Bringing The Focus On To The Patient Experience

Imagine a chronically ill patient calling a hospital for an appointment with their primary doctor.

They keep calling the hospital incessantly, with no luck. 

Finally, when they get through, they are informed that appointments are not available and that they have to wait for a few weeks to get it.

Here’s another scenario.

A patient with a chronic heart condition is admitted in an emergency. Considering that the hospital does not have the latest data on the patient’s condition, the patient undergoes a battery of tests before the actual diagnosis or treatment begins.

These scenarios are not imaginary. These are real-world examples. 

Instead of feeling safe, they get anxious, and the entire experience becomes unnerving, for both the patients and their caregivers.

One cannot blame the hospitals. Medical practitioners and other staff members are so overstretched and under-resourced that they are many times unable to offer the kind of support that they know a patient should receive. All of this leads to bad patient experience. 

Patient experience is imperative for the well-being of the patient and the reputation of the hospital. The patient must feel comfortable and safe at every touchpoint – right from the time they enter the doctor’s waiting room, get admitted to exiting the hospital, or after they get discharged from hospital.

The only way to do it is by bringing the focus back to the patient experience.

But as patients experience delays in getting timely appointments and to receiving timely treatment,  patients face a tough time in hospitals digital health products, like Avegen’s, can step in to help and fill those gaps, bringin back the focus to the patient experience.

How Can Hospitals Bring Back Focus On Patient Experience?

To bring back the focus on patient experience, hospitals must consider leveraging technology. 

Let’s look at a few areas where hospitals can start creating positive experiences for the patients by using technology.

1. Simplify appointment booking

According to a study by Accenture, 68% of patients prefer a healthcare provider who gives them the flexibility to book, cancel, or change their appointments online. 

Hospitals should build an intuitive mobile app to enable patients to book or cancel their appointments in one click. This will save the patients from the trouble of waiting on line to talk to the hospital staff. The patient experience can be further improved by sending the patients automated reminders on their upcoming appointments. This will help the hospital reduce the no-show by patients and remind patients of their impending visit to the hospital. 

2. Decrease waiting time

Long waiting times can be quite frustrating for the patients and their caregivers. Hospitals can address this issue by providing all the reports, test results and follow up information online. For example, the patients don’t need to make an appointment with the doctor to see their results. They can also directly schedule follow up consultations and questions about their treatment through a mobile app. Those same reports should also be made accessible to the doctor so that they can treat the patient immediately – without needing patients to carry physical files. 

3. Improve communication

Communication is a key aspect of the patient experience. Every interaction with the patient should be clear and transparent. Health providers  can improve their experience by strengthening their communication with the patients and their caregivers. From offering telehealth consultation to patients, to sending automated reminders about upcoming appointments, repeat prescriptions, etc., continuous communication with the patients can help improve the patient experience. 

4. Provide timely response and treatment

When doctors have access to the latest information about a patient’s health, they can reduce the rates of emergency admissions and readmissions.  Because they can act based on data received from digital platforms they can intervene and  save the patient from getting admitted to the hospital. This is where mobile apps such as those developed by Avegen for our clients play a key role. 

5. Make treatment more personalized

Through the use of digital health products, doctors can leverage data to understand how patients are responding to treatment. They can then use the information to create a better care plans

So what’s next?

Patients with chronic health conditions require continuous care. Learnings from the COVID-19 pandemic show how ill-equipped hospitals are to manage massive footfalls. When chronically ill patients are  asked to avoid hospital visits, it puts their continuous health care on hold. That’s where out-of-hospital and digital care management can come to rescue. At Avegen, we provide hospitals and health providers with health management platforms that enable doctors and hospital staff to personalize treatments and offer continuous support to chronically ill patients. Over 900+ healthcare providers have been able to provide better patient experience with the help of this platform.

Get in touch with the Avegen team to learn how you can
bring personalisation for your patients