On March 1 Mendocino Coast District Hospital received notification that we have been selected to be a recipient of a 2011 PRC National Excellence in Healthcare Award. The award comes from Professional Research Consultants, Inc. (PRC) a National Company based out of Omaha, Nebraska that conducts patient satisfaction surveys at hundreds of hospitals across the United States. In a letter dated March 1, PRC President Joe Inguanzo wrote about MCDH, "your facility's focus on excellence is making it a better place to work, a better place to practice medicine, and a better place for your patients to be treated." We were also notified that MCDH has been selected to receive 2 awards this year. One of them is the 5-Star Award, which is given out annually to healthcare facilities that score in the top ten percent for all PRC client hospitals for 2010. The awards are based upon the percentage of patients that rate the facility or patient unit as "Excellent" for Overall Quality of Care. MCDH is being given the 5-Star Award for our Station 2, Medical-Surgical Unit. We are also being recognized with a 4-Star Award (for top 25%) for all 3 of our inpatient units (Medical/Surgical, ICU and Obstetrics). As CEO of MCDH, I am not surprised by this honor. First, because I know that the quality of our staff is outstanding and second because our patient satisfaction scores have steadily improved over the past few years with the best scores being received during 2010. In the final quarter of 2010, our inpatient units achieved a 98% score for Overall Patient Quality! That includes all 3 units (Medical/Surgical, ICU, Obstetrics) and is directly due to the efforts of our Hospitalist doctors, our nurses and our entire staff. Our nurses did exceptionally well with scores of 96% for nursing communication, 100% for nurses caring and understanding, 100% for nurses responding to patient calls, 99% for nurses instructions and explanations of tests, and 90% for nurses respect for patients privacy. Our Hospitalist doctors also did exceptionally well with scores in the 90th percentile in 4 out of 5 categories. In short, there are VERY FEW hospitals in the United States that can announce such amazing results. I am very proud and happy that our hospital staff is receiving this National recognition. They deserve it! Congratulations to our entire team, especially our patient care staff for helping us to be recognized as one of the best hospitals for patient satisfaction in the U.S.
