Satisfaction Basics
Patient satisfaction involves the ability of a healthcare provider to make patients feel well cared for while also making them feel personally cared about inside their patient experiences. In spite of all of the pressures in today's healthcare environment and what frequently seems like no-win situations for providers, it is becoming increasingly important for providers to understand what promotes patient satisfaction and, more importantly, patient loyalty. It is also becoming increasingly important that providers understand what makes a patient satisfaction system value-adding in its efforts to work towards the kind of patient/provider relationships that drives patient loyalty.
An effective patient satisfaction system can have a significant impact in helping providers to understand the perceptions that patients and the community hold to be true about their services and reputations. It can help in understanding how those perceptions impact patient choices and what can be done to create the kind of perceptions that promote patient loyalty. An effective system can help providers to identify those things that create glass ceilings for their patient/provider relationships and determine how to achieve break-through performance. It can be a very powerful component in a healthy quality program.
An effective patient satisfaction system helps a provider to:
- know that patient encounters are consistent with what the provider wants the patient to experience;
- learn what patients value most in current patient experiences;
- identify what attributes promote the strongest value proposition in patient/provider relationships;
- identify opportunities to create healthier and stronger patient experiences;
- learn whether recent improvements have helped to move patient perception in the desired direction;
- identify negative experiences in a timely enough manner to salvage the patient/provider relationship.
Patient Satisfaction Blog
The debate over qualitative versus quantitative data is heating up in health care as providers look for ways to effectively measure and manage patient satisfaction in an increasingly competitive market place. The answer doesn’t live in choosing one or the other. It is found in learning how to marry the benefits of each in a [...]
Effective measurement of patient satisfaction is much more than just sending out surveys and aggregating results. When effectively woven into a quality program, it allows a provider a final opportunity to connect with the patient, determine what would foster patient loyalty in the future and catch those issues that have angered patients but slipped through [...]
Providers that manage patient satisfaction measurement as one more form of soft quality in today’s environment choose to increase their risk of ending up as a casualty along the highway to health care’s future. An activity falls into the category of “soft quality” when its design and implementation creates the perception of action without it [...]
The impact of a patient satisfaction measurement system is influenced by how important it is perceived to be by the patient.
An effective patient satisfaction system works to be responsive to the four major consumer groups.
An effective patient satisfaction system helps an organization to better understand those patient value propositions that are most important to the consumers of health care services.
An effective patient satisfaction system is proactively aligned with the changing needs and dynamics of the patient relationship.
Always build your surveys to support achieving the Ten Commandments of Patient Care.
Quality begins on the inside... and then works its way out. -- Bob Moawad
Don't be afraid to give your best to what seemingly are small jobs. Every time you conquer one it makes you that much stronger. If you do the little jobs well, the big ones will tend to take care of themselves. -- Dale Carnegie
Aim at perfection in everything, though in most things it is unattainable. However, they who aim at it, and persevere, will come much nearer to it than those whose laziness and despondency make them give it up as unattainable. -- Lord Chesterfield
Teamwork is the ability to work together toward a common vision. The ability to direct individual accomplishments toward organizational objectives. It is the fuel that allows common people to attain uncommon results. -- Andrew Carnegie
Change does not change tradition. It strengthens it. Change is a challenge and an opportunity; not a threat. -- Prince Phillip of England
