The National Research Corporation, through its My InnerView product, recently released the 2011-2012 National Research Survey of Customer and Employee Satisfaction. More than half a million residents, family members, and employees from long-term care communities across the United States participated. Similar to national characteristics, the survey sample represented primarily freestanding communities (i.e., not part of a hospital) and few were part of a Continuing Care Retirement Community (CCRC). Differing from national characteristics, the survey sample represented long-term care communities that were part of a chain and represented more large-size communities (with 120 or more residents).
Overall, 89 percent of residents and 87 percent of families recommended their long-term care communities as “good” or “excellent” places to receive care. Overall satisfaction with services mirrored these results. The report indicated that these scores (recommendation and overall satisfaction) have steadily increased over the past six years in spite of factors including increased competition and economic challenges. Key drivers of resident/family recommendations include care or concern by staff, competency of staff, residents inclusion in choices/preferences, and responsiveness of managers.
The highest resident satisfaction ratings were in the categories of respect shown by staff, nursing care provided, and resident safety. Lowest rating categories included adequacy of staffing, quality of meals, and security of personal belongings.
Regarding employee satisfaction, 67 percent of all respondents indicated they were satisfied overall with the jobs and 68 percent would recommend their community to other potential employees. The greatest employee satisfaction ratings were in the areas of respectfulness of staff, feeling a sense of accomplishment, safety in the workplace, and quality of staff education. Lowest employee satisfaction focused on quality of family-related training, comparison of pay, and assistance with job stress.
The report also examined relationships between resident and employee survey results. Not surprisingly, higher employee satisfaction was associated with higher family satisfaction. Similar trends were reported between resident and family satisfaction scores. Finally, there were clear relationships between results of the Five-Star Quality Rating scores and satisfaction results. Communities with higher star ratings also had a greater number of residents, family members, and employees rating their communities as “excellent.”
Providing these positive results to a wider consumer audience that often holds negative views of long-term care communities is an important means to educate the public about the positive views held by many long-term care residents, families, and employees.
The full report may be accessed at: http://www.nationalresearch.com/uploads/National-Reports/SNF_NationalReport2012.pdf.
