Patients expect the same kind of service from healthcare organizations that they get from airlines and their banks. They increasingly demand digital approaches to scheduling, asking questions and confirming appointments. And patients who must stay in the hospital also want to be able to make decisions about that experience.
Now more than ever, healthcare organizations are willing to meet those demands. However, it’s important that any patient-facing technology doesn’t impede clinical and staff workflows. In fact, when implemented thoughtfully, it’s possible to improve patient experiences and engagement while also improving workflows.
As healthcare organizations consider the implementation of such tools, it’s important that they take an approach that centers both the patient and staff from the beginning.
DISCOVER: The smart care continuum improves healthcare interoperability and clinical outcomes.
Patient Experience Solutions That Improve Clinical Workflows
Some examples of patient-facing technologies that help both the patient experience and clinician workflows include interactive patient care services, often called infotainment systems. Consider a patient sitting in a hospital bed: They’re often at their most vulnerable and feeling a lack of control.
Health systems can give them back a sense of control using technology. More than just a way for them to change the TV channel, these systems allow them to learn about their care team and hospital services, find relaxing content, look at the cafeteria menu and even order food. Information and choices give them some agency throughout their stay.
It’s also a good way to provide needed education. Patients can watch required education about their recovery or treatments, on demand, as many times as they need. Family members can watch as well to better help with care at home.
Not only does this help the patient but it also frees up nurses’ time. Instead of having to take meal orders or drag in a DVD player for required patient education, nurses have more time to spend on direct patient care, improving patient satisfaction and clinical outcomes.
Best Practices for Improving Patient Experience With Technology
A great way to ensure success when implementing patient-facing solutions is to find a way to engage real patients. Most patients don’t like surveys. They don’t want to wait on the phone to answer a couple of questions. Instead, find ways such as working with patient advocacy groups or getting their feedback during natural points in their patient journey.
Without the patients’ voices and input about whether a solution would be helpful, the healthcare organization could be investing in tools that patients won’t use. Asking patients directly during a pilot, for example, what they like or don’t like about a tool is a great way to learn if it has a positive impact on patient experience and whether it’s worth scaling for the entire health system.
READ MORE: Why must healthcare CIOs prioritize foundational tech investments?
How To Measure a Patient Experience Solution’s KPIs
When looking at key performance indicators, too often we stop at the leading metrics, meaning the most obvious and direct impact. In the case of patient experience, we tend to look at Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) scores and assume higher is better. Rather than stopping there, mature organizations measure the impacts toward organizational goals. A few examples: Can a solution improve patient satisfaction while reducing staff overhead, staff dissatisfaction and turnover? Are the clinical outcomes of the organization improving by improving patient satisfaction?
Additionally, when engaging with patients, it’s important to discover how they would measure the success of a solution. If it’s a mobile app, how quickly does it allow them to do a task? It’s not just about whether they can do something, but how quickly they can get there and complete the task. Patients often just want to get back to their normal life. Interactions that may seem minimal to the hospital system can be frustrating and confusing to patients.
The same applies to clinical staff. Often, solutions that improve patient outcomes require additional work from clinical staff. If a solution requires clinical to do something new, it’s important to point out what if anything can be removed. Clinical capacity is not endless, and failing to acknowledge this will continue the clinical burnout trends. More than ever, clinical staff inclusion in solution implementation is critical.
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The Value of Partnership on Patient Experience Solutions
While patient engagement is a major focus for many health systems, it’s beneficial to have the expertise of technology partners who have worked with a number of organizations on successful implementations. At CDW, we have strategists with decades of healthcare technology leadership who understand how to identify problems and map them to solutions that work.
Working with CDW enables healthcare organizations to achieve their patient experience goals with an intentional and expert approach to people, processes and technology.
This article is part of HealthTech’s MonITor blog series.
