Patient Engagement Solutions: Do You Really Need Them?

“The lack of patient engagement is the Achilles heel of health care delivery.”-Terry McGeeney, MD

A reflection of the paradox present in the health services today! One of the ideas that we need to master is ‘care should be convenient for seekers’ which in several ways brings convenience to the providers as well.

Healthcare has become one of the largest sectors of the Indian economy, in terms of both- revenue and employment. It has been growing at a CAGR of 22% since 2016, employing 4.7 million people directly. However, when it comes to doctor patient communication, the scenario changes drastically!

Patient engagement ratio to facilitate patient experience is not much appreciable which actually becomes a point of concern. The problem is not about the patient participation, it is about the frequency of activities by the providers that allow patients to get involved.

Dimensions of patient engagement

Well, to a lot of people it’s a synonym for compliance — obedience.

Few doctors or observers in the healthcare industry see several patients not following instructions and conclude “[all] patients are negligent.” Often this blinds them to a useful question: what can be done to ‘interest’ the patient in undertaking the expected deeds? This situation often arises when the goals are simply imposed by the healthcare providers, without a plan of action. It is just like a financial advisor saying “You should be saving 20%. You’re non-compliant.” Hardly helpful! ‘Let’s FIND approaches that work’ kind of attitude is the solution to this problem.

‘’Patient engagement is the holistic process in which the patient and their caregivers are engaged with the healthcare providers on various touch points like prevention, early diagnosis, medical advice, actual treatment, medical discharge and post patient feedback, etc.’’

Perks of patient engagement to healthcare providers

Well, there are several patient engagement solutions; they not only consider the clinical identity (name-age-ailment and others) of the patient but also the overall emotional, social & cultural aspects.

• It helps develop organic bond between the seeker and the provider
• Offers patients much-needed emotional and psychological support
• Creates a liberating experience
• Empowers patients to make informed decisions.
• Helps to assess the care given (based on patient feedback)
• Widens the scope of amendments in the process

Who needs patient engagement services?

Literally every stakeholder engaged in the process of medical care providing. It has now become a prerequisite for a quality health care service.

• Are you willing to enhance your patients’ experience?
• Do you face trouble in gathering patient reviews?
• Do you wish to increase word of mouth referrals?
• Have you gone through a long process of content development for your online platforms
• Do you want to curb the circulation of fake health tips?
• Are you willing to give your patients a pleasant and delightful waiting room experience?

If your answer is YES to even any one of these questions, you NEED patient engagement services!

How to get started?

To your luck, this question which was tedious to solve a few years ago, is now possible to address conveniently. With the advent of digital media, technology and the emergence of third party expert entities have aided healthcare marketing.

Case study

An example of how patient engagement has helped doctor’s practice grow.

Narayana Health is an iconic hospital group in India that introduced the project ‘BestDoc Surveys’, patient engagement, and parent feedback mechanisms. The aim was to ensure patient experience can be documented and analysed to improve empathetic, patient-centric medical service outcomes.

It was found that post-BestDocSurveys, Feedback Conversion Rate among the patients who seek medical assistance at Narayana Hospitals increased by 300%.

Allowing patients and their caregivers to take proactive medical decisions helped increase their patient satisfaction rate as well.

Nth Sense — Your patient engagement partner

Being one of the leading patient engagement solution providers, Nth Sense has brought more humane, patient-centric and empathetic patient engagement techniques to healthcare providers.

Conclusion

Undertaking Patient Engagement Solutions is a must for a medical practitioner who wants to transfer his medical service from the ‘medical model of care’ to a ‘patient-oriented model of care’.

When are you getting started?