What is Patient Experience
Patient experience is the patient’s perception of their experience with a healthcare provider, clinic, or hospital. It includes the physical environment, staff attitude, and communication. The patient’s overall satisfaction with their visit often results from how well these factors align with their expectations for care and service.
Patient experience is a critical factor in the success of the healthcare industry. Therefore, you must ensure that patients have a good experience while being treated. It will help improve their health outcomes and sharpen your reputation as an organization that cares about people.
The Importance of Providing a Positive Patient Experience
You must consider the patient’s experience with your team and the office as a practice. Patients will be more likely to recommend your practice and return for follow-up visits if they feel their needs are satisfied.
Patients are also less likely to sue or claim on their insurance if they have a positive experience with your team. They will also be less likely to make a claim on their insurance because of an accident in the waiting room or during an appointment.
Lastly, patients who receive good care are less likely to be readmitted to the hospital because their original condition worsens because of poor treatment by another provider or hospital staff member.
How to Improve Patient Experience
Patient experience is a critical aspect of healthcare because it is directly related to patient satisfaction, which in turn is associated with better clinical outcomes. Patient experience has multiple dimensions, including:
Change the way you think about Patients
In the hospital, patients are not customers. They are people who have a right to expect your care and respect. They can be difficult to deal with at times, but you need to treat them with respect and empathy because that’s how you’ll get their cooperation in achieving the best possible outcome.
Patients are not numbers or problems to be solved by any means necessary; they’re human beings who deserve compassion and understanding from those caring for them.
Personalize your Approach
Before starting any treatment, getting to know a person as much as possible is important. You can ask them about their background, family, culture, and likes or dislikes and tailor your approach accordingly.
Hospitals often use a patient’s name tag for identification purposes. However, it’s still important to call patients by their first name when talking with them or to write notes on medical charts so that they feel more at ease during visits (and not like they arere just a number).
If you have time before seeing a new patient, research what health issues they might face based on age/gender/ethnicity/location, etc. It gives an idea of where they may be coming from regarding their expectations of receiving care in general – and specifically from you!
Collect Patient Feedback
To collect patient feedback, you should start by using a feedback form. This should be placed at the end of the appointment or before they leave your clinic. You can also ask your patients for feedback verbally. If done right, this can be an effective way to get their opinions on what they liked and did not like about the service they received and suggestions for improvement.
There are many different types of surveys that you can use to solicit patient feedback, including:
- NPS (Net Promoter Score)
- Satisfaction Surveys – where patients rate their experience from 0-10 or 1-5
- Customer Journey Maps – show how customers move through each step within a process or journey across touchpoints along with key moments that define whether someone leaves or stays loyal (e.g., satisfaction)
Identify Opportunities for Improvement from Feedback
Listen to feedback and identify opportunities for improvement. Patient experience feedback is an important source of information on improving the quality of service provided. You must listen carefully to what your patients say and make improvements where possible.
It’s also important to share these improvements with patients on time. Hence, they know that their concerns have been heard and addressed – this will help build trust between doctor and patient, which is one of the most important factors in ensuring a favorable patient experience.
You need to decide what improvements need to be made based on patient feedback and then implement them accordingly. It makes the patients feel that you actually care for your patients.
Make Sure their Data is Safeguarded
Patient privacy and security are important to your patients. The last thing you want is for their data to be compromised, so make sure it’s encrypted and backed up properly.
Encrypting any information that might be vulnerable can help protect your patients from hackers, who could use this information in attacks against other organizations. Furthermore, storing data in one place and then moving it elsewhere for backup or storage purposes will ensure that it remains safe throughout its lifetime – even if you accidentally lose access to the source files.
Finally, integrating any new technology with existing systems is always preferable because it helps reduce the chances of mistakes occurring during implementation.
Softbrik for Improving Patient Experience
Softbrik is a voice-based AI/ML platform that helps you measure and improve the patient experience. It enables you to collect patient feedback, analyze it, personalize your approach, and identify opportunities for improvement.Softbrik gives you the tools to create a more personalized patient journey by helping you understand what matters most to your patients and how they want to be treated. It ensures that your organization delivers high–quality care while creating an exceptional experience every time.
Frequently Asked Questions
What do you do to ensure a patient has an exceptional care experience?
To ensure a patient has an exceptional care experience, healthcare providers can communicate effectively, create a comfortable and welcoming environment, foster a positive patient-provider relationship, and respond to patients’ needs and concerns.
What are the 4 P's in patient experience?
The 4 P’s in patient experience are physical (related to the physical environment), psychological (related to the emotional and mental well-being of patients), process (related to the healthcare process), and practitioner (related to the healthcare providers).