Nearly 8% of Americans have an overnight stay in a hospital every year. Even more people visit an ER or have day-time appointments.
Although you may not think of a hospital as a customer service environment, you need to consider how to make patients happier about visiting your hospital if you want to rank highly in your area.
Looking at hospital patient satisfaction scores is vital to improve your hospital’s ranking. But looking isn’t enough; you need to focus on improvements!
Here are five simple ways to improve patient satisfaction scores in 2022 and beyond.
1. Prioritize Staffing Levels
Inadequate or ineffective staffing is one of the leading causes of things going wrong in hospitals. This has a detrimental effect on both patient safety and satisfaction.
Take a look at your rotas.
- Do you have enough staff to manage day-to-day duties?
- Do you have backup staff to help handle crises?
- Are your staff adequately trained for the roles they’re performing?
If the answer to any of these questions is no, it’s time to make a change.
2. Expand Your Food Menu
The next step to improve healthcare ratings is to improve the hospital culinary experience – people constantly complain about hospital food.
If possible, ensure you have a well-known and established food retailer on site. Then, look at the food options the hospital provides for in-patients.
Variety is key; offer patients more than one option and make sure you cater to different dietary choices, religious needs, and allergies.
3. Provide Privacy
Another way to improve your ratings is to make sure your patients feel safe and secure at all times.
Patient security encompasses physical safety, but also privacy. If they don’t have a private room, make sure you implement other measures to respect their privacy.
Anything from upgrading a hospital shower curtain to having cubicle separators between beds can help.
4. Be Transparent About Costs
Medical debt is a significant problem in the United States. You can put your patient’s minds at rest by being transparent about their bill.
Be proactive with talking to insurance companies and talk people through their options at every opportunity.
5. Respond to Feedback
Finally, don’t forget the most valuable tool you have to improve your hospital ratings; feedback from your patients.
Look at your satisfaction scores – are you underperforming in one specific area? If so, change it. The best way to improve ratings is to request feedback, listen to it, and then implement change to improve the issue.
Improve Your Hospital Patient Satisfaction Scores Today
Improving hospital patient satisfaction scores doesn’t have to be a headache in 2022. Simply take a fresh look at hospital practices, listen to what your patients need, and make some adjustments.
Listening to feedback is your most valuable tool to improve hospital rating scores.
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