Do you know why patient satisfaction is important, or how to improve your ability to provide a good patient experience? Even though the terms can often be used interchangeably, patient experience and patient satisfaction impact your business in different ways. Learn about their differences, why they are both important, and what steps to take to encourage your staff to provide the best of both for your patients.
Why Is Patient Satisfaction So Important?
Patient satisfaction speaks to the quality of care you provide and is typically tracked in surveys at the end of a visit. The top three factors in a patient-satisfaction survey that determine whether a patient will return are staff attitudes, consistency of care, and knowledge of the care providers. This is the patient’s perception of the care they received, and it can be used to identify issues and help improve the overall patient experience. Patience experience is more specifically the interaction between the caregivers and the patients and their families. This can include the office environment, how they feel while they’re in the practice, and how confident they are in the care they received.
Some key elements of improving patient experience are:
- First impression — if they feel good, they’re more likely to want to do business with you. Patients want:
- To be heard
- To be treated as a person
- To be involved
- To succeed in their health care
- Your brand is about relationships, not transactions.
- It is your statement to your patients about what is important.
- If you put the importance on your patient, then the patient feels valued and supported.
- If your patient feels supported and heard, then they are more inclined to make meaningful decisions and choices about their care.
- It sets the expectation of what your patient should receive time and time again.
- Treating your patients with respect will make them want to come back to you.
- Make patients feel special while providing excellent clinical care.
How Can I Improve My Patient’s Experience?
Create a plan for success for your team to follow to provide consistent and measurable actions. Consider the 3 Cs:
Connection
- Slow down, speak clearly, smile, and introduce yourself.
- Listen carefully — find out who they are and how you can assist them.
- Treat them like a person.
Consciousness
- Be in the moment; don’t be distracted.
- Ask questions that matter to them.
- Be interested — sympathy and empathy go a long way.
Confidence
- Assure them that you can help them out.
- You probably have handled a patient like this before.
- Educate them about why they made a great choice, how your team will treat them, and what to expect after making the appointment.
How Do I Know My Patient Has Had a Good Experience?
- It is a call where there is care and understanding.
- You know the caller trusts you and that they’re smiling, because they called you.
- Inbound call conversion increases, which equals more appointments and opportunities.
- You are yourself and are having a conversation — not a transaction, but a relationship.
- You take proactive steps to ensure you are on your “A” game.
- Your patient returns again and again.
How Can Resources and Tools Help Me Improve My Patient’s Experience?
Below are some tools that you can adopt in your business:
- Create a script and modify it based on how it works.
- Contract with a phone recording service that monitors inbound calls and grades them on opportunity and how well you did. Listen to your calls and take note of what you can do better next time.
- Role play with your teammates — this is the dress rehearsal and a great opportunity to try new ways of saying things.
When you have a plan to improve your patient’s experience, it will ultimately help your patient satisfaction and encourage them to return. The experts at Audigy have the knowledge and training to work with staff of all abilities to improve their overall care of patients every day.
Contact us today to find out more about membership with Audigy.