Health and wellness are essential facets of human lives. It is well known that people with a better healthcare system are likely to more productive. However, you’ll be amazed that healthcare is not only about the ailment treatment experience, but it also consists of multiple layers folded within. One such domain is – patient engagement. Sounds distinguished? Let’s get down to the core of it.
The primary purpose of patient engagement is to enrich your patient’s treatment experience and to encourage them to maintain their overall well being. With the rise in global pandemic cases, this dormant arena takes center stage within healthcare. It has become quite essential to actively practice and emphasize this area to instill a positive experience in the patients’ journey of well being. It increases the credibility of the organization and contributes to the overall success of the healthcare facility.
Table of Contents
How do we do it?
It is very crucial to understand that this is not a one-time affair. To breed a culture of active patient engagement, your organization must foster a positive patient experience throughout its treatment journey. From the help desk greeting to the demeanor of healthcare officials during treatment, everything matters.
1. Convenience
None of us like it difficult; convenience is a critical attribute of any field. A patient will only reach out to you if he/she feels that appropriate service is being provided to them in a stipulated time without any hindrance.
Often healthcare organizations ask patients to fill multiple forms regarding diagnosis or health insurance, which adds on to the ailment. Let’s remember a vital point here – the patients want the healthcare personnel to anticipate their needs and accommodate them accordingly. If the organization fails in catering to the patient’s needs as per their convenience, it’s unlikely for them to avail of your service again in the future. Prioritizing convenience is the salient feature of patient engagement. Ensure ease of accessibility and minimal paperwork in the diagnosis process. Another key element is to lend an ear to their concerns. During diagnosis, the patient is at their lowest. If you pay attention to their concerns, they are likely to feel valued and show allegiance to your group of healthcare whenever a need arises in the future.
2. The Chain of Connectivity
We live in an era of social media; people are connected more than ever. With multiple resorts like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, etc. communities are building faster than ever. People are reading voraciously and actively looking for advice. Studies suggest that 71% of consumers (related to any arena) go through the digital reviews of the brand or service before availing them. People consider these reviews of utter importance and value them equally as they value a close one’s advice.
By nurturing a positive patient-healthcare relationship, you are not only earning the individual’s trust but also gaining the trust of the numerous unknown individuals on the internet, looking forward to gaining insight from a fellow patient’s experience.
3. Empathy
Healthcare is a very personalized and delicate industry; people are at their lowest (both physically and mentally) when they’re suffering from an ailment. It is not always possible for the family members to be around. In such a fragile scenario, healthcare workers are the ones who are closely associates with them. A tinge of empathy, a moment of personalized conversation and a shared laugh bring sheer joy to the patient’s heart. Serving humanity is above any service in the world. Treat your patient with the utmost care and respect. They’ll reciprocate the same; once you start taking them for granted and start treating them like a paycheck, they’ll also devalue your service and look for better options soon.
4. Be Responsive
A business stands tall and strong on the foundation of accountability. Your brand is 10% of your services and 90% about the way you provide services. The discipline, rigorous dedication, and being answerable to your action plays a major role in patient engagement. A healthcare institution must understand that it gets difficult sometimes for families to see their loved ones stranded in ICU or CCU. As an organization, if there is one thing you can do to ease their load, let’s know the entire medical treatment, the drugs being used, the stages of recovery, and the services you are going to offer post-treatment. The medical details and the updates about the person’s recovery are paramount to their family; any bit of information gives them a clear picture of the ongoing scenario and what to expect soon.
Be responsive to the family members’ queries, reach out to them, or schedule a bi-weekly meeting. Give the detailed reports of the ongoing progress and answer to all their queries with utmost diligence.
5. Patient Engagement Solutions and Equality
On and often, high-risk patients may require a great deal of attention and engagement, but once the situation is calmed, equal attention must be given to all those who are receiving treatment. Prioritizing a group of patients over others on any pre-defined criteria can never bear good results.
The organization can deploy relatient patient engagement solutions, which can document the daily vices and virtues of every single ongoing case, and later on, a group of professionals can resolve it. In this way, every patient will feel cared for and valued, irrespective of their financial background and ailment.
In the end, to top it all, reaching out to your patients (discharged or admitted) in a creative digital way can also increase your engagement substantially. Daily health tips, generic nutrition plan, and a detailed survey about your service are some of the distinctive ideas you can venture into. Also, don’t miss out on sending ‘Thank you’ note for every response, comment, accolade, and criticism you receive.
