Historically, hospitals and health systems have tended to view patient care through their own lens. Today, leading organizations recognize that healthcare works better when it actively incorporates patient perspectives.
During a Becker's Healthcare podcast sponsored by NRC Health, two leaders shared insights about how health systems are transforming the patient experience by humanizing care for patients, families and providers. The panelists were:
- Dana Caviness, assistant vice president, system patient experience, Wellstar Health System, Marietta, Ga.
- Gregory Makoul, PhD MS, chief transformation officer, NRC Health
Three key takeaways:
- To deliver a personalized experience, care teams must understand what matters to patients. PeopleCare is the essence of Wellstar's mission to enhance the health and well-being of every person that the organization serves. "Fulfilling that mission goes way beyond diagnosing a condition or writing a prescription. It's about the quality of a person's existence. We partner with patients beyond their immediate physical needs," Ms. Caviness said. Wellstar knows that what matters to one person will be very different from what matters to another. "For example, one in eight women will receive a breast cancer diagnosis at some point in her lifetime. Every one of those women is unique and has different needs," Ms. Caviness said.
- Patient experiences are shaped by every moment of interaction with the health system. NRC Health helps healthcare organizations evaluate the patient experience throughout the entire continuum of care. "Focusing the patient experience solely on what happens in the care setting is very much 'yesterday's news.' We need to think much more broadly. Every moment shapes the experience for patients, families, and folks who are on the front line. So experience isn’t a thing you do: ff you’re mindful about it and you’re paying attention to shaping good experience, that’s going to happen by and large; If you’re not paying attention to it, you’re still shaping experiences, they’re just not going to be very good." Dr. Makoul said.
- Contextual information about patients helps providers develop better relationships. An innovative component of NRC Health's Human Understanding program identifies what matters to patients and displays that information in the EHR system in a seamlessly integrated way. "Providers often have no idea what a patient is thinking or the obstacles they are facing," Dr. Makoul said. "With MyStory, care teams can quickly review a patient's health goals, concerns and after-care risks. MyStory changes care because patients share things that they might never say out loud to a doctor. It focuses communication and makes encounters more effective."
Every human is unique, so every encounter in the healthcare system will be different. To improve the patient experience, organizations must focus on the real-life aspects of everyday care and everyday life. "The more we can leverage information about our patients and create a dialogue, the closer we'll get to transforming and humanizing healthcare," Ms. Caviness said.