Understanding your Customers’ Need
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Many healthcare centers are competing for patients on the basis of amenities such as private rooms, beautiful lobbies, and hotel style room services. But the relation between amenities and clinical care is ambiguous. Unaware patients are normally drawn towards such amenities without considering the quality of service and care that is been provided. It’s quite sad that hospitals spend more on such amenities to attract insured customers than concentrating on the basic needs of the customers.
The magic mantra to attract customers is no hotel-style service but it is “patient-centered service”. Knowing what matters to patients, relatives and other service users does not mean asking for a wish-list, it’s about knowing things that really matters to them while visiting a healthcare center. Understanding the needs of the customer should be aided with improved ability to listen to them and respond immediately. Many patients complain that their doctor try to push them out even before they start explaining their problems. Healthcare centers should remember that customers experience with doctor affects the patient’s emotional response either positively or negatively. Patients feel that the actual wait time is hours and the face time with doctor is just few seconds. What every patient want from their physician is some personal attention. Customers want services that are tailored according to their needs, which meet the best treatment and outstanding customer experience. Patients feel that participating in their own health care needs will help them have a positive outcome. Customers demand patient-centered healthcare services that respect their individual needs, preferences and values. Healthcare organizations should make sure that their staffs treat patients, their relatives, carers, and other service users with dignity and respect.
Few basic things that customers expect from their healthcare providers are
- Eye contact while talking or discussing with them
- Patients should be a partner in decisions and choices made for them
- Patients should be treated as a lively person, rather than a symptom
- They want doctors to patiently give ears to what they say
- Patients should not feel like entering in to an alien territory, communication should be made easy and comfortable from both sides
- They want doctors to spend time with them to be able to explain their problems and to be explained by the doctor
- Thoughtful and courteous staff
- They want to be treated with respect and dignity
- Doctors should talk positively and encourage them to keep things under control
- Doctors should give them the required support
- A safe and high quality treatment is expected
Precisely, they demand a “Patient centered service” with high quality treatment, required support, and want to be an active partner rather than a passive recipient in their care. Everybody likes choices, for patients some choices are more significant than others. For patients, choice of care and treatment is more important than choice of provider.
