As health organizations move from treatment of the disease to the treatment of the patient, the patient experience becomes a central element to monitor, improve and communicate.
This patient experience beyond patient satisfaction deals, of course, with therapeutic effectiveness, but also relates the management of the emotions and feelings expressed by the patient. The experience leads us to the complete interaction (end to end as digital enthusiasts would say) between the patient and the entire medical institution. (OECD, 2002).
Indeed, patient satisfaction does not necessarily depend on collective expectations, but more specifically on individual benchmarks:
“A person waiting four hours in the emergency room of a Montreal hospital could be very satisfied, given that the media often report much longer wait times than that. In another region, four hours of waiting could lead to dissatisfaction. A sense of satisfaction does not imply quality service, but indicates that an acceptable level of response to this service has been achieved.”
DIEUDONNE SOUBEIGA, Ph.D., Patient Experience Assessment Advisor, Lecturer at the University of Montreal.
In addition, the British have made the UX (or Customer Experience) a support for the reform of their health system. Leaders are required by the National Health Service (NHS) to know the experience of their patients so that it contributes to the improvement and effectiveness of care with better quality services. (The Intelligent Board, 2010).
According to this finding, a new approach to patient experience appears: measuring facts through their perception is more important than measuring satisfaction, which will detect opportunities for improvement as well as good practices.
Asking the patient’sopinion enhances theexperience, and the more the institution will have argumentative, commented, shared opinions and the more significant the ratings will be, as the quality of the care and service offer hospitals may be influenced. There is much to be gained by relying on these hot/felt opinions to change services, welcoming them as closely as possible to the expectations of their patients.
The patient will then feel listened to and will convey an image of the institution that will be rewarding. A good reputation is becoming more and more the “good e-reputation” and it contributes to the choice of the patient on the health facility where to go.
What are the goals for health facilities?
The patient now has the floor to give an axis of improvement to care professionals, as wellas those of the accommodation. It will be part of the continuous improvement of benefits, but it will also allow the institution to place it at the heart of the system.
If you are the head of several institutions, this will allow you to compare the results obtained, to share best practices.
How to implement a patient review solution?
I Give My Notice receives daily emails or mobile numbers automatically from the patient billing registration system (by automatic file transfer or API inclusion).
The storage data of approved servers for hosting health data and processing personal data is in line with CNIL’s recommendations.
A Mail or SMS solicitation will be sent automatically to the patient at a key time (the last day of his stay, or the day after his passage or exit) with a unique link, allowing him to answer the online questionnaire.
Also, the patient will be able to file his opinion of himself on the interactive terminals present in the establishment near the common areas. These terminals can take on theappearance of a guestbook for services where it seems appropriate, for families in resuscitation for example.
From the responses to surveys and notices on the limit the management of the establishment can
- Analyze key themes (automatic analysis of each review is available)
- Compare establishments
- Assign tasks to collaborators (such as “sharing this glowing opinion” or “systematizing this good practice,” or “contacting the patient”)
- Communicating the right opinions on its communication vectors (website, Facebook page)
- Responding to the patient
The greatest merit of patient satisfaction projects is their simplicity and speed of implementation: they do not require development, interface very simply and their learning by the team is immediate! These qualities have made Oracle say that these programs are the most cost-effective initiatives in digital transformation.
(*) Oracle dans “Discover three capabilities for successful voice of the customer programs”