Patient experience is an essential component of good healthcare, and should be valued by clinicians and healthcare administrators. Admittedly, sick persons who visit hospitals may be in vulnerable circumstances. Therefore, healthcare providers must ensure each gesture and treatment is well-structured to make them feel cared for. Despite advances in medical technology, inefficient workflows remain a major barrier to in-patient satisfaction. Consider practicing the following tips to aid your healthcare improvement initiatives.
1. Improve Workflows
Staff must display empathy and compassion towards patients in healthcare facilities. However, they may become overwhelmed due to workflow demands, resulting in poor engagement and mechanical approach to healthcare. To balance workload, caregivers must evaluate how they provide in-patient care. This will provide staff sufficient time to attend to the needs of the sick, minimizing discomfort and stress. One powerful way to boost workflow is through technology. For example, your facility can leverage automated scheduling systems to manage shifts efficiently. You can also use tools like medical scanners to accurately add and retrieve patient data, providing a fast and secure way to handle records. Using tech to streamline processes can enhance administrative operations and improve care quality.
2. Reduce Waiting Times
There are instances where triage results in lengthy waiting times for some patients. To reduce the inconvenience of delays, healthcare practitioners should follow a proactive approach by explaining to the patients the reasons. A hospital can achieve this through effective communication from office staff, ensuring patients feel updated and informed. Improving the comfort of the waiting room can further enhance patient satisfaction. Do this by replacing uncomfortable seats with cushioned chairs and providing amenities like magazines, TV sets, and small games for kids to entertain patients and make waiting time bearable.
3. Build a Conducive Physical Environment🥲
Healthcare centers must have a healthy physical environment. Water, sanitation, power, hand hygiene, and waste disposal facilities should be functional and safe. Design, optimize, and maintain the space to allow for privacy and quality treatment. Healthcare facilities should have clean air solutions, adequate stock of medicines, and equipment for patient treatment. Transport services should be available 24/7 to attend to women and newborns when necessary.
4. Empower Patients with Self-Care
Nurses are usually patients’ key contact points for any concerns. They respond to needs like food, a glass of water, a bedpan, and information on lab tests. To save time and manage these issues, consider empowering patients with self-care. Hospitals may allow patients to communicate their tasks on centralized maintenance software for such services. Beyond empowering patients, healthcare providers should use systems to deliver real-time updates to patients so they know when to expect a service. This will free time for nurses to offer clinical care and focus on patient recovery, education, and counseling.
Another important system to have is a feedback mechanism that allows patients to voice out their grievances timely and efficiently. This includes a patient relationship officer moving around to find out how the sick are faring, so keep this in mind.
