Hospital standardized mortality ratios: a tale of two sites.

In 2008, Caritas Health Group (CHG), composed of the Edmonton area Catholic acute hospital sites, became part of Covenant Health, Alberta's largest faith-based healthcare provider. In 2005, Capital Health (CH)/CHG began its work with the Canadian Institute of Health Information (CIHI). It is one of eight pioneer health regions in Canada to test the methodology of the hospital standardized mortality ratio (HSMR) developed in the United Kingdom, through Sir Brian Jarman, director of the Dr. Foster Unit (DRF), at the Imperial College in London. This article focuses on understanding the UK's HSMR process and describing its use in two hospitals in the Edmonton area. The hospitals used raw mortality data and chart review processes following the introduction of the HSMR in Canada in order to better understand the intricacy of this measure. The article focuses on the in-house process that became a foundation for an in-depth exploratory use of the CIHI HSMR e-portal for hospital sites within the province of Alberta.

Emergency department patient satisfaction survey in Alberta's Capital Health region.

In 2005, a large Canadian health region conducted an emergency department patient feedback survey to obtain information on patient perceptions of satisfaction with emergency services received. The Capital Health region is one of nine Alberta Health Authorities, located in the central portion of the province, serving a population of 1.6 million people in metropolitan Edmonton and the surrounding area. Analysis reveals significant demographic and acuity differences in perceptions of care and suggests the need to consider patient mix in future satisfaction surveys and to examine improvement strategies targeted at these specific patient groups.