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Importance of Measuring Patient Satisfaction

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Archit Jain
Importance of Measuring Patient Satisfaction

In simple words, patient satisfaction is an indicator of how well the patient is being treated. The “how well” doesn’t refer to the quality of care but to which extent a patient is satisfied with the care they receive. Patient satisfaction is one of the growth factors in the efficiency of hospital care. Nowadays, most of the hospitals are giving attention to the patient experience.

Enhanced patient satisfaction will not only lead to enhanced patient experience, but it is also associated with better treatment outcomes.

As per the research, “85% of patients expect their healthcare professionals to be the point of contact for providing services to supervise their condition.

6 Reasons Why to Measure Patient Satisfaction

Patient Satisfaction is a vital measure of service high quality in healthcare systems. Determining patient satisfaction begins with paying attention to your patients and asking them their concerns. Considering that numerous health care companies do not conduct patient satisfaction survey, however doing so with your patients will go a long way in developing trust in your services. Make sure to review and take action on the data gathered from the patient feedback tool that indicates overarching trends are in your control.

The need to boost patient satisfaction is an essential step; it can be a difficult job to understand what changes will result in the most effective outcomes. Health care providers make an assessment when a patient schedules an appointment with a physician. Be it small or big; modifications can enhance a patient's overall experience. There are numerous reasons why measuring patient satisfaction is just one of the leading concerns for each physician.

Some of the essential steps of why to measure customer satisfaction are:

  1. Quick Publicity: As per a report, satisfied or happy patients share their experience with 10 other people, while unsatisfied patients will complain to 9 or more people. Negative online reviews can spoil a brand’s image, whereas positive reviews can help hospitals generate social proof of their efficient services.
  • A vast amount of patients share their good and bad experiences online, which helps future patients to get a glance at what kind of services they offer. If your hospital is delivering excellent quality care, more people will opt for services from your hospital. Also, if you ignore the negative remarks, it will catch the eyes of even more potential patients and spread a bad name.

A customer is likely to spend 31% more on a business with “excellent” reviews.”

  1. Improved Patient Retention: Always remember one thing that happy patients will always come back and refer your services to others. We all know that the cost of patient acquisition is high; therefore, retaining the old ones will result in reduced turnover, increase loyalty, and extended lifetime value.
  • Failing to deliver services as per a patient’s expectations means losing them forever. Patient satisfaction is not just a bonus point, but it is a considerable investment that will play a significant role in the long-term.

“A 2% increase in patient retention has the same effect as decreasing costs by 10%.”

  1. Attract More Patients: It’s a universal truth that when it comes to health, we trust friends and family first as compared to any other social media marketing channel and third-party review websites.
  • Enhancing patient services will help medical practitioners to build up a positive image. It will help building trust amongst the existing patients and attract new ones. As a marketing strategy, word-of-mouth proves to be more reliable and less expensive than other marketing methods.

“If you satisfy 1 patient, then it reaches 4 more patients. If you alienate 1 patient, then it reaches 10 potential patients.”

  1. Better Clinical Outcomes:There is another benefit of high patient satisfaction and excellent doctor-patient communication. In simple terms, the effectiveness of the treatment depends upon numerous factors; one among them is how much patients trust their doctor.
  • The probability is high that patients are more likely to trust their physician’s judgment, especially when they feel more contented with the care they receive. Meeting your patient’s expectations not just raise their satisfaction level to a great extent but also makes your job easier.

“According to a study done in Academic Medicine, patients that trust their doctors have far better clinical outcomes.”

  1. Patient Loyalty and Growth: By consistently providing patient satisfaction experience, medical practices or outpatient care can win patient loyalty and, therefore, can result in high demand as a provider.
  • With positive patient feedback, you can get new patients and is a key to the growth of your practice. A patient receiving healthcare services which no other hospital can provide is less likely to switch their preferred medical facility.

“Greater patient loyalty means more referrals and word-of-mouth business.”

  1. Lower Costs of Medical Treatment: Giving outstanding patient experience, right treatment, and also ambulatory treatment facilities will result in cost reduction. Satisfied patients with a positive experience are less likely to file a malpractice lawsuit that requires time and energy.
  • As per the US industry estimates, dissatisfaction alone can result in a loss of over $200,000 over the lifetime of the practice.

“Approximately 15% of hospital expenditure in high-income countries happens due to the patients being infected while in hospitals or mistakes in the treatment.”

Measuring patient satisfaction can help you improve the overall patient experience. It can help healthcare centers by strengthening patient loyalty, building credibility, and boosting the usage of hospital services with the help of increased referrals. If you want to collect patient feedback from numerous locations distributed across all healthcare centres, then Zonka’s Patient Survey Software is the right choice. It will help physicians to identify gaps in healthcare, enhance the quality of care, and improve patient engagement and overall satisfaction.

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