Patient gripes at Stroger are many

Stroger Hospital falls below the national average in patient satisfaction, its chief medical officer told Cook County Health and Hospital System board members last week.

Dr. Maurice Lemon said Stroger performed poorly on patient satisfaction surveys, though only 16 percent of patients issued the survey responded.

Chief among patients’ concerns were long wait times, bad attitudes among the staff and poor explanations of treatments.

“Patient satisfaction needs to be a higher priority for this staff,” Lemon said. It should be “a credo that drives the quality and care we deliver.”

Lemon listed a number of patient gripes, including that staff members were not receptive to patients' emotional needs, a lenghty discharge process and a lack of information from doctors and nurses.

The quarterly review of Stroger Hospital today also showed the hospital falls short of the national average in number of treatment areas.

Read the full story, originally published June 17 - and published woefully late here - at the Chi-Town Daily News.