OLD BRIDGE — Raritan Bay Medical Center was name a 2004 winner of a Compass Award for customer service from Press Ganey Associates, a provider of customer service surveys for more than 6,000 health care facilities.
Only two hospitals in New Jersey received the 2004 award — the other being Riverview Medical Center in Red Bank.
Raritan Bay has hospital divisions in Old Bridge and Perth Amboy.
The award recognizes health care facilities whose overall customer satisfaction scores have shown the greatest improvement over the past two years in relation to competing hospitals. All the hospitals judged use the Press Ganey survey to gauge customer satisfaction.
According to Press Ganey, winners of the award have common threads of success — staff members listen to customers and develop programs based on that feedback, employees are involved and empowered to continually provide higher levels of customer service, and hospital leaders recognize the importance of effective communication and are focused on enhancing customer service.
“Making better use of the Press Ganey survey results has been an important part of our improved customer satisfaction,” said Ronald Esser, chief operating officer at Raritan Bay. “Each unit’s head nurse is empowered to act proactively by having ready access to Press Ganey results. This has enabled them to acknowledge good work and to make changes to patient care more quickly.”
In addition, Esser noted, the hospital’s nursing administrators routinely write personal letters to staff members who are mentioned in patient survey feedback and have created an “honor roll” plaque that lists employees who provide exceptional customer service.
The hospital indicated it has enhanced customer service in part with a welcome sign in each patient room to write personalized messages to those receiving care. Birthday cards are tailored to inpatients, and “thinking of you” cards are sent to patients who have been discharged. Sympathy cards are sent to the families of patients who have died.
Raritan Bay has also hired patient ambassadors, which are customer service professionals who serve as liaisons between patients, their families and the hospital staff. There is also a “service recovery program” to work with patients and families to rectify any unmet expectations.