February 04, 2009 - For Immediate Release

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LOYOLA'S NEW ORTHOPAEDIC JOINT RECONSTRUCTION PROGRAM AT GOTTLIEB MEMORIAL HOSPITAL A BIG HIT WITH PATIENTS

MELROSE PARK, Ill. -- Loyola University Health System's new orthopaedic joint reconstruction program at Gottlieb Memorial Hospital is a big hit with patients.

In surveys conducted after Gottlieb became part of the Loyola system, the orthopaedic program scored in the top 1 percent of Illinois hospitals on key questions about patient satisfaction.

Gottlieb became part of the Loyola health system on July 1, 2008. Maywood-based Loyola has relocated portions of its orthopaedic joint reconstruction program to its Gottlieb campus in Melrose Park.

Gottlieb's newly remodeled orthopaedic unit has 21 private patient rooms and state-of-the-art operating rooms that include advanced imaging technology. Nurses and therapists are specially trained in orthopaedic care.

"From the outset of this program, we have been intensely focused on important elements of the patient experience by consistently proactively anticipating and controlling patient pain. Our physician and nursing team designed a patient-focused care experience that we believed would deliver care in a kind, compassionate manner while achieving excellent clinical results. Now we have the data to prove our efforts are succeeding," said Dr. Terry Light, chairman of Loyola's department of Orthopaedic Surgery and Rehabilitation.

The randomized patient survey was conducted by Press Ganey, which assists more than 40 percent of U.S. hospitals in measuring and improving patient care. Press Ganey conducts a standardized patient-satisfaction survey called Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS). The survey includes 27 questions covering such topics as communication with doctors, cleanliness, pain management, discharge information, etc. HCAHPS was developed by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Compared with other Illinois hospitals, the Loyola orthopaedic program at Gottlieb scored in the top 1 percent on one survey question that asked patients to rate the hospital on a 0-10 scale and on a second question that asked whether patients would recommend the hospital. The program also scored in the top 1 percent on questions about pain control and how often nurses listen carefully to patients. It was in the top 2 percent on a question about how often doctors listen carefully to patients and in the top 3 percent on how often doctors treat patients with courtesy and respect. On all other questions, the program was significantly higher than the Illinois average.

Based in the western suburbs of Chicago, Loyola University Health System is a quaternary care system with a 61-acre main medical center campus, the 36-acre Gottlieb Memorial Hospital campus and 28 primary and specialty care facilities in Cook, Will and DuPage counties. The medical center campus is conveniently located in Maywood, 13 miles west of the Chicago Loop and 8 miles east of Oak Brook, Ill. The heart of the medical center campus, Loyola University Hospital, is a 561-licensed-bed facility. It houses a Level 1 Trauma Center, a Burn Center and the Ronald McDonald® Children's Hospital of Loyola University Medical Center. Also on campus are the Cardinal Bernardin Cancer Center, Loyola Outpatient Center, Center for Heart & Vascular Medicine and Loyola Oral Health Center as well as the LUC Stritch School of Medicine, the LUC Marcella Niehoff School of Nursing and the Loyola Center for Fitness. Loyola's Gottlieb Memorial Hospital campus in Melrose Park includes the 264-bed community hospital, the Gottlieb Center for Fitness and the Marjorie G. Weinberg Cancer Care Center.