HCAHPS Version of Jeopardy: Coming Soon to a Hospital Near You

August 23, 2013

Welcome to the game of “Jeopardy 2,” the HCAHPS version of the most popular quiz game on television! Today, we are going to provide some online clues and you have to guess the appropriate HCAHPS question to match the clue.

For instance, if we say, “45 minutes”, you would ask, “How long was your wait for assistance?” Here is the first clue:

1. “Sleepless in ICU.” Answer: “How often was your room quiet at night?”
2. “What did they say?” Answer: “Did you fully understand your discharge instructions?”
3. “Wait a minute.” Answer: “How often did feel your physician treated you with respect?”
4. “I could not wait.” Answer: “Did you get help when you needed it to go to the bathroom?”
5. “The towels are still wet.” Answer: “How often was your bathroom cleaned?”
6. “How long?” Answer: “Was your pain managed well?”
7. “How much longer?” Answer: “Was everything possible done to control your pain?”
8. “I already told you.” Answer: “How often did you feel you were listened to?”
9. “You have to change the bed again.” Answer: “How often did you get help in getting to the bathroom or in using a bedpan as soon as you wanted?”
10. “What was that?” Answer: “Before giving you any new medicine, how often did hospital staff tell you what the medicine was for?”
11. “Only in an emergency.” Answer: “Would you recommend this hospital to your family and friends?”

While clearly these clues came from total frustration, lower HCAHPS scores reflect frustration of patients whose experience is far from what they feel they deserve or have a right to expect.

In some ways, backing into the HCAHPS survey from the symptoms may be more revealing than going from the results to action. The symptoms are always obvious: the patient who cannot sleep, the patient who is suffering, the physician or nurse who cannot remember the patient’s name, the bathroom is still wet from the last shower. Somehow, we just know the obvious.

Jeopardy is a great model for HCAHPS. If only the real risks were not laid on patients first.

Download my latest whitepaper on HCAHPS.