Charles Cole Memorial Hospital in Coudersport ranked highest of
the four local hospitals for care of heart attack patients,
according to patient satisfaction survey results released recently
by the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Health Care Providers and
Systems.

Charles Cole received 100 percent approval in all of the
following categories: patients receiving aspirin at arrival and at
discharge, being given an ACE inhibitor or ARB for Left Ventricular
Systolic Dysfunction (LVSD), being given smoking cessation
counseling and receiving a beta blocker at the time of
discharge.

By comparison, the other three local hospitals, including
Bradford Regional Medical Center, Kane Community Hospital and Elk
Regional Health Center in St. Marys, received a zero-percent for
smoking cessation counseling, and only a little over 75 percent of
those treated at BRMC and Elk Regional reported satisfaction for
being given ACE inhibitors or ARB for LVSD. Kane Community
Hospital, however, received 100 percent satisfaction, also.

A high percentage of BRMC patients (97 percent) were satisfied
with receiving a beta blocker at discharge and 90 percent were
given aspirin on arrival. For Elk Regional and Kane Community, 92
percent and 75 percent, respectively, gave positive feedback on
receiving beta blockers on discharge and all patients at Elk
Regional and 67 percent at Kane Community were given aspirin on
arrival. Only 87 percent of the patients at both BRMC and Elk
Regional were given aspirin at discharge, while all patients
treated at Kane Community received aspirin at discharge.

In other categories, according to the survey, comparisons of the
four hospitals varied.

For the patients’ hospital experience, each hospital received
satisfactory ratings for doctors communicating well. Kane Community
Hospital received the highest rating at 87 percent while BRMC
received a 78 percent, Elk Regional a 76 percent and Charles Cole
an 83 percent.

The number of patients reporting satisfaction with direction on
what to do at home for recovery was also high for all four
hospitals, with Charles Cole at 84 percent, Kane Community at 80
percent, Elk Regional at 81 percent and BRMC at 74 percent.

Kane Community received low ratings in the Pneumonia Care
category on the number of patients given the Influenza vaccination
(31 percent) and also the Pneumococcal vaccination (28
percent).

BRMC and Elk Regional both received their lowest satisfaction
ratings in how quiet the patients’ rooms were at night (only 44
percent for both) and the number of patients who ranked the
hospital at a 9 or 10 on a 10-point scale (48 percent for BRMC and
49 percent for Elk Regional).

Charles Cole’s lowest ratings came in the category of quiet
rooms at night as well (57 percent) and also in whether the
patients were likely to recommend the hospital (63 percent).

All four hospitals had both mortality and readmission rates
comparative to the U.S. National Rate, according to the surveys.
Also, no information was available on children’s asthma care
measures for any of the four.

In the Surgical Care category, the most satisfaction reported at
all four hospitals was for the correct antibiotic being given to
help prevent infection during surgical care (Kane Community 100
percent; Charles Cole, 99 percent; Elk Regional, 95 percent; BRMC,
86 percent) and for those patients needing hair removed for a
procedure that was completed using electric clippers or a hair
removal cream rather than a razor (Charles Cole, 98 percent; Elk
Regional, 98 percent; BRMC, 91 percent; Kane Community, 62
percent).

The final category included in the survey was Heart Failure
care. In that category, all four hospitals received high marks for
three things; the number of heart failure patients given an
evaluation of the Left Ventricular Systolic Function; the number of
patients given smoking cessation counseling and the number
receiving ACE Inhibitor or ARB for LVSD. While similar results were
reported in the Heart Attack section of the survey, the results in
this section reflect more favorably on all four hospitals, with the
lowest satisfaction at 40 percent for Kane Community’s smoking
cessation counseling, followed by BRMC at 50 percent.

The full details of the comparisons and survey results can be
found on www.hospitalcompare.hhs.gov