Every medical practice strives to provide a positive experience for its patients. It’s a tall order when you consider factors like overcrowdedness, staff shortages, and increased employee burnout within the Healthcare industry.
Even under these challenging circumstances, medical practices can make small changes that significantly impact providing better care for patients and staff. Learn which ones to start applying today.
1. Offer telehealth options
There are many advantages to offering telehealth that can positively impact both your patients and staff. Most significantly, you can expand your practice’s access to care and reach more patients. Concurrently, your staff can save more time and complete more clinical rounds.
And as COVID-19 cases continue to soar, offering telehealth as an option can be a safer way to care for your patients. By reducing in-person appointments, you can reduce exposure risks and, in turn, keep other patients and staff safer.
2. Automate scheduling
Our Clinics Industry Report revealed medical staff had problems with their work schedules this past year, which caused increased stress and uneven work-life balance. Issues with employee scheduling can also contribute to higher turnover rates, which will hit healthcare workforces even harder as staff shortages continue to trend upwards.
With an automated scheduling system, medical practices can better manage limited resources, give their staff more flexibility over shifts, and stabilize employee workloads. By doing so, they provide better care for their staff and patients by distributing work more evenly, minimizing staff burnout, and allowing employees to gain more respite outside of work.
When employees are happier and less stressed, they’re more motivated in their work and provide higher quality care for patients. A scheduling system can also increase clinics’ ability to improve patient-to-staff ratios, accommodate more patients, and ensure patients are scheduled with the right qualified staff.
3. Track patient satisfaction
One of the most effective ways to provide better care for your patients is to hear feedback from patients themselves. Let them know their care experience is important to your clinic by creating a patient satisfaction survey or adopting a patient engagement tool to get their feedback.
Pay the closest attention to responses that indicate areas of concern. Then, leverage those insights to optimize your clinics' culture, processes, and operations. By understanding and addressing what’s top of mind for your patients, you’re making the right changes to improve their care experience.
When you provide better care for your patients, they’re more inclined to return to your clinic again and again. A good experience can also encourage positive patient reviews, reinforcing your practice’s credibility and reputation.
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4. Improve team communication
Our Clinics Industry Report showed healthcare staff reported quality of communication as a top pain point in the workplace. With poor communication, vital information can get missed, affecting day-day work and patient care.
To improve this, clinics can utilize a collaboration system so staff can effectively communicate and work together in one central platform. This can ensure staff doesn’t miss important announcements or emerging updates.
Clearer and stronger communication can help staff stay in sync and feel more connected with their patients, colleagues, departments, and work.
5. Prioritize mental health
Your staff works around the clock taking care of patients day in and day out. Regularly check in with employees to see how they’re doing and see if you can take steps to help or prevent staff burnout.
This is important because an employee’s well-being directly impacts patient care. According to our Clinics Industry Report, patients felt a negative impact on their experience when healthcare professionals appeared stressed. 69% of respondents said a friendly staff team was a top factor of their care experience.
Consider incorporating “Mindfulness” to reduce stress in your clinics. You can also offer mental health resources or encourage staff to take more breaks.
Small changes for better outcomes
Remember that changes don’t always have to be big ones. Start with small ones and use them as stepping stones to achieve better outcomes in retaining staff and building patient satisfaction.
Want additional resources to boost morale, retention, and patient care? Use our toolkit to uncover data and tips on how to improve patient and staff experiences.
