U.S. hospitals lag in patient satisfaction

HealthDay/Washington Post, October 30, 2008

In the first national survey of patients' experiences, many hospitals were found wanting in key areas such as pain management and discharge instructions. Almost one-third of patients gave low ratings to pain management, and one-fifth gave low ratings to communication at discharge. For the study, a Harvard team reviewed data from the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems survey. Of the 4,032 hospitals that report quality of care data, 2,429 reported patients' experience.