The primary objective of healthcare facilities — improving the health of their patients — is just the beginning. In recent years, there’s been a growing emphasis on providing an overall positive experience to patients. And in a multifaceted world that incorporates both face-to-face and digital interaction, it’s essential that healthcare facilities take a sophisticated approach towards serving their patients as best they can.
In this post, we’re going to run through some industry-leading approaches that can help healthcare facilities provide a positive, well-rounded patient experience, which will set the facility up for success this year and beyond.
Healthcare Resources
Providing healthcare resources online is mutually beneficial for both patients and the facility. From the patient’s perspective, they will receive expert, up-to-date information about health concerns that matter to them. In an age when knowing which websites to trust is more difficult than ever before, it gives patients a go-to resource that they can rely on.
The impact of that stretches to the healthcare facility, too. It helps to foster patient loyalty and trust and all-around enhances reputation in the community, and can help attract new patients.
Invest in Technological Tools
Patients are increasingly comfortable with using the internet for their healthcare needs, especially in the post-COVID climate. As such, healthcare facilities can better serve their patients by investing in the technological tools that they need to provide an exceptional patient experience. This can take a variety of forms and will depend in large part on the type of healthcare the facility provides. For instance, it may involve investing in telemedicine capabilities to ensure that patients can have a seamless digital consultation. Healthcare facilities should also invest in HIPAA compliant medical software so that patients fully understand that the facility takes data security seriously. In an age that’s more digital than ever before, facilities that don’t invest in this aspect of their operations risk being left behind.
Gather Feedback
Improving a healthcare facility to better serve patients takes two forms: first, ensuring that the facility is meeting or exceeding modern industry standards. The second is directly asking what patients want to see from the facility. It’s hard to experience your facility through the lens of your patients just by guessing — by sending post-service feedback forms, you can learn what you’ve been doing that patients like, what they don’t like, and what they want to see more of.
If you’re finding that patients aren’t responding to these feedback requests, then offer an incentive. A prize draw is a great way to involve people. Once you have enough feedback, look at putting it into practice.
Boosting Overall Ambiance
Finally, healthcare facilities can elevate the experience of their patients by enhancing the overall ambiance of the facility. This takes many forms, but the most important is ensuring that team members are confident in their work. Staff have a significant impact on the overall experience of a patient, and if they’re happy, then it’s much more likely that patients will enjoy coming to your facility for treatment.