Idaho is home to several great hospitals and a hospital in Blackfoot is earning some major recognition at a national level. You’ve probably heard about the Idaho Doctors’ Hospital and their latest award is about to bring them even more national attention. For Larry Anderson, who is recovering from back surgery on Monday, there is nowhere else he’d rather be. Larry has been suffering from chronic back pain for nearly a year but he is now on his way to recovery.
His operation was performed in a state-of-the-art facility using cutting edge technology. The neurosurgeons are some of the best around and they are quickly developing a reputation that is bringing patients in from as far away as Nebraska but that is only the beginning.
Do to the nature of the procedures that are performed at the hospital, pain management is critically important. It’s was definitely a concern for Larry and so far, he’s been impressed by quality of care and the attention to detail from the staff throughout the entire process.
“When I first came in, I kind of told my family, ‘you know I’m going to have this operation and come visit me when I get home, I really don’t want to see you guys up there when I’m in discomfort and pain and groggy, you know let’s get the procedure over with’,” said Larry Anderson, a patient at Idaho Doctors’ Hospital. “I was very surprised at how the procedure went. I came out of the operating room, alert and was for the rest of the day and told the nurses, ‘you know, if the family comes up, fine send them in. I feel fine talking to them.’ I’m in total comfort and it changed my mind.”
The inside of the hospital almost feels more like a nice hotel than anything else. From their executive chef to a nursing staff that often doubles as a concierge, the hospital routinely receives high marks for patient satisfaction.
Wednesday, the Press Ganey Association awarded 2011 Summit Award to the Idaho Doctors’ Hospital for sustaining the highest level of service for three or more consecutive years. The award comes from their desire to constantly improve their quality of care and their Chief of Staff says there are some real advantages to having local control.
“I always tell my patients that this is a work in progress and it’s important for them to tell us the good and the bad, specifically the bad because we want to correct those things,” said Clark H. Allen M.D., Chief of Staff. “The patients feel empowered and I get feedback when I see them post-operatively. They tell me ‘I like this, I like this, I love this, but here’s some things that you can do better.’ Because the physicians are stakeholders and the county are stakeholders, those things can be changed immediately.”
It can take years, even decades to implement a system capable of providing the patient satisfaction that is expected at the Idaho Doctor’s Hospital and Dr. Hunneycutt credits his staff with helping them reach this level so quickly and for this latest national award.
“The fact that we have been recognized so quickly says a lot about this staff and when physicians and staff work together, as we do at Idaho Doctors’ Hospital, these kind of outcomes can happen easily and more readily.”
The hospital usually performs about 240 surgeries a year.
