Rate A Hospital™
- Voice of the Patient
Each year, an estimated quarter of a million patients (range 250,000 - 440,000) die from medical errors. Millions more are affected from shabby care, bad treatments, and poor services from hospitals.
Rate about 5,000 hospitals
Our reviews include incredible details about “Quality - How good is this hospital?”, “Compassion - Do they care about you?”, “Trust - Do you trust them?”, “Relief - Did the treatment work?”, and “Recommend - Would you go back again?”
Good hospitals do not offer more expensive care, or necessarily have the newest technology, or offer the latest tests and treatments. Rather, good hospitals provide care that is safe, effective, patient centered, timely, efficient, and equitable. Here’s some questions to ponder:
Is a beautiful building a good hospital? Is doing expensive procedures a good hospital? Is having the latest high tech a good hospital? Is doing more tests a good hospital? |
Caring hospitals do not have to convince you by using the word “caring” in their slogans. Rather, they are patient-centered and show genuine interest about you and your loved ones during treatment and services. Patients should feel able to express views, be involved in decision-making according to their preferences, and receive respectful care at any hospital. Patients themselves are most knowledgeable about whether care aligns with their values, preferences, and needs. Here’s some questions to ponder:
How did you and the nurses get along? Did the doctors understand your needs? Was hospital administration respectful to your preferences? |
Things can and do go wrong in any hospital, and at some hospitals, medical errors occur more often than at others. Among the problems that commonly occur at hospitals are delays in responding to your care, suboptimal care, hospital-acquired infections, postoperative complications, medication reactions, adverse drug events, and improper blood transfusions. You can also become a victim of misdiagnosis, surgical injuries and wrong-site surgery, restraint-related injuries or death, falls, burns, pressure ulcers, and mistaken identity errors. Here’s some questions to ponder:
What are the chances of getting an infection there? Do they have lots of medication errors? How much are their deaths from medical mistakes? |
Effective medical treatments depend upon hospitals providing services based on scientific knowledge to all who could benefit and refraining from providing services to those not likely to benefit. Not all hospitals are the same. Research has shown that in some hospitals, patients get better medical care, experience fewer medical mistakes, and receive more attention for their needs. Some hospitals also treat certain medical conditions better than others. Here’s some questions to ponder:
Did you have to see another provider? Did you have to be readmitted to the hospital? Did you suffer a complication? |
Hospitals are supposed to place your individual needs at highest priority when planning your care and treatment. They are supposed to make adjustments where possible to take account of things such as your age, disability, gender, and religion or belief. Great hospitals encourage their staff to listen to what patients have to say. Any concerns are investigated and acted on. Before patients go back to the same hospital, patients should ask themselves about the previous hospital stay. Here’s some other questions to ponder:
Did the hospital provide safe care? Did the hospital make you wait? Did the hospital coordinate your care? Did the hospital bill you too much? |