Emergency Care

Milton Hospital announced its patient satisfaction rating, which places it among the top one percent of hospital emergency departments nationwide.

The rating, calculated over the past two months, was generated by patient survey data, managed through an independent surveyor, Press Ganey. Patient survey responses to questions about emergency care at Milton Hospital ranked higher than ninety-nine percent of hospitals nationwide in May and June. Ratings outpaced 97 to 98 percent of hospitals in February and March, and year-to-date, Milton's emergency services rank among the top five percent of hospitals nationwide.

"No one wants to spend time in the emergency room, but the availability of a high-quality, accessible and efficient emergency department benefits the entire community. We took the time to carefully evaluate staffing and many of our processes, in order to effectively improve the patients' experience in our emergency room, resulting in timely treatment and an extremely high level of patient satisfaction," said Paul Paganelli, MD, chief of Milton Hospital's Emergency Department.

Over the past four months, the time from patient arrival at Milton Hospital to triage has averaged twenty minutes, significantly below the national average of forty-five to sixty minutes. Once triaged, the average wait to see a physician or physician assistant is only forty minutes compared to the sixty minute national average. Additionally, emergency department traffic at Milton Hospital has increased ten percent.

Milton Hospital achieved the phenomenal top one percent rating from Press Ganey based on patient surveys regarding wait time, comfort and cleanliness of the facility, attentiveness of nursing staff, courteousness of doctors, courtesy shown to family members, wait time for test results, doctors/nurses taking time to listen, information provided from doctors about treatment, helpfulness of staff, pain management, information about home care and more.

"I'm proud that the staff has shown continuous commitment to developing effective solutions. As the front line of our patient care, it is imperative that our emergency department reflect Milton Hospital's mission to provide high-quality community care," said Joseph V. Morrissey, President of Milton Hospital.