The healthcare sector is a crucial element of a well-developed society which is why hospitals and other similar facilities continuously invest in research and development. But modern hospitals and healthcare facilities also focus on patient satisfaction and experience while in their care.
Most patients that come in contact with healthcare facilities are vulnerable and deal with an unusual amount of stress. Therefore, medical staff and other workers must pay attention to their behavior and the way patients are cared for. If it were to draw a comparison between healthcare and retail or hospitality sectors, patients need a lot more care and consideration than customers do.
After all, no one enjoys being in a hospital! Still, there are a few ways to make sure patients have a positive experience while in your care.
Use Modern Technology
The healthcare sector processes a wide array of data, but many hospitals and organizations (including governmental facilities) still use mixed storage formats (paper and electronic). In addition, even when the data is stored electronically, there is no connectivity between different institutions, which puts pressure on the patient to gather all the information.
Still, due to modern software tools, like the system designed by Foothold Technology, doctors can now access a centralized database and view all the medical records of a patient. In addition, users can reach out to other medical institutions and request information for a specific patient. This way, people who seek medical care don’t have to think about keeping their own records and the entire process gets smoother and quicker.
Practice Empathy
While modern technologies and smart medical care tools are extremely useful, the human touch is crucial in the healthcare sector. People are already vulnerable and stressed (as patients), therefore a friendly face and a warm smile are extremely welcomed. Of course, it’s easy to understand that medical workers can be overworked, stressed, and tired, however, empathy is part of the job.
To make sure both employees and patients get the right treatment, hospitals and other medical facilities need to pay attention to schedules, waiting times, patient check-in, and more. In addition, it helps to provide employees with regular training sessions, where they get to practice their bedside manners and overall empathy expression. Patients must get the right treatment to avoid being in pain or even worse, death. Sterilization is an essential process for hospitals to provide patients get the right treatment. For having sterilized medical equipments, you should get an autoclave service, the necessary sanitation process for medical equipment. It uses pressurized steam to sterilize objects and instruments by subjecting them to high temperatures and pressures over long periods of time.
Practice Transparency in a Blame-Free Environment
Mistakes happen. Whether you’re using the latest patient management technology or you are still transitioning from a paper-based system, there will be some mistakes along the way. But, the best way to increase patients’ trust in your unit and allow employees to feel comfortable is to address the mistakes in a transparent manner, without placing blame.
This way, employees will be more relaxed and open in dealing with patients (even difficult ones) and the management will be able to keep track of any problems. Of course, this doesn’t mean a system without consequences, but it’s important to identify the problem and find solutions that benefit everyone.
Keep the Patients Informed
Nowadays, patients have access to a multitude of information sources, but most of them don’t know how to discern based on reliability and accuracy. This is why it is the duty of medical staff to provide the right information regarding treatment options and procedures while making sure (every step of the way) that patients understand.
Therefore, encourage patients to ask questions (even ones that seem stupid) and train the staff to answer using easy-to-understand terms.
Wrap Up
Hospitals and other medical facilities need a combination of modern technology and human touch in order to ensure patients will have a satisfying experience while in their care. Therefore, it is a good idea to learn good customer service practices from other sectors such as retail and hospitality. While not all practices may apply to the healthcare industry, most use the same principles of empathy and friendliness.
A professional writer with over a decade of incessant writing skills. Her topics of interest and expertise range from health, nutrition and psychology.