In the valley of the beautiful Green Mountains of Vermont, Rutland Regional Medical Center, a 133-bed community hospital, is in close proximity to large, regional competitors including big-name teaching hospitals to its north and east. With a focus on providing the highest level of excellent service, our community hospital is the second largest healthcare facility in Vermont providing care to Rutland County and beyond since 1896.
Rutland Regional has a national reputation for outstanding patient care, nursing excellence and innovation and provides patients with convenient access to award-winning cancer care and orthopaedic services, along with cardiology, surgical services, and over 30 other specialty services. Our Emergency Department is a 19-bed facility with over 35,000 visits per year and is currently undergoing an expansion. Our staff includes physicians, nurses, technicians and specialists who bring their expertise to serve our community. They’ve chosen to live here for the quality of life and the opportunity to deliver the latest technologies and highest quality care for their neighbors.
US News & World Report has recognized Rutland Regional as one of America’s Best Hospitals to receive common care, and Healthgrades® named Rutland Regional among the top 10% in the Nation for Outstanding Patient Experience and Patient Safety, along with “high performing” designations for its clinical performance in Pacemaker Procedures, Prostate Surgery and Total Knee Replacement.
As one of the safest hospitals in the nation, Rutland Regional was honored with an ‘A’ grade by The Leapfrog Group in the Spring 2016 Hospital Safety Score. Recently designated for a second time, Rutland Regional is a Magnet® hospital, providing the highest level of recognition for quality nursing care and a Center of Blue Distinction, a quality award for maternity care from Blue Cross and Blue Shield.
While Rutland Regional’s clinical awards are many, the hospital is proud of the transformation of employee engagement with the awarding of the Advisory Board Company’s 2016 Workplace Transformation Award. This increase in employee engagement is evident in the number of staff willing to go above and beyond to help the organization exceed.
This remarkable shift in culture at Rutland Regional began with a commitment to the Studer Group and hardwiring the principles of Service Excellence. This transformation set the stage for employees to embrace and embody principles of Service Excellence across the continuum of care.
As we focused on our commitment to patients, community and our care team, we began to see increasingly favorable results in patient satisfaction with the Emergency Department’s patient satisfaction rates increasing at a remarkable rate from a low of 29% to sustained satisfaction averaging 88% (with a high of 95%).
These results were achieved by working with the Studer Group and focusing on Emergency Department (ED) coaching. Beginning with a facility assessment, the ED Leadership team quickly adapted tactics needed to improve the overall ED experience, including hardwiring immediate /direct bedding for all patients. This resulted in Rutland Regional Medical Center receiving the 2013 and 2014 Studer Group Excellence in Patient Care Award for Decreased Left Without Being Seen category. Internally, Emergency Department staff engagement levels rose to 90% which underlined their commitment to our patients.
In conjunction with Studer coaching hospital, nursing and physician leadership made critical changes through a sequential approach. For the ED, the focus on communication with patients through AIDET, helped the organization to design new communication boards that inform patients of their care team, their plan of care, pain management indicators and discharge planning. These boards also inform staff of active military and veterans for recognition and gratitude.
Post-discarge, Rutland Regional uses the Patient Call Manager with an ED nurse dedicated to reaching 100% of discharged patients. Under the leadership of an internal physician coach, our ED physician group has a high-level of engagement demonstrating compassionate care with a focus on patient courtesy and respect with a pledge to listen to patient concerns and explain treatment plans. ED physicians make personal phone calls to patients post discharge in an effort to secure the best care possible and ensure timely follow up with primary care.
Additionally, the commitment of our CEO to leader development and mandatory attendance for leaders at Studer Conferences has greatly contributed to achievements not only in the Emergency Department, but across the organization. With Studer’s guidance, our strategy remains to focus on core principles of service excellence that help us provide quality award-winning care to our community.