Patient Experience Meets Customer Journey Mapping
In a previous life, I worked in healthcare marketing and all we heard about patient experience was whether overall satisfaction scores were up or down. But now, having worked on holistic customer journey mapping initiatives, I realize patient experience goes well beyond a satisfaction score.
Patient experience encompasses everything from making an appointment to parking and navigating through the hospital to dealing with insurance and billing, and ultimately the care you receive from a doctor.
Improving the Patient Experience
Much like mapping the customer experience for a bank or restaurant, for example, patient experience is about mapping the experience of a patient at various touchpoints across their journey.
For example:
- How easy was it to make an appointment?
- How long did the patient wait to be seen?
- How was the bedside manner of their care team?
- How well was their pain managed?
- How was the food?
Talking to real patients and mapping their experiences is the best way to see all the steps your “customers” are taking throughout their healthcare journey, from start to finish, including what they are doing, thinking, and feeling at each stage, who they’re interacting with and when, etc – so you can step back and see what’s working, what’s not working and areas of opportunity.
Given the differences across patient audiences and settings, you might consider creating multiple journey maps. The patient journey will look different for primary care vs. specialty care, outpatient care vs. inpatient care, neurology vs. cardiology, and so on. There are also different entry points such as scheduled vs. emergency care. And, then, of course, various access points like telehealth vs office visits. All of which impact the complex patient journey that is healthcare.
Benefits of Patient Experience
Patients today have a lot of choices when it comes to where and who they can go to for healthcare. Providing a positive patient experience is one way to help your organization stand out. Let us help you go beyond generic satisfaction scores by mapping your patient experience to see where you can improve.
Sarah Collins
sarah@clearworks.net
