Naval Hospital Bremerton (NHB) recently installed Interactive Customer Evaluation (ICE) kiosks in early February to give customers an additional means to express their level of satisfaction with their experience at NHB.

“The kiosks are here to provide an easy, friendly avenue for all of our patients to communicate with management about their encounters at the Naval Hospital. This can be done either with a request to be contacted or it can be submitted anonymously,” said NHB Customer Relations Officer, Theresa Ryan. 

“Anyone can use the kiosks including staff,” added Theresa. “In addition to questions concerning patient care, they can also comment on ancillary services such as the laboratory, pharmacy, patient administration or food services provided at NHB.”

According to Ryan, the ICE survey is different from other surveys an eligible beneficiary may receive by mail from The Bureau of Medicine and surgery (BUMED). The ICE survey is more “real time” allowing NHB leadership to act on concerns from any patient in a more timely manner. Yet both surveys are valuable in different ways with the ICE survey utilizing a different set of questions depending on a patient’s clinical visit.  The time spent taking the survey is minimal and is dependent on the free text input from the customer, usually no more than a few minutes.

The ICE kiosks are located on the second floor in the waiting area between the Emergency Room, Physical Therapy and ENT clinic; on the third floor of the Family Care Center near the TRICARE reception desk, and on the sixth floor by the main elevator alcove. They are portable units and will be moved periodically to different areas of the hospital and branch clinics so input can be received from a variety of areas to assess care and services.

“At Naval Hospital Bremerton, patient satisfaction is of the utmost importance. We are committed to improving problem areas and recognizing those who give exceptional service. We cannot do that without hearing from our beneficiaries, so I am excited to have this new avenue of communication available,” said Ms. Ryan.

Additionally, NHB has approximately 55 customer service representatives in every area providing services. They have all completed customer service training prior to their appointment to that position by the commanding officer. A copy of each ICE submission is sent to the customer representative of that unit as well as to the customer relations officer for prompt response.