The importance of patient engagement in the healthcare sector cannot be overemphasized. Patient engagement is an important principle that can help healthcare providers to improve their services and products. Without patient engagement, people will not be able to get the best service they deserve.
Now, let’s understand - what is patient engagement?
Patient engagement is the process of creating a mutual relationship between the healthcare provider and the patient. It refers to the ongoing processes that occur between patients and providers throughout their visit at your hospital or clinic from check-in to discharge home.
According to reports, “62% of patients value good communication and continuous engagement with their provider above all else”.
When you connect with your patients, they feel more comfortable in sharing their concerns with you which helps identify risks early on to prevent any adverse outcomes. Patient engagement helps in improving the quality of care, reducing costs, and improving patient experience.
A lack of patient engagement can lead to poor outcomes, high costs, and low quality. Patients who are engaged in the healthcare process tend to be more satisfied with the overall experience and outcomes.
Let’s understand the importance of patient engagement and how it can benefit the healthcare industry:-
If your patients are happy with the services provided, it will directly lead to a higher brand equity. As a result, they will tell others about their pleasant experiences. This is only achievable with a focused patient engagement strategy that involves prompt engagement and places patients at the center of decision-making.
By having good patient engagement and communication, patients get greater confidence in their healthcare conditions and the diagnoses they receive, which raises patient satisfaction.
Patient engagement will encourage patients to cooperate consistently with the healthcare provider. To manage their well-being, they will adopt preventative steps, which will cut down on the need for emergency medical services.
Patient engagement establishes streamlined communication between the provider and the patient. It ensures a deeper and clear understanding of necessary measures, and care options.
And patient engagement makes the medical professional cover all the smallest details related to patient health which helps the patient in getting recovery in a lesser number of visits.
There are several ways to measure patient engagement and get patient feedback. The most common measurements are:
1. Patient experience surveys - In these surveys, you can ask patients to rate their overall experience with the healthcare organization (e.g., “how well they understand their treatment plan”). These surveys can be administered by phone, mail, or online.
2. Patient satisfaction surveys - In these surveys, you can ask patients if they are satisfied with the care they received from their physician.
These questionnaires typically measure five domains of satisfaction: access/wait times; communication; compassion/courtesy; efficiency; effectiveness (of treatment).
Conclusion
Patient engagement is a key way to improve the quality of care you provide to your patients. It can help you build trust with them, improve satisfaction with their care, and reduce costs. You shouldn’t wait until engagement becomes a priority in your practice before taking action; instead, start today by engaging with your patients regularly and listening carefully to what they have to say about their experience at your facility.
If you are looking to measure and optimize personalized patient experiences, then Dropthought can certainly help!
Dropthought is a user-friendly, omnichannel, and real-time customer experience management platform. We empower companies in different verticals to create delightful experiences for customers across their journey. Get the detailed analysis and insights from data to exactly know what your customers think and what actions you need to take to delight them.
With a dedicated customer success team, we would ensure that you are optimizing your Customer Experience programs and strategies to create great experiences!
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