Introduction

All types of healthcare facilities are in enormous pressure to provide absolute quality of care depending on limited available resources. Constantly growing number of patients & expansion of cutbacks are generating necessity of improving efficiency as well as increasing revenue for clinics & hospitals.

The processes in patient care are very complex. The involvement of multiple departments, services and steps results in the patient dealing with a range of hospitals and resources through the course of treatment. If movement from one service to another is not well managed or communicated, the patient can be left feeling overwhelmed, lost and frustrated. The sheer number of resources and departments involved in-patient care inevitably lead to bottlenecks which soon mount up to costly inefficiencies.

The drive to deliver a good experience for all patients is of course not a new concept. However, a commitment to making all experiences excellent is still not widespread and change is sometimes slow. A widely held belief is also that providing good patient experiences is ‘nice but not necessary’ or ‘nice but too expensive’. That perception is however changing, and in many regions changing rapidly, as patients have options in their choice of healthcare provider.

Consumers are seeking the same convenience they experience in other settings. In general, they are willing to pay 19 percent more for a “no wait time” prescription.
(PwC Health Research Institute | Customer experience in the pharmaceutical sector: Getting closer to the patient Page 2)

With the fast-moving changes in technology, especially with mobile phones and tablets, it has become very important for healthcare provider to leverage these technologies to deliver a better patient experience.

Healthcare Challenges

Now-a-days patients have much more choices in how, when & from where they need to receive care. If patients expectations don’t met from clinics, simply they are moving away.

So let’s take a closer look at the challenges that facing hospitals and clinics today-

2012 Benchmark Study — Patient Experience Management in Healthcare, by Endeavor Management, reveals that managing the patient experience will continue to be a top priority for healthcare organizations. As patient experience management strategies evolve from implementing technology and improving the process, those who invest in the patient experience will likely continue to grow and thrive. This research reveals many positive trends in managing the patient experience, and it identifies key priorities for further development of strategies. The topmost is reducing patient wait times and other related services.

The DocApp solution can turn these challenges into opportunities: enhancing the patient experience while improving the bottom line.

The Patient View solution can turn these challenges into opportunities: enhancing the patient experience while improving the bottom line.

How DocApp Enhances the Patient Experience

Having to go to a hospital or a clinic because of a medical issue is a stressful situation in itself. Patients are worried, anxious and sometimes in pain. Making the visit as secure, relaxed and comfortable as possible is important to achieving a positive patient experience. The way nurses and physicians communicate, waiting times, the waiting room atmosphere, privacy and the process itself are some of the factors that affect the patient’s overall experience as much as the actual medical procedure. Every step in the patient journey affects the experience of the patient.

So how can applying DocApp help you improve your patients’ experience?

A 2000 study, Outpatient clinic waiting times and non-attendance as indicators of quality, by K. McCarthy, H. M. McGeea & C. A. O’Boyle,
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/713690194#preview, shows that up to 64 percent of patients rate their waiting times in clinics as unsatisfactory.
A similar 2004 study, Improving Patient Satisfaction With Waiting Time, by Gayleen M Eilers, MD, http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.3200/JACH.53.1.41-48?src=recsys#preview, shows waiting times are a major component of patient satisfaction. In a study by Campbell, waiting times greater than 15 minutes were rated as one of two factors accounting for 94 percent of patient dissatisfaction.

The concern is of course that this waiting will result in patient dissatisfaction with the visit as a whole.

So, finding ways to reduce waiting time is important. With the help of technology, taking both actual and perceived waiting time into consideration, you can enhance the patient experience.

DocApp can help reduce the actual waiting time for patients through real time updates and tracking. This can, for example, be achieved with a calendar booking system, allowing you to efficiently schedule appointments. Updating patients with wait times at regular intervals is a key feature of DocApp, improving the patient experience by reducing waiting time.

DocApp’s booking solution streamlines the patient flow and makes it more efficient – making the patient experience more pleasant. In addition, it offers real time monitoring and updates to patients and clinic staff via patient smartphones, tablets, TV monitors, etc. DocApp’s booking solution also records patient arrivals, entries into examination rooms and exits from the clinic, automatically updating the waiting queue.

Waiting is also more acceptable to the patient and feels shorter if it is calm, fair, explained and logical. DocApp’s virtual queuing solution that allows patients to sit down and relax, tells them where they are in the process, and clearly informs them when it is their turn, will enhance the patient experience.

The DocApp queuing solution preserves privacy requirements by giving patients, as soon as they enter the waiting area, a ticket with a unique identity number that allows clinicians to call patients by ticket number instead of by name. This information can also be displayed on clinic TV monitors and patient smartphone apps.

Conclusion

DocApp improves the clinic patient’s experience with real-time information, using innovative and intuitive technology with the following features:

• Available anywhere for computer, laptop, mobile smartphone, tablet, large-screen TV and other monitors.
• Affordable and ready for the future
• An online, 24/7 appointment booking system
• Single and centralized phone booking system
• Exclusive apps for patients, doctors and front-desk staffers
• Schedules, calendars, automated follow-ups
• Automated reminders and notifications