Hospital staff are under immense pressure to perform quickly and efficiently whilst delivering excellent care. In April 2022, UK Government research showed that the number of people on a waiting list for hospital treatment rose to nearly 6.5 million. This has placed a tremendous burden on hospital staff. Only an effective management system can balance healthcare professionals’ duty of care with the number of patients needing help.
Having recently spent a lot of time in and out of hospitals for personal reasons, one thing that stood out to me was how effectively doctors and nurses manage their time whilst sensitively engaging with their patients. I noticed three primary methods you could apply successfully to any organisation, even in a non-healthcare environment.
Prioritise information handling and quality
The way hospitals deal with information is crucial. They must manage customer demand and meet incredibly high standards. An effective system to manage vast amounts of data is vital in enabling nurses and doctors to give their patients the best care.
Homing in on the most acute problems and triple checking the fundamental details may be a simple solution, but it’s easier said than done. Without this level of accuracy, you can’t advance your services and be reliable to your customers.
Hospital staff isolate the necessary details of each case study and ensure they’re logged correctly. This ensures that they can:
- Identify patients quickly.
- Read the correct notes.
- Process each patient as efficiently as possible.
All businesses need to plan with the same methodical attitude. It’s essential that your team can find the correct information quickly so that they can act in the most informed and proactive way.
Efficiency is vital for daily practice, and technology can assist your team in maximising their time – instead of wasting it searching for incorrect information or relying on faulty data. Data quality is an issue that negatively affects many organisations. According to Richard Joyce, a Senior Analyst at Forrester, “just a 10% increase in data accessibility will result in an additional $65 million net income for a Fortune 500 company.”
Businesses need to set aside time to create a system that manages their data and allows their team to run smoothly. This simple organisation system will improve your business outputs and your whole team experience, allowing you to focus more of your efforts on your end-customers.
Relay information clearly and effectively to your clients
In my experience, the best meetings start when you give your clients all the critical information upfront – so they always know where they stand. This sets you up to deliver a good service and improves your customer experience.
Hospital staff are brilliant at this – every piece of communication starts by confirming the patient’s name, date of birth, and address. This strategy ensures they have the correct patient and gives the patient confidence in the nurse or doctor, building a crucial rapport. They will also talk openly with their patients about processes that will be followed and brief you on the possible complications and outcomes. This transparency helps foster trust between the individual and the professional who is providing you with the service.
Clearly stating your client’s problem and how you’re solving it gives your client the faith that you know them and their circumstances specifically. This personalises the experience and indicates you’re thinking of their case independently of the meeting, which is excellent for strengthening your professional relationship.
This simple technique gives direction to your communication. It leaves no room for ambiguity. Being direct manages your time and your client’s in the most beneficial way – something your client will also appreciate.
Practice human-centred delivery
The nature of hospital care demands that staff deliver processes that put humans and human needs at their centre, rather than just having the person as a cog in the process. As a result, hospitals create systems designed to function around people and either benefit people in the immediate or distant future. They also need to work through a range of scenarios and consider the possible outcomes for the individual, making sure there is always a course of action open to them. Of course, this rigorous approach is valuable in non-hospital environments as well.
Designing your management processes with their users in mind is essential to creating a functional and robust system. This applies to how you engage with your peers, including your team management policies and the design of your technology assets. Persisting with a piece of tech that supposedly boosts efficiency but, in actuality, doubles your team’s workload is a non-starter for any business.
We apply this principle in our engagements with our clients. A human-centric approach is key to delivering business goals. By working directly with our partners, we can design solutions that work specifically for them – with their team make-up at the core of all decisions.
Final takeaways
Whilst hospitals serve a different primary purpose than most businesses, how they’re run should inspire other organisations to re-examine their own priorities.
Innovation can come from anywhere; so can inspiration. That’s why we’re always looking for ways to improve our processes to provide the best solutions to every client.
Moving towards a simplified, human-centred, and direct approach to project delivery helps you provide not only the best service, but the best customer experience too.
To see how we can help you optimise your business practices, get in touch today.