Top 5 Healthcare Leadership Strategies to Ensure Patient Satisfaction

The healthcare sector is constantly evolving. Innovations, advanced tools, and services are penetrating the sector to enhance patient care. But these resources are only adequate if managed properly and reach the patients according to their needs. Hence, this is what makes healthcare leadership so important. As a leader, you’re responsible for ensuring patients get the best care under your supervision.

Managing an entire hospital and working with numerous staff members is difficult, so you must adopt innovative approaches that benefit all your patients. Here are some methods you should look into to boost patient care.

1.  Use Tech-based Solutions to Streamline Lab Reports

Hospitals get numerous patients daily, which entails an influx of patient data flowing through the database at any given time. This data must be categorized and labeled for each patient to prevent information from mixing up, which can lead to an incorrect diagnosis. Given this, healthcare facilities can benefit immensely from utilizing laboratory information systems in their database. A laboratory information system or (LIS) is software that contains data from all the stages of a medical process and tests by storing it. It allows lab technicians and physicians to coordinate with each other.

For instance, if a physician needs all the details on a patient, the extensive lab information systems can provide them with all the inpatient and outpatient tests performed, which includes basic blood work; this prevents the need to go down to the lab and physically retrieve them. Consequently, having a system makes communication between departments more efficient, reduces medical errors, and allows physicians to measure patient care outcomes.

2.  Encourage Staff to Engage with Patients More

Patients need all the guidance they can get when they come in for a checkup. You can boost healthcare outcomes by asking your staff to cooperate and communicate more openly with patients. For example, if a patient has trouble booking an appointment, the healthcare administrator should step in, guide them on what they must do, and explain how the booking system works.

Similarly, if a patient is unsure what to expect during their surgery, the surgeon or the attending nurse practitioner should talk to them. They must explain the procedure and use the hospital’s portal system to send them valuable links about the surgery. Frequent engagement between the staff and patients makes them comfortable around each other. Patients are also less apprehensive and more informed about their health, which helps them recover faster.

3.  Ask the Patient to Provide Feedback

Patients should have a say in what they find satisfying while they receive care. Your healthcare staff can only know where to improve if they hear it from the patients themselves. Try to get comprehensive patient feedback on how they think the team performed. This feedback requires answers to how responsive they were and if they answered every patient's question and helped explain the patient’s condition to them. 

Take it a step ahead and ask patients what areas they want your hospital to improve, perhaps they want more bilingual staff, or patients want more family involvement in their treatment. Discuss any feedback you get with your team, and highlight areas where patients think your staff is doing well while emphasizing what changes patients want to see. If specific suggestions cannot be implemented, determine what alternative approaches can be introduced into the healthcare model.

4.  Go Easy on The Paperwork

Hospitals are notorious for paperwork. Often patients are expected to fill out multiple pages, which can get tedious. While documenting a patient’s experience and having records about their insurance company is crucial for the healthcare system, it can be handled much more effectively. As a leader, look for ways you can reduce paperwork. It includes emailing patients about the details you need, digitizing older documents, and using electronic health charts to document a patient’s information. 

When a patient comes in for a checkup, the healthcare administrator should show them the details the hospital has on them and confirm if they’re still the same. This proactiveness prevents additional paperwork and ensures that the patient’s records are updated. You can also introduce a system that contacts patients to get an update about their patient records, like if they’re still living in the same area, if their insurance policy is the same, and the name of doctors they’re visiting from your hospital. Technology makes lives more manageable, so save your hospital the stress of storing mountains of documents by investing in high-performing technological gadgets. 

5.  Make The Hospital’s Building Inclusive 

A hospital cannot discriminate against the type of patients they get, but often setbacks like lack of wheelchair ramps discourage patients from getting a healthcare checkup. As a healthcare leader, you should advocate for health equality and strive to make your hospital building as inclusive as possible. Making any venue inclusive and accessible takes time. Start by addressing areas like staircases and elevators. 

You know that people with certain disabilities cannot use these facilities; therefore, add wheelchair ramps and stabilizing rods to the walls of the hospital lobby and try creating space that allows people with disabilities to walk at a pace comfortable to them. In the waiting room, don’t keep standardized plastic chairs; look for ergonomic seats that can support a patient’s back and posture.

Certain patients may have inflammation or a condition that causes their joints to swell up; they may need a stool or additional support to elevate their feet. Likewise, don’t ignore children; paint the pediatric department with bright and lively colors, find out what sensory toys your hospital should have to keep children engaged, and ensure a healthcare staff is always present to provide urgent care if a child is under distress. 

Your hospital should also have an online and physical map across every department so patients know where to go. Furthermore, have more than one reception desk and multiple examination rooms, like those closer to the entrance, to accommodate patients if they can’t go far and need to get looked at right away.

Conclusion

Developing a patient-focused care system is vital for every medical institute. The primary purpose of every hospital is to look after the population and provide them with sufficient care until they’re better, which is why they need to work hard to achieve this goal. As a healthcare leader, you play a pivotal role in ensuring the healthcare staff do their jobs immaculately. You do this by employing certain standards like using tech-based systems to improve coordination between the labs and doctors, cultivating an environment of open communication, and giving your patients space to express their opinions. Also, find ways to reduce redundant responsibilities in hospitals, like immense paperwork. And lastly, constantly work on modifying the hospital to make it accessible for all patients.