| | July 201919Patient centricity is nothing but a form of two way communication where the management keeps the ear to the ground in order to make the system proactive rather than reactivesible for the inflow of the patients. In the modern age, telephony plays a quintessential role in connectivity. The patient wants to have unrestricted access to the facility for a number of actions like appointment, booking or rescheduling, checking the reports on-line, requesting admission/procedure estimates, and taking a tour virtually/physically. These requirements have become more of hygiene rather than a premium feature. On the other hand, providing such facilities definitely de-picts the patient centricity of the hos-pital. The patient understands that the hospital focuses on offerings and takes their convenience seriously.In the earlier days, hospitals of-ten ignored the process of making the environment more conducive for the patient. The management felt that in a tertiary care setup, as long as the med-ical expectation is fulfilled, the patient should feel that his/her requirements have been addressed. Also, as a med-ical caregiver, understanding or set-ting-up the patient expectation was not necessarily considered a prime de-liverable, rather the expectation man-agement started with a one way dis-cussion around the patient's condition in general and that any outcome even slightly positive in nature was consid-ered within the accepted limits. In today's digital age, there are var-ious sources of information that are at the disposal of the patient, which are often looked at as the initial reference check for occurrence of any symptom. Thus, when the patient walks into the hospital, he/she has some degree of information available. Keeping this in mind, having a system which is more open for discussion often makes the hospital a preferable choice.A structure which is built around the patient requirements will more or less ensure that the patient feels at ease even during times of emergency or in cases of any procedural interventions. Looking at the outpatient consulta-tion, one can easily compare the olden times when you would have had to see a doctor of whom you knew nothing about. A patient-centric system will ensure that there are enough patient testimonials for a particular medical consultant available online. Apart from the qualification details, the sys-tem will also showcase all the areas of expertise and interest of a consultant, so the patient can relate better. Showing the medical consultant in this light ensures that he/she is ap-proachable to the patient. Though the medical interaction has now come a long way, in the earlier days too, doc-tors tended to be very friendly and they understood the need to be more sensitive towards comprehending the issue. In a patient-centric system, the doctor is furthermore equipped with multiple avenues like electronic medical records, on-mobile alert sys-tem, online OPD queue system, and many more.Many doctors tend to connect with the patients through communication mediums like SMS and WhatsApp service apart from email. These plat-forms have now become an integral part of patient centricity. Patient cen-tricity doesn't stop at the outpatient consultation. It plays a very import-ant role as far as the inpatient ser-vices are concerned. When the med-ical advice is given to the patient to get admitted to a facility, they have various queries in mind. The need to understand the medical management process, understanding the financial implication, assessing the duration of stay, all of these points weigh heavy on the mind of the patient or the attendant. A patient-centric system ensures that there is a preset channel going through which a patient will get all of the above queries answered and also the medical team will ensure that the `outcome expectation management' is being done properly. At the time of discharge, proper feedback is collect-ed and collated so that every shortfall in any of the departments is reported and that a concerned staff informs the patient of the response to complete the circle. Patient centricity is nothing but a form of two way communication where the management keeps the ear to the ground in order to make the sys-tem proactive rather than reactive. Nishant Mishra
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