Patient-centered care – An approach for better health outcomes

In a world where patients are becoming increasingly self-aware, healthcare organizations must seize the opportunity to challenge the status quo by adopting a broader patient-centric approach offered by the emerging ecosystem. The healthcare industry is moving away from facility-oriented healthcare toward outcome-oriented healthcare. With increasing competition, healthcare providers must improve health outcomes at a low cost. Healthcare workers cannot survive without adopting a patient-centred medical mindset. Organizations that best understand patient needs and can respond to them the most quickly and appropriately will stay ahead in the competition.

Patient-centeredness typically involves using patient-related outcome measures to measure and report numerous nonclinical parameters. All healthcare providers must have a thorough understanding of, and train their staff and patients on, the patient-centric approach. Implementing a patient-centred approach across the board is the most efficient strategy for reducing costs and enhancing health outcomes.

Digitization
A well-defined patient-centric digital strategy can help organizations build trust and gain insights and loyalty. Traditional strategies for reaching patients through doctors may become less effective in the years to come; hence, at Wockhardt hospitals, we are using data analytics tools to interact with patients, improve their experience, and address unmet needs. Patients are increasingly demanding a more personalized approach and a better healthcare experience, and digital tools help us engage with patients. Healthcare organizations that are not proactively preparing to take on new roles as partners run the risk of not engaging with patients, and potentially becoming irrelevant to the evolving ecosystem.

Post-discharge care
Most of the time, follow-up care keeps patients healthy and improves care outcomes. Regular post-discharge check-ins can help to detect complications early, mitigate growing problems, and keep patients out of the hospital. Post-discharge phone calls provide an effective opportunity for providers to intervene if complications occur after admission.

Tele-calling from a specialty nurse has long been hailed as an option that can reduce the impact of transportation problems and is an effective way to provide convenient post-discharge care. At Wockhardt, by tele-calling patients after discharge, we have been able to improve patient satisfaction and follow-up retention. What we have learned from discharge care calls is that patients are able to communicate how they feel after surgery or discharge and can discuss any health-related issues with their caller.

Feedback
Patients gain confidence when their problems are heard and resolved. Patient feedback analysis is one of the most critical and useful tools for understanding the voice of the customer. Not surprisingly, both negative and positive patient feedback can impact a hospital’s reputation.

Currently, we are collecting feedback from different sources, as follows:

• Daily during rounds via our dedicated team
• On tablets when patients are in the hospital
• Through SMS or email link after discharge for patients who are not comfortable giving their feedback during their hospital stay

The lowest five performing attributes are identified for addressing in a focused manner.

Rapid response (RRT)
The Wockhardt critical care team has a set of criteria that indicate when a patient’s condition is deteriorating, after which nurses initiate RRT. The goal is to treat these warning signs in a timely manner in order to improve patient outcomes and prevent cardiac arrests. Nurses may also call RRT if they have a gut feeling that something is wrong.

We shall promote the process of obtaining more RRT code activations. The measure of a reliable RRT program is a low number of code blues.