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Focus groups can help drive patient satisfaction.

Article Excerpt
For one Owensboro, KY, hospital, the ability to heal patients doesn't just come from qualified staff members or advanced procedures. Instead, the ability to heal comes from the patients themselves.

Patient focus groups have been a great source of knowledge and information for the Owensboro Medical Health System, which has used the groups to gather ideas for new programs and facilities at the 447-bed hospital. By meeting and exchanging ideas, patients bring important perspectives to light.

"Some of the things they ask for are so simple, and so easy for us to overlook because we can get desensitized to what really makes their lives easier," says Bonnie Roberts, director of cancer services. "One patient who was new had a really hard time when the nurse came to her bedside with all of the needles, drugs, and medical equipment. One of the things we did after that was cover up equipment when it isn't in use."

At Owensboro, the patient satisfaction survey is a proven way to determine the public perception of a hospital, but health systems across the country are augmenting surveys with a more direct, representative method of gathering public input. By assembling focus groups that include a diverse range of community members, hospitals are taking a more assertive approach to self-improvement. Advisory or focus groups are an economical and flexible way for hospitals to boost recognition and improve patient satisfaction, says Rob Rosenberg, president of Springboard Brand and Creative Strategy, a marketing and communications consulting firm based in Arlington Heights, IL. "There...

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