BOSTON, Oct. 29 (UPI) -- Patients say U.S. hospitals frequently fall short in controlling pain, communicating about medications and coordinating discharge planning, researchers said.
Harvard School of Public Health researchers examined patient experience information collected by the U.S. government via its Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems survey from patients at 2,400 hospitals.
Two-thirds of patients gave their hospital care a high rating, but very few hospitals received the highest rating of 90 percent or above.
Nearly one-third of patients did not give high ratings for how hospitals controlled pain, 21 percent of patients did not rate their discharge instructions highly and 42 percent of patients gave hospitals low ratings for communicating about medications.
The ratio of nurses-to-patient days was a critical predictor of how patients rated their experience overall. Hospitals with higher nurse-staffing levels per patient were more likely to get high ratings on pain control, communication about medications, and handling of discharge instructions than hospitals with fewer nurses, the study said.
"Our analysis shows that hospitals can do a lot better at providing patient-centered care," lead author Dr. Ashish Jha said in a statement.
The Commonwealth Fund-supported study was published in the New England Journal of Medicine.
