At DeKalb Surgical, we are dedicated to providing you the very best care possible. All of our surgeons are board-certified in surgery and have many years of experience. We place great priority on listening to you and spending enough time to be sure that all of your concerns are addressed and your questions are answered. For patients scheduled for surgery, you will receive detailed information regarding the recommended procedure, as well as what the alternatives are, and what are the benefits versus the risks of the procedure. You will be given information regarding what to expect after the surgery. Immediately after the procedure, we will talk with your family member regarding how the surgery went, and we will review the postoperative instructions both verbally and in writing.
For patients who must be hospitalized, you will be apprised of your progress on a daily basis. When it is time to go home, you will be given information regarding your medication list, particularly any new medications you will be taking. You will receive both written and verbal instructions, and once again, information is also available on our website. Your primary care physician will receive a prompt summary of your hospital stay as well.
In order to see how well we are meeting expectations in this area, we regularly review the results of patient satisfaction surveys. Patient satisfaction scores regarding physicians are collected routinely at most hospitals, and in particular at DeKalb Medical, where the majority of our hospital work is done.
We are pleased to report that in almost all categories, our scores were in the 95th percentile or higher over the past year, both for inpatients and outpatients.
Summary of HCAPHS Inpatient (Jan 2011 – Oct 2012)
HCAPHS stands for “Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems”, often pronounced as “H-Caps”. HCAHPS is a survey administered by Medicare to a random sample of adult inpatients between 48 hours and six weeks after discharge. Patients admitted in the medical, surgical and maternity care service lines are eligible for the survey; the survey is not restricted to Medicare beneficiaries.
The first column shows how we compare with all physicians nationally, and the 2nd column shows how we compare just with physicians in the Atlanta area.
DeKalb Surgical Associates’ Physicians Combined
| All Press Ganey Database | Atlanta Custom | |
|---|---|---|
| Communication With Doctors | 99 | 99 |
| Doctors Treat With Courtesy/Respect | 97 | 99 |
| Doctors Listen Carefully to You | 98 | 99 |
| Doctors Explain in Way You Understand | 99 | 99 |
Summary of Press Ganey Outpt Surgery Scores (Nov 2011 – Oct 2012)
A similar survey is provided and administered by Press Ganey to patients who have undergone outpatient surgery. The questions are different, but again geared to specifics with regard to the care provided, both for nurses and physicians, as well as overall impressions. The scores below reflect all those questions specifically related to the surgeon specifically.
On-Site Peer Group refers to a comparison group of hospitals across the US which are of similar size and type of facility, about 70 in all.
DeKalb Surgical Associate Physicians (Kennedy, Champney, Stieber, Fern)
| All Press Ganey Database | On-Site Peer Group | |
|---|---|---|
| Friendliness of Physician | 99%-ile | 99%-ile |
| Explanations Prior to Surgery | 99 | 99 |
| Information Regarding What Was Done | 60 | 62 |
| Confidence in Skill of Physician | 95 | 96 |
| Overall | 95 | 98 |
The summaries include 2 different surveys. In each case, these surveys are sent to patients who were treated at the hospital, a week or so after their encounter. There are numerous questions asked, regarding the care provided by the nurses, as well as the physicians. The questions shown are only those responses specifically related to the physicians. All surveys for the physicians in our group were considered collectively for the scores.
Though we are pleased with our scores, there is always room for improvement. In particular, we are implementing an additional method for providing post-operative information to our patients. We have already worked hard to provide as much information as we can to our patients before they even go for their surgery and this website is just one of those resources. In addition, we now plan to personally give the customized written post-operative instructions to the family member who accompanied the patient to the hospital on the day of surgery.