Over the last few years,
radiology has transitioned from volume-based to value-based care [1,2] and a key component of value-based care is patient experience [3-5].
Designing and delivering a consistent patient experience requires a fine balance of monitoring,
managing,
adjusting,
and innovating to keep pace with market,
customer,
technology,
and scientific change.
Who is our healthcare consumer?
Fig. 1: Who is our healthcare consumer?
References: Mass General Imaging, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, USA 2018.
How do they interact with our services?
Fig. 2: How do they interact with our services?
References: Mass General Imaging, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, USA 2018.
To be able to provide exceptional patient care,
not only must we know who our customers are,
but also what they value and prefer [6,7].
It is time we move from patients to people,
and from scans to experiences.
Our patient experience program involves comparing our expectations (ideal state) to our reality (current state asssessment based on patient satisfaction data review) to perform a gap analysis that helps reveal opportunities.
These opportunities are then utilizied for future state planning and recommendations (Fig. 3).
Fig. 3: Patient Experience Program Overview
References: Mass General Imaging, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, USA 2018.
We collaborated with employees and formed a 'Discovery Team' acting as an on-site advisory group to engage with and empower stakeholders to extend a patient-centric culture.
Based on employee interviews and observations,
there appear to be six design pillars for patient and employee satisfaction.
Design Pillars for Patient and Employee Satisfaction
- Personal Connection with every patient.
- Loyalty to eachother and our patients.
- Empowerment to provide caring and responsive service.
- Commitment to training and individual staff development.
- Operation as an integrated ecosystem.
- Driven by innovation.
Employees feel that when these are executed well patients are satisfied.