MMH gets community survey results

MONTROSE  —With obvious objectives, Montrose Memorial Hospital conducted a community survey and the results are in.

"We do a community survey approximately every four years to see what the community thinks of the hospital and what they would like to see from us," said Leann Tobin, spokeswoman for MMH.

Of those surveyed, about 74 percent said they had their most recent experience at MMH. When provided reasons why they used that facility, 63 percent said it was location and 57 percent said it was because of the medical doctor they selected.

When compared to those who chose St. Mary's in Grand Junction or the Black Canyon Surgical Center, only 10 percent said they use MMH because of its reputation, while 41 percent said they use St. Mary's because of its reputation; 28 percent use the surgical center.

Results showed that only 51 percent of respondents said they were seen by a doctor the same day when urgently needed. Five percent said it took two weeks or more.

The hospital rated high in good equipment and courteous and attentive staff.

About 61 percent said there was the right number of doctors, compared to 55.8 percent in 2004.

"My first feeling is that we always want to be better, but in just about every field that was surveyed, we improved over the last survey that was taken," said board president Wallace Belden.

The survey showed strong competition from St. Mary's for cancer and heart problems, but much less than what was shown in the 2004 survey.

"I was quite pleased," Belden said. "The out migration is not nearly as bad as we had been led to believe."

The survey showed that the hospital's outpatient and inpatient experiences are general good to very good.

"We will be developing plans to meet some of our weaknesses," Belden said.

The hospital was recently evaluated by The Joint Commission, an accreditation agency that looks into workings of hospitals from customer satisfaction to level of care. According to the preliminary results, Belden said they hospital did a "very fine job" in that evaluation.

The community survey was conducted by Avatar International. Out of 3,000 surveyed, there were 528 responses. There were 347 responses in 2004. Margin of error is plus or minus 1.5 percent.