Improving patient experience in hospitals

1. Digital checking-in and registration

There are some benefits for patients who are visiting the hospital can derive from the application of technology in the verification and registration process. Some of these benefits include lower time wastage on the part of the patients; this is in addition to increased information sharing as well as an increase in overall office efficiency.

Furthermore, digital checking and registration lead to better patient experience as a result of a lesser number of lost charts, reduction in issues of duplication, clearer clinical notes, and reminders for the patient that specific preventive services and tests are overdue.

It is also worthy of note that it helps in making available a centralized system to hospitals to register previous patients.

This it achieves by uploading the information from such patients especially as it concerns their health records. There are some ways digital checking and registration helps in improving the overall patient experience, for one, there is increased ease of sharing data. This certainly helps present a better option to the traditional method of sharing information such as fax, email, printing and scanning papers which can be quite expensive and time-consuming. In addition to this, there is increased satisfaction on the part of the patient because less time is wasted.

Few startups are gaining inroads in the digital patient registration segment includes The Right Place, and Helium.

2. Hospital design enhance patient healing

The architectural design of a hospital may not be the most important thing for a patient sitting in the labor and delivery room or the emergency room. It is, however, pertinent to note that a whole lot goes into making sure that the stay of the patient is comfortable and pleasant. In a circumstance where life or death could be a matter second, the design and layout could well be vital to making sure that the staff and patient of the hospital can move with ease in the building. There appears to be a movement towards visual healing making use of better options for dining, natural light as well as outdoor gardens.

Now more than ever, hospital patients have the opportunity to determine what should be in their hospital rooms such as the type of music being played, family pictures and everything that creates a feeling of home, all to further facilitating the healing process.

It is on record that patients who had increased exposure to sunlight had less use for painkillers which in turn lead to a 21 percent drop in the cost of medication. Some of the startups making headway in this industry include; LPA which was founded back in the year 1965 to providing hospital architectural solutions also, making strong inroads into this sector is Kwalu.

	Recommended for you
	Smart inhaler for Asthma management satisfies patients
	Hospital navigation apps guide patients in hospitals
	Hospitals to run like smart factories

3. Continuous patient engagement

Without a doubt, Electronic health records, as well as mobile applications, are gaining increased relevance as far as the enhancement of data between the medical professionals while also helping in streamlining the everyday processes. With an increase in the demand by the healthy population as regards the monitoring of their well-being, EHRs, as well as mobile apps, are beginning to play a pivotal role especially in helping the doctors in meeting up with such needs mentegram.com, Wellocity Health, Curogram

The use of EHRs to access the medical records of patients as well as some other digital tools such as mobile applications do go a long way in enhancing the level of satisfaction of patients. This is particularly more important in the way the hospitals and clinics use the EHRs to continue reaching out to the patients that are not in the hospital.

Even though patients appreciate being in contact with the health care provider, they do not have the patience for the many defects one would find in hospitals such as incorrect billing, scheduling as well as hospital interoperability. If a hospital does not make use of EHRs, the patients would observe it.

A study conducted showed that about ninety percent of patients under the ages of 40 showed that they were not satisfied with the level of use of engagement technology by the healthcare providers.

A different set of 84 percent indicated that they are on the lookout for healthcare providers who make use of health IT which helps the doctors and patients communicate.

Without a doubt, patient engagement technology is gaining grounds with the adoption of smartphones, mobile tablets as well as computers. The technology being used in the healthcare sector are becoming more patient-focused. Startups such as Get Real Health, Conversa Health are helping in no small way to improve the healthcare experience of patients all over.

4. Smart bedside console for patients

Bedside consoles have been helping to provide entertainment as well as information for an extended period now; this is so because their use extends from the patient to the hospital staff. There has been an apparent rise in the ” Bring Your Content and Bring Your Device” due to the rise of mobile technology. Patient satisfaction ratings are being improved upon by hospitals using customer centered value and care based reward systems to bettering their experience.

More and more hospitals are engaging the use of high definition television the same as what may be obtainable in the homes of the patients. The healthcare industry has realized that good entertainment helps in improving the experience of the users. Facilities such as internet protocol television which is used to deliver voice on demand, data, voice as well as TV programming services are gaining increased acceptance for the education and entertainment of the patients.

There are some facilities provided as well as benefits of making use of this technology, for instance, it helps in granting access to useful information, and this is so because the needed information is usually within arm’s reach. This certainly helps make the life of the patient more comfortable.

Another suitable use of this technology is the fact that it gives room for content sharing, the bedside consoles are proving to be an excellent platform for sharing of valuable and useful information among staff and patient.

Without a doubt, all these services help in improving the overall wellbeing of the patient while also continuously giving regular updates about their health and as such make them feel a lot more in command and invariably less anxious. Without a doubt, bedside consoles have gone beyond just being systems for entertainment on the bedsides; they now serve as a form of connection between the family, patient, care providers as well as the hospital. They go a long way in improving the overall experience of the patient. This is seen in lower costs, healthier patients, and bubbly staff.

There are quite some companies making inroads in this industry such as Bytech. This company has a mandate of coming up with specific hardware for mobile programs as well as battery power systems to facilitating the integration of technology, helping in the improvement of workflows while boosting the outcome of patients. One other company to look out for in this regard is Ascom; the company seeks to improve healthcare communication, with features such as helping to streamline staff collaboration and communication, clinical workflow beside the patient

5. Virtual Reality enabled immersive patient experience

Medical practitioners are beginning to make use of virtual reality in finding solutions to some of the most complex health conditions. Virtual reality has gone beyond the world of make-believe as well as gaming. VR has shown to be quite useful in handling some somewhat difficult health challenges such as post-traumatic stress disorders. Pain specialists, stroke doctors, surgeons as well as a host of other health care providers are finding increased use of this technology. Some of the ways it is being used include in the planning of instead a complicated operation such as the separation of Siamese twins.

Virtual reality has also proven to be quite useful in helping to distract the mind of the patient from pains.

The patients make use of VR to get lost in a world that is peaceful using VR which allows distracting their focus from the pain and discomfort which treatments present.

This is even more awesome because sedation and anaesthesia can be of significant risk to the patients especially for those who are advanced in age as well as the weak. The use of VR headsets helps in mitigating the effects of the pains during procedures that require a minimal invasion. It has also been used in lowering anxiety which cancer patients display during chemotherapy. Also, victims of burns may well be the biggest winners with VR especially during their daily treatments of cleaning and graftings.

Some of the innovations in this line include SnowWorld which is designed to distract patients of burns from the pain. Patients who made use of this game reported as much as a 50% drop in pain. Applied VR is another startup that is making great strides in VR-enabled innovative solutions for hospitals. .

Another innovation that is worthy of mention in this regard is the partnership between Samsung and Cedars-Sinai to come up with the virtual reality plot to helping ease the stress of patients in the hospital. They do this by displaying virtual reality experience.

Image credit: www.pixabay.com