WINNEMUCCA - Humboldt General Hospital employees were asked to take a survey covering how they feel about their jobs at the hospital. The survey was voluntary and private - the answers given were not traceable back to the employee.
HGH CEO Jim Parrish reported the survey results at the most recent hospital board meeting. Parrish said 90 percent (223 of 229) of the hospital's employees filled out the survey, a response rate he called, "just tremendous."
Employees were asked to give a one (lowest) to four (highest) rating representing their level of agreement with each statement. Parrish said that 90 percent (25 out of 29) of the responses showed a satisfaction level that was equal to or better than the answers employees gave the last time a satisfaction survey was given.
Parrish delivered the "bad news" first, sharing with board members the three questions that had elicited a more negative response than the last survey. When considering the statement: "Most patients are pleased with our health care services," employees recorded a compiled score of 3.09 compared to 3.19 from the last survey.
Parrish said that, statistically, a difference of that size amounted to about two people responding with a lower rating for patient satisfaction. Employee rating for the question, "My superior praises employees for good performance," was 3.28 in this survey, compared with 3.35 last time. The last response that was more negative than last time was to the statement, "My co-workers are well-trained for their jobs," and the results were 3.35 this time compared to 3.54 last time.
Survey responses indicating an equal or positive trend for employee satisfaction showed more employees felt they understood the hospital's mission, goals and policies, more felt proud to tell people where they worked, more felt they would be working at the hospital a year from now, fewer felt burned out, and the overall statement, "I feel Humboldt General Hospital is a great place to work" drew more positive responses than the last survey.
Although he had said the statistical differences were very small, Parrish assured the board that they would be working with the management team to continue to address employee satisfaction - particularly in those areas where the levels had dropped from the last survey.
Board members had some questions and comments about the survey. Ed Hopfer asked when the previous survey was given; Parrish said it was in 2006. Moe Hanzlik asked when Parrish planned to repeat the survey, which prompted Mel Hummel to say he'd like to see the survey repeated sooner than the previous interval of six years.
Parrish said the survey had first been done in 2005, and repeated in 2006 which hospital leadership didn't feel had been long enough to assess significant movement. He said an interval of two to three years would probably be better.
Parrish also told the board that Humboldt General Hospital's employee survey answers show greater job satisfaction when compared with national survey results, saying, "Every one of our answers were higher than the national average." He added that the national surveys included the answers of about 2,500 employees.
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