Health Care Quality

I agree that "quality" is subjective. We might not all define quality by the same standards. In my opinion good quality should mean that the patient is getting what they need to stay healthy and happy. If patients are unhealthy then quality of care is low. With the current obesity trends and increase in disease I would venture to say that this is a strong indication that our quality of care is very low indeed. Simply by looking at health trends, we can determine (on a basic scale) where our quality of care falls. We don't necessarily need surveys and questionnaires to determine that. I think we can all agree that one thing we do need is better record keeping and for health care to be more accessible to the public. Without these things, quality is really a secondary issue in my opinion. 

In my personal experience, I've seen incredible differences in care. On our 10 hour drive home from a trip, my mom got sick. We stopped in the emergency room of a small university affiliated hospital. My mom had to stay in the hospital for 3 days to stabilize her condition. In those three days she got top notch care. Everyone was friendly and even went out of their way to be culturally competent. The doctors were attentive and kind and all of her nurse calls were answered immediately. It was, as weird as it is to say, an great hospital experience. However, her condition required her to have surgery and because the hospital was so small, they stabilized her condition and sent her home (about a 3 hour drive). Upon getting home she was admitted to a much large county hospital for her surgery. In short, they were horrible. Her doctors and nurses were cold and disinterested. They were not at all accommodating or friendly. I could see immediately the change in her. She felt worse, she was in more pain and she had a grim outlook on her condition. This was a much bigger hospital, much newer with many more facilities and newer, better technology but the way the medical staff behaved made most of that not matter. My moms attitude toward her condition and her recovery were completely changed by her interactions with the medical staff.