Nursing staff on the frontline of the health care industry is largely responsible for satisfying those in need of healthcare facilities. Their services in a healthcare setting are critical to the rehabilitation of patients and ensuring their positive experience. The legislators have taken several steps to improve patient experience within the health care facilities. The latest example of this is the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems survey, incentivizing those with high patient satisfaction scores. They calculate the scores according to the standardized guidelines for measuring patient satisfaction designed through the survey.
Amidst the life-saving roles of hospitals and their staff, it is common to overlook their self-oriented goals, such as increasing patient input to upgrade sales. However, this is also critical to providing consistent quality services to the patient. Patients will only turn to a hospital if those treated are fully satisfied and are happy enough to share their positive experiences. Since nurses form the major part of the personnel that provides health care facilities, they need to adopt new strategies to ensure that every discharged patient and their family feel fully satisfied at the time of leaving. Here are some of the strategies that nurses can adopt to increase patient satisfaction through the care they provide.
- Upgrading their educational qualifications
Why Earn Your Bachelor’s in Nursing? When you opt for the nursing profession, you have the chance to enter the lifelong process of upgrading your knowledge through advanced degrees. It is evident that nurses who have higher qualifications are better equipped with skills to cater to the needs of their patients. In addition, patients also prefer getting their treatment from more qualified professionals. An up-gradation in your degree means greater opportunities to learn advanced ways and means to provide timely treatment. It also enables you to choose better treatment plans for different patients.
- Effective communication is a key to achieving mutual interests
Effective communication plays a vital role in developing a healthy relationship with your patients. Many patients want to know about their conditions, treatments, and outcomes in detail. For them, knowing the severity of the disease and the efficacy of the treatment plan is itself a part of the treatment. This brings you one step closer to satisfying them since your goal is to handle them in a way, they feel comfortable. One way of knowing their way and discussing the effectiveness of your plan is to sit with them and talk. According to BMC Health Services Research, patient reviews revealed that nurses showing “correct behavior and attitude, composure, making time for patients, and listening and having empathy” were considered competent.
- Developing good relations among themselves
For better treatment and patient aid, the whole nursing staff of the hospital ward should work together and maintain a cordial relationship among themselves. Good professional relationships among nurses that lead to friendly behavior indicate composed management. The patient feels comfortable getting care from a poised and well-behaved workforce. On the contrary, chaotic and non-cooperative nurses intimidate patients watering doubts regarding the quality of the treatment provided in the area. In addition, nurses’ performance greatly improves when they get help from more experienced workers and discuss complicated cases with senior members. Thus, nursing staff should prioritize teamwork to give patients the right information and treatment for their ailments.
- Adequate number of nurses on duty
Another very important factor in boosting patient satisfaction is a greater nurse-to-patient ratio. When there is sufficient staff to cater to the patients’ needs, they feel satisfied. An adequate number of nurses on duty increases patients’ chances of receiving early treatment. This also increases the number of patients receiving care, resulting in a higher percentage of patients reporting a positive experience. On the contrary, lower staffing levels also impede nurses from developing healthy relationships with patients due to their inability to communicate with every patient unequivocally. Therefore, to achieve optimum levels of patient satisfaction, a healthcare facility should largely focus on recruiting enough nurses and splitting their shifts to increase the quality of the care provided.
Based on the data collected on patient experience from 2009 to 2011, the patient felt more satisfied with a higher nurse practitioner to bed ratio. The researchers also highlighted another aspect: nurses who were not hired by the hospital or working on a contract did not improve patient satisfaction. As the hospital does not hire them, they are less likely to develop an effective bond with the patients. This is justified because they don’t have any motivation to engage emotionally with their patients and develop meaningful communication.
- Make use of technology and advanced equipment
The medical industry has been interested in inventing efficient, immediate, and painless treatment procedures. That is why patients prefer facilities that focus on non-conventional ways of treating their diseases. For this, nurses need to upgrade their skills and learn to operate the new technology. For instance, getting your blood pressure checked by a manual apparatus may take up to 5 to 6 minutes. When there are hundreds of patients, long waiting times can be problematic.
On the contrary, nurses can perform this procedure in less than 2 minutes with the digital meter. In fact, nurses that help their patients learn these simple tools further promote patient satisfaction. In addition, the pandemic has given rise to the concept of telemedicine, and nurses should adapt to this new method of providing healthcare for the patient’s well-being. This will further make the in-home treatment for the patients a little easier increasing their trust in the facility.
Conclusion
For any health care staff, from registered nurses to Nurse practitioners, patient satisfaction should be the topmost priority. A professional in the healthcare facility should polish their skills and create better strategies to make healthcare better for the patients. From a business perspective, a patient is a consumer of the healthcare industry. Ensuring they leave happy contributes to more profit. Nurses can adopt many ways to make a patient’s stay less painful, including providing timely medicine, food, and other essentials. Nurses can ensure that the patient has clean bedding and room environment is favorable. This may include maintaining peace and quietness when the patient is asleep or talking cheerfully to boost their morale.
