July 16, 2010

West Shore Patient Satisfaction at the Top Nationally
Hospital receives recognition for excellence in obstetrics and inpatient service

Everyday excellence and compassionate care are among the values that guide the staff, physicians, and volunteers at West Shore Medical Center.

The hospital's focus on these customer-centered values has resulted in West Shore's receiving national recognition for outstanding patient satisfaction.

The national research-marketing firm Professional Research Consultants (PRC) awarded West Shore the 2010 5-star Excellence Award for inpatient obstetrics services and the 4-star Excellence Award for overall inpatient services. This is the third year in a row the hospital has received the obstetrics recognition and the second consecutive year for the overall inpatient services award.

The PRC awards are based on feedback from randomly selected inpatients and outpatients. PRC contacts patients within two to four weeks of their discharge from the hospital and asks them to rate the care they received as excellent, very good, good, fair, or poor. A 5-star rating is awarded to hospital departments with average overall patient satisfaction scores in the top 10 percent of PRC's national database. Scores in the top 25 percent are recognized with a 4-star rating.

"Our patients are the center of everything we do here," said West Shore President Burt Parks. "The PRC awards recognize the efforts of our staff, physicians, and volunteers to provide compassionate and quality care every day."

West Shore Medical Center Vice President of Nursing Jim Toth said managers at West Shore use monthly feedback from PRC interviews to develop plans for improvement with their associates.

"The hospital's goal is excellence every day," Toth said. "Each department aims to continually improve care and service to patients."

"We are so proud of West Shore Medical Center and are thrilled to present them with these National Excellence in Healthcare Awards," said Joe M. Inguanzo, Ph.D., President and CEO of Professional Research Consultants. "These awards are proof that West Shore is committed to improving health care. It takes years of dedication, determination, and hard work to achieve this level of success. Congratulations to West Shore and its staff for improving health care services in Manistee."

Representatives from the hospital attended a ceremony in San Diego, Calif., to accept the awards. Those attending on behalf of West Shore were Emergency Department and Obstetrics Manager Deb Lijewski, RN; Medical/Surgical associates Ashley Griswold, SSA, and Lacey Toelle, RN; and Obstetrics nurses Hilary Edmondson, RN, and Karen Vander Weele, RN.

Contact:  Meghan Daigh
or Dale Killingbeck
Munson Healthcare
Corporate Communications
(231) 935-3394
news@mhc.net