Patient experience will continue to play a vital role in the future of healthcare. This means organisations must find innovative ways to offer value-based care to their patients.

Thankfully, different patient experience tools can offer the support you need. This article will discuss the top four patient experience tools, outlining their benefits and examples of how they’ve enriched patients’ experiences so far.

1. Real-Time Patient Surveys
2. Remote Appointment Scheduling
3. Access to Online Education
4. Full Visibility for Patients
5. Patient Entertainment Systems

1. Real-Time Patient Surveys

Patient surveys can be used to collect critical patient feedback. With this feedback at your disposal, your organisation can understand the needs of your patients and implement initiatives to meet these needs. 

One of the critical benefits of patient surveys is that they allow your patients to offer their opinions in real-time. They can inform you about specific examples and suggestions, ensuring you can make adjustments to better care for the individual. 

The goal of these surveys is to allow healthcare providers to better understand what happens to patients during their care journey as it’s happening, rather than receive a retrospective summary from a random sampling weeks after the fact.

An example of a healthcare provider that has successfully utilised patient surveys to identify what’s working well and make reactive changes to improve their patient experience is the Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust. Find out more here.

Today’s surveys are much more than pen and paper and can be integrated with engagement systems within a hospital. This means they reach a wider audience and ensure staffs time is not consumed distributing paper, collecting responses or reissuing surveys that have drinks or food spilled over them, which in turn helps their overall efficiency.

2. Remote Appointment Scheduling

Around one in five patients (18.7%) in the UK said they’d used online services to book appointments in the last 12 months. Of course, this trend has surged due to factors such as the COVID-19 pandemic.

However, remote appointment scheduling also offers much more flexibility to patients. Now more than ever, people want convenience. If they’re given the option to book their next appointment from the comfort of their own home, it’s most likely that they will.

Remote appointment schedules also extend expert healthcare to remote locations, overcoming the geographical issues many rural patients face. North and Mid Hampshire Integrated Care Partnership is an example of a Trust that has successfully implemented remote appointment scheduling to meet the needs of its patients.

Read their case study to find out more.

3. Access to Online Education

Person-centred care is an approach that aims to support people to develop the knowledge, skills and confidence they need to more effectively manage and make informed decisions about their own health and care.

This approach to care is an effective way to improve patient experience because it makes people feel empowered and more involved with their own health journey. Some other benefits include:

• Save patients’ time and money: Allowing people to manage their own condition can reduce the number of appointments they need to physically attend
• Increased control: Helping people understand their condition can empower them to ask questions and tell healthcare professionals what they want

• Improved outcomes: Recognising when symptoms are getting worse, knowing what to do and when to get help can reduce a patients risk of serious complications

As more patients look to manage their own health, it’s crucial for healthcare organisations to offer them the right level of education. This can be done by increasing your presence on social media platforms, sending out regular newsletters to your patients and making educational videos and resources accessible on engagement platforms.

4. Full Visibility for Patients

Systems like SPARK® Media can integrate with clinical solutions, allowing clinicians to show their patients key health information.

Providing patients with this information allows them to better understand their health journey and the autonomy to make important decisions about their health. Supporting patients to be actively involved in their healthcare journey has proven to boost patient safety and satisfaction while making better use of hospital resources. 

Staff can also use this system to access patient records and clinical systems, making the whole process smoother and more efficient.

5. Patient Entertainment Systems

Entertainment systems are vital to ensure patients have a positive experience during their time in care. Hospitals can be lonely and tedious places. Having 24/7 access to entertainment can alleviate these struggles. 

The right patient entertainment system can provide access to a range of entertainment and engagement opportunities, including:

• Newspapers & magazines
• Radio and hospital radio
• TV, movies & streaming
• Games
• Video calling
• Familiar apps like Amazon
• And so much more

Some entertainment systems also have functionality included that patients can use when they want to make a request to staff. Using the screen on their bed, they can send a request directly to the required staff member, reducing inefficiency and giving healthcare professionals more time to complete their other work commitments.

Find out more about patient entertainment systems and the importance they have to play in healthcare here. 

Embracing innovative tools is just one way your organisation can begin improving the patient experience. However, there are other factors you need to consider to take positive steps forward.

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From insight into the current landscape of patient experience to factors your organisation should look to improve by 2025, our guide covers all the topics related to patient experience and the future of healthcare.

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