4 Tips for Patient Retention
It’s a common belief that many healthcare providers often don’t know when their practices and the all-around vibe are affecting their patients. You see, patients are the most important part of any healthcare facility, especially hospitals, and meeting their demands is what keeps the hospital running.
More so, many professionals rarely have time to visit the hospital let alone, go there and be rudely attended to. Based on this information, hospital managers should ensure that their processes are simplified and straightforward to avoid wasting patient’s time and further inducing frustration. In that vein, here are four tips to improve patient retention in Hospitals.
1. Effective Communication
Communication with patients begins from the first contact and sometimes, even before they actually become patients. To excel on this front, make sure your receptionists are welcoming, kind, and approachable. For the most part, patients won’t feel welcome or show interest in booking an appointment if the receptionist is grumpy. However, the responsibility of good communication does not end at the reception, but should also be maintained across all employees, which includes the nurses and doctors.
This includes encouraging employees to always have their ID cards on by using a hospital badge clip, and to place them on visible areas of their bodies. You see, patients draw extra comfort in their ability to identify the doctor or nurse who is attending to them. Also, when patients speak, try to listen for a while before jumping in. Hospitals are scary enough without feeling slightly intimidated by a healthcare provider.
2. Design a Follow-through System
Just because a patient has been discharged or treatment has concluded doesn’t mean they should be abandoned to their fate. To foster a bit of loyalty, design a follow-through system to ensure that former patients are reached out to after a surgery or treatment plan has been carried out. Simply check how they are faring to ensure they are not suffering from mental or physical after-effects. This extra touch enhances trust and makes for a better relationship with the hospital.
3. Create Digital Footprints
The world is going digital and regardless of the facet or industry you find yourself, so should you. You see, before many people set foot in a hospital, they probably went on WebMD and Googled the life out of their symptoms. That’s just the way the world works now; everyone wants to go in with some sort of knowledge on what’s going on with them.
In the process, they may equally search for hospitals that can profer solutions to their suspected ailment. The knowledge of this alone should spur you to have a powerful digital presence. Provide good and useful information, respond to comments and reviews, and this will ultimately help maintain the reputation of your hospital.
4. Create Flexible Work Hours
As earlier indicated, many individuals have busy lives, especially professionals, and popping into the hospital during the regular working hours may not work in their favor. However, if people know that your work hours are flexible, they are more likely to visit your facility.
Conclusion
An important take-home from all these tips is that when patients feel neglected or unwelcomed, they are more likely to explore other options. So, if the aim is to retain more patients, try to attach great importance to customer experience.
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