A few decades ago, a patient often had a personal connection with the doctor and it was more like a family bond. But because of rising population, increase in the number of doctors and patients both, etc. the doctor-patient relationship has evolved. Considering the complexities involved, it is no longer possible to remember a patient, leave alone his or her condition. But, that personal attention from the caregiver is something that we all miss. This gap has been bridged by a number of patient engagement solutions that are available to enhance the relationship and also serve as a business companion.
If you have chosen a patient engagement software, then this article will help you evaluate it. And, if you have not chosen a solution yet, then this article will help you choose the right one.
3 Reasonable Expectations
A patient engagement solution should make your life easy and do what it is meant to do. So, let's unfold what exactly should you expect.
- Smooth Interaction with the Patient: As a doctor or a hospital, apart from the usual visit, you are required to interact with a patient in many situations. For example, scheduling or cancelling an appointment, registering a new patient, sending appointment reminders, etc. A good solution should be able to take care of these interactions without much intervention.
- Enhanced Process Facilitation: A good system should be able to facilitate the process by generating bills, providing numerous payment options, enabling patients to view their lab test results and share those, etc. These improvements save time and create a good experience for the patients. This also reduces the burden of the staff which usually remained time pressed to handle such things manually.
- Great Learning Resources: Apart from the usual requirements, a patient engagement solution should provide learning resources like articles on health or lifestyle topics, tips to be healthy, etc. which will keep patients informed about current trends in the industry. Patients can be informed about various advances in the medicine field, case studies, etc.
Some Possible Solutions
There are some good patient engagement solutions available in the market. But, the right one for you depends in your individual/enterprise requirement and the scale of operation. Some good options are Solutionreach, Enterprise Patient Portal, Talksoft, etc. Whichever solution you choose to use for your patients, keep in mind that it is important for the solution to be user friendly because not all of your patients would be tech-savvy and equipped to male use of a complex system.
Patient engagement software can really streamline the complex system followed at many clinics and hospitals. It is ideal for big hospitals that cater to hundreds of patients each day. But, this does not mean that small clinics cannot benefit from the offerings. A doctor usually offers consultation services at many hospitals or even in private clinics. If he or she wills to maintain a database of his or her patients, then a patient engagement solution is the way to do it.
