What is Patient Experience?

• What is Person-Centered Care, how does this approach work?

• Who Participates in this Approach?

• Who is the Focus? Patient or Person?

• Examples of Person-Centered Care

⛑️ What is Patient Experience (PE)?

Patient Experience is the combined result of all the interactions a patient has throughout their healthcare journey, being deeply influenced by the culture and practices of a healthcare organization. It encompasses everything from the first contact with the healthcare system to the completion of treatment, and includes all the perceptions, emotions, and sensations the patient experiences during this process. This definition highlights the importance of organizational culture and interactions throughout the patient journey in shaping their experience, emphasizing the relevance of this topic for the overall quality of healthcare.

❤️‍🩹 What is Person-Centered Care?

Person-centered care is an approach to providing health services that focuses not only on the disease, but also on the person as a whole. It involves looking at the patient and understanding that there is a person with Needs, Values, and Preferences. Within Patient Experience, this approach goes hand in hand with PX (Patient Experience) initiatives. This approach is characterized by collaboration among healthcare professionals, patients, and their families, ensuring that all decisions are made with due respect for the needs, values, and preferences of individual patients, while also providing them with the necessary support to take an active role in their own care journey.
This essential concept, which traces its origins to the Institute of Medicine and a publication by the Institute of Medicine – Envisioning the National Health Care Quality Report in 2001, raises a fundamental question: “What truly matters to each person?”

Who is the Focus in this Approach?

In this approach, the patient, families, healthcare professionals, and backoffice staff are the protagonists in the person-centered care approach. Going beyond the care team, such as technicians, nurses, therapists, and doctors. But person-centered care also involves the behaviors of backoffice professionals, such as receptionists, interns, administrative team members, and everyone who is part of the healthcare institution.

Person-centered care not only recognizes the disease as an integral part of the process but highlights the person itself. This holistic approach embraces the concept of integral care, addressing not only the physical dimension but also the emotional, spiritual, cultural, and social dimensions of the patient's well-being. Thus, it seeks to understand the entirety of the patient experience, promoting not only healing but also quality of life and overall satisfaction with the care received.

Examples of Person-Centered Care:

Person-Centered Care (or Patient-Centered Care, in English) is a fundamental approach in the healthcare sector that places the patient at the center of the care process. This approach aims to meet the individual needs, preferences, and values of patients, promoting a more humanized and effective experience. Here are some examples of behaviors or initiatives that demonstrate Person-Centered Care within a healthcare unit:

❤️ Empathetic Communication: 1. Healthcare professionals should demonstrate empathy when communicating with patients. This involves listening attentively to their concerns, responding to their questions in a clear and understandable manner, and showing understanding of the patient's feelings and anxieties. Good behaviors that need to be cultivated in care teams and among all professionals in contact with the patient are: Active Listening, Smile in the Voice, Personalization of Care, and Courtesy.

🫶 Involving the Patient in Decision Making: 2. Doctors should involve patients in decision-making regarding their treatment by sharing relevant information and discussing treatment options, benefits, and risks. Patients have the right to actively participate in decisions that affect their health. Healthcare professionals should respect patients' individual choices and preferences, even if they disagree with them. This includes decisions about treatment, lifestyle, and end-of-life care.

💬 Access to Information: 3. Providing patients with clear and accessible information about their health condition, treatment, and available resources is essential. This may involve using educational materials, online resources, or having a healthcare professional available to answer questions or pre-emptively provide information about the procedures the patient will undergo. Doing this shows care for the patient so they can prepare emotionally and physically for treatment.

🛋️ Comfortable and Welcoming Environment: 4. Creating a care environment that is welcoming, respectful, and sensitive to the cultural and emotional needs of patients. This includes aspects such as the design of the healthcare unit, visual communication, and staff training.

👂 Collecting Patient Feedback: 5. Seeking feedback from patients about their experience and using that feedback to continually improve healthcare services is a crucial practice to promote Person-Centered Care. There are various ways to collect patient feedback, with two of the most common metrics being Net Promoter Score (NPS) and Customer Satisfaction Score (CSAT):

Net Promoter Score (NPS)

The NPS is a metric that assesses the degree of loyalty of patients. Patients are asked to rate, on a scale of 0 to 10, how likely they would recommend the healthcare unit to friends and family. Based on the responses, patients are categorized as detractors (score of 0 to 6), neutrals (score of 7 to 8), and promoters (score of 9 to 10). The NPS is calculated by subtracting the percentage of detractors from the percentage of promoters, providing a clear metric of overall patient satisfaction.

Satisfaction Score (CSAT):

The CSAT measures patient satisfaction with specific services or interactions. Patients are asked to rate their satisfaction on a scale, typically from 1 to 5, after specific experiences such as medical consultations, procedures, or telephone assistance. The CSAT offers more granular insights into specific areas needing improvement.

Collecting patient feedback is a fundamental part of the ongoing improvement process in healthcare services. Here are some key steps to effectively implement these metrics:

1. Ask for feedback proactively:
Make requesting feedback an integral part of the care process, whether at discharge, after medical consultations, or through satisfaction surveys. The Healthcare Unit can also send surveys via WhatsApp, Email, or make the survey available through QR Codes at strategic points within the Clinic, Laboratory, or Hospital.

2. Analyze and interpret the results:
Analyze the NPS and CSAT scores to identify trends and areas for improvement. Identify strengths to maintain and critical areas needing attention. By using NPS to evolve your customer experience, you can also benchmark against other companies in the same sector anywhere in the world.

3. Act based on feedback:
Use the information gathered to implement improvements in healthcare services. This may include changes in care protocols, staff training, or adjustments to facilities. Within the Patient Experience area, Patient Journey Mapping should be conducted, cultural adaptation of teams to Patient-Centricity, project governance for customer experience evolution, and management of experience metrics such as NPS and CSAT.

If you are looking for a platform that facilitates the implementation of these evaluations and collects patient feedback effectively, check out the Korax platform. Korax is a specialized solution that helps healthcare units implement feedback systems, including NPS and CSAT, simply and efficiently. With Korax, you can collect, analyze, and act based on patient feedback, continuously improving the healthcare experience. Don’t miss the opportunity to elevate the quality of healthcare services offered by your unit. 
Discover Korax today and start transforming the patient experience for the better!