Patient care is a vital aspect of the medical profession. Doctors and nurses work tirelessly to ensure that patients receive the best possible treatment and attention. However, other factors affect patient care. One such factor is how well nurses communicate with one another and their patients.
Studies show that communication errors contribute to up to 80% of adverse events in hospitals. The list is endless on the approaches towards improving patient care. Here are seven strategies to consider.
- Develop Simple and Timely Appointment Scheduling
Doctors should develop simple appointment scheduling processes to allow patients to book an appointment. A study showed that nurses spend nearly 50% of their time outside the patient rooms or consulting with other healthcare team members because of a lack of sufficient information about their patient’s conditions.
In addition, nurses spend 10% of their time looking for lab or diagnostic images because they do not have access to them. A simple scheduling process will go a long way in reducing quest times and help doctors work with other healthcare team members to provide quality patient care.
- Improve Human Services
Nurses spend 20% of their time on clerical and administrative work. A study showed that doctors could reduce this by 30% through better utilization of human resources and implementing technology such as electronic health records (EHR).
The study also pointed out that EHR has not been implemented well enough for doctors to make good use of it.
Doctors should embrace technology to reduce these issues. These days, there are companies that make a difference, such as Radical Health. What modernization of healthcare does is bring efficiency in the healthcare services. Medics, therefore, find their services not only being time-efficient but accurate.
- Prioritizing Patient’s Experience
Patients are not all the same when it comes to their experiences. The nurse should prioritize patients’ experiences when taking care of them. This is because prioritizing patients’ experiences can reduce errors in communication between nurses and doctors, which will affect the patients. One way is by having a culture of open communication which will improve their engagement with patients.
- Optimizing Standardization of Care
Doctors should standardize processes to minimize errors when providing care. One example is medication administration, which should ideally have a specific process that is followed for this. Standardization will yield results where nurses are less likely to make mistakes, leading to better patient care.
- Encourage Family and Caregiver Engagement
Family members and caregivers should be encouraged to participate in the patient’s treatment. This strategy enhances patient care because family members can advise doctors on how to cater to their patients.
It also allows doctors to access more information about the patients, which they can then use as a basis for providing better care. In addition, family members can encourage nurses to follow procedures and provide them with emotional support during difficult times.
- Care for Hospital Environment
The environment in the hospital has a significant impact on patient care. Doctors should strive to create an environment conducive to nurses following procedures and providing good care for patients. For example, doctors can minimize noise levels or use carpeting or soundproof curtains while ensuring there is sufficient natural light.
- Encourage Nursing Innovation
Doctors should encourage nursing innovation to boost patient care. Nurses play a pivotal role in caring for patients because they are closest to them.
Nurses also find burnout because of their heavy workloads, which make it difficult for them to perform optimally at work. However, with encouragement, nurses will be able to develop more ideas on how they can improve patient care, thus bringing about better service delivery.
Healthcare is a complicated field with many different moving parts. Whether you’re an experienced nurse or have been working in healthcare for years, there will always be new things to learn and improve your patient care skills.
There are various approaches towards enhancing patient care; one of them is embracing technology more.
The Editorial Team at Healthcare Business Today is made up of skilled healthcare writers and experts, led by our managing editor, Daniel Casciato, who has over 25 years of experience in healthcare writing. Since 1998, we have produced compelling and informative content for numerous publications, establishing ourselves as a trusted resource for health and wellness information. We offer readers access to fresh health, medicine, science, and technology developments and the latest in patient news, emphasizing how these developments affect our lives.
