What motivated you to become a physician? Most doctors answer that it was the aspiration to make life better for others. To deliver the best possible care with compassion and commitment. To put smiles on faces and to make lives better. Put concisely, you want to make your patients’ journey in your hospital as comfortable and as pleasant as possible.

Now, as a healthcare entrepreneur what are all the things that you can change in your healthcare set-up to ensure all these and make the over-all patient experience a stellar one.

1. Train your staff to be polite and empathetic

Illness, by itself is a distressful condition. When patients visit a hospital, they are already anxious and worried. It is your team’s duty to put them at ease and restore their confidence. Right from the receptionist who takes the appointment, to the technician who runs the test, to the physician and the nursing staff, everyone must be courteous and compassionate. While recruiting your team, make sure that they have the necessary emotional quotient required for doing such patient-centric jobs as well as their qualifications. Small gestures can help to comfort the patients and enhance the whole patient experience. Try to personalize the whole experience. Train the staff to greet the patients by name and strike a conversation with them. Train your team to make eye contact with the patient and address their queries diligently. Ensure that your staff members give your patients full time and attention during their appointments, without being distracted by phone calls or other work. Ensure that your team is united on the goal of delivering not only high-quality care but also 360-degree wonderful patient experience.

2. Make the paperwork hassle free

Most patients and their family members find the administrative paperwork that is associated with a hospital visit or admission tedious. Reduce this burden by investing in a good hospital management information system. This is a software designed to manage all the activities of clinic workflow including the financial, legal, administrative, clinical, and diagnostic and converts all the paperwork from record taking to billing into digital form. A dependable hospital management system can collate all the diagnostic and clinical records of your patients, can curtail need for storage space, can minimize paper utilization, and can ease access to information.

Also try to digitalize the patient information gathering process as the physical or manual entry of forms can be cumbersome for patients and their family members.

Moreover, be sure to have a separate counter for insurance and ensure that the documentation and the administrative work goes on in a seamless and proficiently.

3. Pay attention to ambience and comfort of waiting rooms

Waiting in a hospital is a boring and an anxiety-laden task. Try to get rid of this monotony by decorating it with elegance. Make sure that the interior design of your waiting room reflects the overall ethos and vision of your hospital. The colours and the shades used must be soothing and rejuvenating like pastel blues, greens, and yellows. The lighting should be pleasing as well as calming. Make sure that there is provision for natural light by constructing skylights or French windows.

A few portraits of natural scenic beauty can help your patients destress. Add a few green potted plants or a waterfall to aid your patients in connecting with nature. You can play soothing music in the background to help your patients relax. Be sure to keep some latest newspapers and magazines handy so that your patients can be occupied. If you are a paediatrician, make sure that your waiting room is sunny and bright and has a small play area where kids can be constructively engaged till their turn comes.

Make sure that the seating is comfortable and relaxing. Also try to ensure social distancing with markings, in the light of the recent pandemic.

4. Be focused on safety

A patient should feel safe and well cared for in your hospital. Ensure that all the fire safety measures are in place. Use non-slip tiles for the floors to avoid falls or accidents. Add bannisters and handrails to assist motion-restricted patients. Keep the corridors clutter free. Adhere to a strict sterilization and sanitation protocol to prevent spread of any infection.

5. Use signages

Signages are crucial in a hospital setting. These are the boards that give information about the location of specific departments and help patients and their family members navigate through the maze of the hospital building with ease. Signages may also be used to provide valuable information to the patients. Signages reduce confusion, make navigation hassle-free and minimize time wastage and thus improve the overall patient experience.

6.  Go digital

Create an appealing, interactive, and user-friendly website for your hospital. Younger patients find the process of tele-appointment frustrating and time-consuming. Give your patients the convenience and the flexibility to take online appointments. Engage with your web-savvy patients on various digital platforms. Give them opportunities to connect with their physicians through tele-medicine platforms, webinars, and podcasts. Share informative health-related content with your patients. Send automated reminders about scheduled procedures and appointments. Use touchpoints to garner information through digital feedback and reviews.

To summarize, patient experience is a total sum of all the interaction and perceptions that a patient encounters in his/ her journey towards healing.

Improving patient experience is a key factor in moulding your hospital’s perception, performance, and profits. Hospital consultancy firms can help you in formulating strategies for enhancing patient experience at every front. If you need any assistance in setting protocol to enhance patient experience, contact Hospertz, a leading hospital consultancy firm of India.

Blog has been written by Dr. Vishal Jadhav, a veteran in the field of hospital consultancy with a rich experience of more than 20 years and founder of the Healthcare Consultancy Firm, Hospertz.

Dr. Vishal Jadhav, Director
hospertz@gmail.com
+91 9867712705/ 9820833149