcians and specialists
• Evaluation of outpatient services
• Physician amenities
• Satisfaction with hospital administration
• Overall quality of care
• Need for additional services

We work with an independent research firm to offer a unique telephone-based survey that will assist you in identifying opportunities within your organization and establishing goals for improvement. We start with a standard set of survey questions and allow you to customize based on your specific needs. Verbatim comments to the many open-ended questions are included at no extra charge.




Our in-patient and emergency room satisfaction surveys are instrumental in monitoring your hospital’s quality of care and services. They will provide you with the data you need to understand your patient’s perceptions, thus initiating positive outcomes that meet or exceed your patients’ highest expectations.

Three key patient-centered areas covered in the survey include:

• Patient satisfaction with medical staff and services provided
• Likelihood of returning to your hospital
• Likelihood of recommending your hospital to family, friends and neighbors

Our timely, telephone based survey, conducted by an independent research firm, will provide you with valuable information to identify opportunities within your market and issues that need to be addressed. The same number of telephone interviews is conducted each month for ease of comparison and trend analysis. Verbatim comments from patients can be included if desired. Any individual patients requesting follow-up calls from the hospital to discuss issues and concerns are emailed immediately to your contact, so that service recovery efforts can be initiated in a timely manner. Reports of results are prepared and delivered within three weeks of each concluding month.

We begin by providing you with a standard questionnaire to ensure that you include questions that have strong benchmarking potential to assure consistency, quality and testing reliability, and then we customize the survey to meet your unique needs. Sample sizes are determined that will provide you with statistical validity of 95% + or - 5%.

This annual assessment of the perception of your hospital among residents of your primary and secondary service areas will provide you valuable information to assist in marketing efforts and program development. You will learn how your hospital is perceived versus other institutions, how consumer choice is made, your perceived strengths and weaknesses, and more.

While we will design the questionnaire to your specific needs, areas which are commonly covered include:

• Top-of-mind aided and unaided awareness of your hospital and of selected competitors.
• Awareness of and reactions to marketing initiatives.
• The prevailing image of your hospital and selected competitors. Identification of strengths and weaknesses.
• Hospital of choice.
• Factors which affect hospital selection.
• Rating your hospital on key selection factors such as professionalism, competency, staff and other key areas.
• Sources of information on hospital and health care services.
• Demographics of patients and non-patients.

Our timely, telephone based survey, conducted by an independent research firm, will provide you with valuable information to identify opportunities within your market and issues that need to be addressed. Generally, a total sample of several hundred telephone interviews are completed with randomly selected consumers within your primary and secondary market areas who are responsible for making the health care and hospital decisions for their households. This sample will provide you with statistical validity of 95% + or - 5%.

Patient safety is a critical component of quality in health care environments today. Prevention of patient injury, through early and appropriate response to evident and potential problems, is the key to patient safety. Planetree can assist you in auditing your culture for patient safety opportunities using the public domain survey tool developed by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). The survey is designed to provide hospital officials with a means of assessing the extent to which their cultures emphasize the importance of patient safety, facilitate open discussion of error, encourage error reporting, and create an atmosphere of continuous learning and development. The survey provides a level of detail that helps hospitals identify specific areas of strength and areas for improvement at both the unit-level and hospital level.
The Patient Safety Assessment Survey is designed to measure twelve areas or dimensions of patient safety:

1. Overall perceptions of safety.
2. Frequency of events reported.
3. Supervisor/manager expectations and actions promoting safety.
4. Organizational learning—Continuous improvement.
5. Teamwork within units.
6. Communication openness.
7. Feedback & communication about error.
8. Nonpunitive response to error.
9. Staffing.
10. Hospital management support for patient safety.
11. Teamwork across hospital units.
12. Hospital handoffs & transitions.

In addition to comparing your hospital's results on each item, you can also obtain a summary view of how your hospital compares to other hospitals.

We begin by providing you with a standard questionnaire obtained directly from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) to ensure that you include questions that have strong benchmarking potential to assure consistency, quality and testing reliability, and then we customize the survey to meet your unique needs. Sample sizes are determined that will provide you with statistical validity of 95% + or - 5%.

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