Patient Trust In Healthcare Is Crumbling. This 1 Thing Can Rebuild It

Imagine coming home from the hospital after an extended stay.

If family members are taking care of you, you likely get a warm welcome home.

But if you’re on your own, going home is not such a pleasant experience.

There’s probably no food in the fridge. If there was laundry when you left, there’s still laundry when you get back.

Instead of that gloomy scenario, imagine your doctor sets you up with a prepaid card for food delivery.

They continue caring for your well-being even after you leave the hospital. Wouldn’t that make recovery easier and leave a lasting impression?

Traditionally, consumers don’t show much loyalty to healthcare companies, partly because their experiences lack a positive impression and emotional connection.

To increase patient loyalty and trust, we need to do a better job of ensuring that patients have a strong, positive emotional experience — from before they receive care to the moment they make it home and begin recovery.

The Experience

Research shows the majority of happiness we get from an experience is actually derived from the anticipation and remembrance of that event.

In healthcare, we’re always focused on taking care of people in the moment. Patients come to us with problems that need solutions now. We provide them with the best experience in the moment, but we often ignore the beginning and end of their journeys.

As providers, we need to do a better job of focusing on the before and after stages of care.

Think of it like this:

If you go in for surgery, you know you won’t remember the surgery itself. You’ll be under anesthesia.

But before the surgery, you’re nervous. You anticipate the worst. It’s tough to wait for the operation to happen. And after surgery, you worry about the recovery.

Your memories of surgery are the days leading up to it and the recovery, not the surgery.

And those two time periods are when healthcare providers have the biggest opportunity to create a positive emotional experience — and earn patients loyalty and trust in the process.

The Build-Up

Have you ever taken a vacation you knew was going to be great?

Maybe you booked the Ritz-Carlton for a week, and you were going to treat yourself the whole time. You probably really looked forward to that week.

Why? Because you knew, without a shadow of a doubt, the Ritz-Carlton would treat you well. You trusted the name, and you trusted the experience would be excellent.

We can do something similar for healthcare.

Even if people aren’t excited for a hospital stay, we can work to reduce lingering fear or anxiety.

It actually take less effort than you think. Simply providing patients with all the information they need about surgery and recovery, and helping them feel connected to their physician, can alleviate stress.

When a patient feels more than just a number, they gain confidence in their outcome.

The Memory

Every company’s goal is to leave a positive impression on customers.

That’s how they get people to buy their product or service again. Creating a warm memory isn’t an accident, and it’s where healthcare has plenty of room to improve.

The healthcare experience doesn’t end when we walk out of the doctor’s office or come home from surgery.

There are prescriptions to pick up, weeks of physical therapy to endure. That final experience is what leaves a warm (or negative) memory in a patient’s mind.

Even if the patient’s journey has been smooth, a poor final experience can ruin trust and loyalty.

So, how do we create a positive memory? By following through after a patient’s initial experience and designing a system that provides for their needs at every step.

The ideal scenario is for a patient to go home post-op and not have to worry about their first meal or prescription fill. Instead, that will all be provided. They’ll have a roadmap to recovery and will feel connected to their doctor if they have any questions.

Memory and anticipation are where powerful emotional connections are born, where trust is built. If healthcare providers want to create loyal customers, they need to design a system that caters to patients’ needs at every point in their journey.