Pharmacists work to boost patient satisfaction scores

Abstract

The Medicare program’s focus on patient satisfaction is providing opportunities for pharmacists to use their medication expertise to help make the hospital stay as pleasant as possible for patients. One way pharmacists are doing this is by focusing on the medication-related questions in the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) survey. “We see this as an opportunity for us to help provide patient education and for patients to know that they have pharmacists available to help answer any questions they have about their medications,” said Meghan Davlin Swarthout, division director of ambulatory and care transitions at The Johns Hopkins Hospital department of pharmacy in Baltimore, Maryland. The HCAHPS-improvement efforts are part of an institutional focus on coordinating patient care to reduce hospital readmissions, Swarthout said. Pharmacy’s role in the process includes helping patients new to anticoagulants, insulin, or metered-dose inhalers understand the purpose of the medication and know the adverse events that may occur with its use.