Written by Mike Elvin, Program Director, Patient Experience, Iatric Systems
Better Patient Experience Requires a Human Touch
As the future of healthcare heads toward a fee-for-service model, more and more of us are focused on improving the patient experience. We know that in order to become the provider of choice, we must improve patient satisfaction, patient communication, and the overall perception of patient care.
Yet the “path” to achieve patient satisfaction and improve the patient experience remains difficult to nail-down and define.
Consider this Patient Experience article, from the Gallup Business Journal, posted back in September of 2010.
According to the article, even five years ago, hospitals were focused on activities such as lobby upgrades and better marketing to improve the patient experience. Even back then, Gallup pointed out that a single focus on aesthetics was misguided. Aesthetics and technology updates cannot transform the patient experience alone.
To illustrate this, think about what patients have in their minds when they write reviews or consider which provider they will choose when they need care. More often than not, they are thinking back to how they were treated, how they received communication, and if the doctors and staff were attentive and seemed to truly care about their outcomes. The shiny lobby with new flat screen TVs might have wowed them on arrival, but don’t expect a lasting impression to come from these features.
While you may know your physicians and nurses have hearts of gold and patient care comes first, you need to ask yourself, “Does this come through to our patients?”
One of the biggest changes that can make an impact is to help staff focus on the human aspect of care — making eye contact when talking, taking an extra moment to provide empathy, engaging with the patient before focusing on the computer screen where data must be entered. These small changes can go a long way to improve the patient experience. These are important improvements that no amount of new technology can provide.
Helping provide a better patient experience requires an in-depth assessment of the every moment the patient spends in your care; but an immediate focus on adding that “human touch” can go a long way.
To learn more tips on improving the patient experience, listen to our recorded educational webcast:
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