Could doctor and patient interactions be affecting clinic and hospital bottom lines?
Recently, a survey conducted by The Orsini Way looked at the relationship between patients and their doctors. The study found that over 70% of people surveyed felt a lack of compassion while they were speaking to medical professionals, and 73% felt as if they had been rushed through their consultation.
Over the last couple of decades, how we interact with doctors and medical professionals has changed greatly. Technology has come a long way in assisting doctors in diagnosing and treating their patients, but have we lost touch with basic human emotions such as empathy and compassion along the way?
Hospitals, despite providing care to patients, are still businesses. They operate in the same way as any other business. They have costs they need to cover and can’t afford to run at a loss, or they’ll go out of business.
Interestingly, the survey also found that patients with a good connection to the hospital, nurses, staff, and doctors, are more than twice as likely to stay loyal to that hospital rather than the reputation of the hospital. This study added to a previous Deloitte study which found that the hospitals which had higher levels of patient satisfaction performed better financially.
“It only takes one interaction to change someone’s life, and it can be anything from a routine visit with a doctor to the delivery of tragic news to a family. Every interaction counts,” says Anthony Orsini, DO, practicing neonatologist and the founder of The Orsini Way.
The Orsini Way was developed to help teach healthcare professionals a better way to communicate with patients, which would improve patient satisfaction and outcome.
What else did the patient survey uncover? Let’s take a look:
63% of people surveyed had left the doctor’s office feeling as if their inquiries hadn’t been properly addressed by the doctor,
47% of people surveyed said that the interaction with their healthcare professional had been so poor that they hadn’t returned to the hospital or emergency department,
39% of people surveyed felt that doctors were generally not effective at communication.
Results of the survey showed that only 65% of patients were satisfied with the interaction that they had with their healthcare professional the last time they visited a hospital. While patients are generally receptive to quality care, negative interactions with their doctor or healthcare provider could permanently damage that perception.
“The overwhelming majority of physicians are compassionate by nature. It is conveying that compassion, however, that we often struggle with,” says Orsini. “As doctors, we are taught from the beginning to set our emotions aside, but the results of this survey make it very clear that patients have a true desire to connect with their physicians and feel their compassion.
“Patients need to feel seen and heard, and they need to know they’re more than just a number. Making simple changes to the way physicians and nurses communicate with their patients can dramatically impact a hospital’s culture and change patient engagement for the better,” he added.
At Laxxon Medical, we believe the application of customizable medication, personalized to suit the patient, utilizing advanced 3D printing technology, doctors in the future will be able to deliver a more personalized approach to patient healthcare. This will allow doctors to prescribe medication that is customized to suit the patient’s needs.
At its core, doctors that have a better relationship with their patients will be able to understand better what their patients need and deliver medication to suit those needs— elevating the doctor-patient relationship, increasing patient satisfaction, and ensuring that patients return. At the core of this is communication. Better communication leads to a better understanding of the patient’s needs and enables healthcare professionals to diagnose and treat their patients better.
Laxxon Medical is dedicated to engineering patented 3D pharmaceutical solutions which optimize products and benefit patients. Our goal is to establish SPID®-Technology as a manufacturing process that has the individual and the pharmaceutical partner in mind.