Quality care has become more than a personal objective in healthcare over recent years. New standards of care are increasingly performance-based, bringing patient satisfaction to the forefront in hospital success.
An example is the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS)—a multidimensional survey that allows hospitals to measure their performance based on patient satisfaction scores. While in the past higher scores have typically reflected better patient retention rates and greater staff satisfaction, the stakes have been raised. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) can now withhold significant Medicare reimbursements from hospitals with poor satisfaction scores, causing them to miss out on opportunities for profit.
With the growing implications of patient care, hospitals are under greater pressure to provide a positive patient experience. This not only requires a dedicated staff, but also the right technology to support these efforts. That’s where the choice of plumbing fittings comes into play.
How Plumbing Fittings Influence Patient Satisfaction Scores
As noted by the HCAHPS survey and hospitals alike, the quietness of the hospital environment is a critical aspect of the patient experience. Excessive noise can not only interrupt the sleep patterns of patients, but it also has the potential to increase their levels of stress and cause further complications.
In some cases, plumbing fittings can contribute to such unwanted racket. Service repairs that involve heavy equipment may take up to several weeks to complete, creating a disruptive environment for those patients who are within earshot of the maintenance.
Connecting this specific item to the larger picture, the HCAHPS survey also looks at a patient’s overall rating of the hospital during their stay. In terms of plumbing fittings, what’s important to consider here is the potential for patient displacement.
While switching rooms is meant to preserve a patient’s safety during routine pipe maintenance, such movement can seem disruptive in their eyes. These frustrations are likely to be reflected in a lower satisfaction score than they would have otherwise given.
Viega Plumbing Fittings Meet Today’s Healthcare Demands
As patient satisfaction becomes more vital to the healthcare field, the choice of plumbing fittings grows in importance as well. Clean, safe connections must be paired with fast installation times and the ability to perform service repairs with little to no interruptions to the patient experience.
That’s why Viega plumbing fittings are the ideal choice in the healthcare industry. Our press fit tool allows connections to be made in just a matter of seconds—all without the need for loud, heavy equipment. And because connections can be made when plumbing systems are still in operation, the issue of having to displace patients becomes a thing of the past.
Interested in learning more about the benefits of Viega plumbing fittings? Visit our project profiles section to see the technology in action.
