Every time a patient visits a healthcare facility, there is a treasure trove of information about their experience that could improve patient safety measures and lead to better outcomes.
Patients’ care experiences go far beyond clinical care. A patient recovering from surgery for a few days may interact with more than a dozen providers, specialists and staff. The patient may be moved from a surgical unit to a medical unit or an inpatient rehabilitation facility. They may be discharged to a skilled nursing facility for lower-intensity rehab.
Depending on their length of stay and surgical acuity, there may be hundreds of experiences that shape that patient’s perception of the quality of care. An adverse event like a hospital-acquired infection will certainly impact their experience. So will the smaller details – how attentive and professional the clinicians, nurses and staff are, how clean the bathrooms are, whether staff practice good sanitation and cleaning protocols, if the space is free of potential hazards like cords or liquid spills.
Patients will sometimes share extensive feedback about their experience that hospital risk and safety leaders can use to improve safety, mitigate risk and improve the quality of care. Unfortunately, much of the patient experience data goes unused today.
By more effectively analyzing and interpreting this feedback, hospitals and health systems can identify patterns – e.g. staff making preventable mistakes or unsafe conditions that could lead to patient harm – and take preventative measures before accidents happen. Digital survey tools with AI-powered sentiment analysis can help healthcare facilities surface those patterns in patient feedback and translate them into meaningful action.
The potential safety concerns hiding in patient experience data
Multiple studies have found that analyzing patient experience data can help identify strengths and weaknesses in both clinical effectiveness and patient safety.
Patient experience surveys can help healthcare leaders understand how well (or not) clinicians are delivering effective care and how strictly they are adhering to safety protocols.
These surveys can give a detailed perspective about the everyday quality of care based on numerous topics. How effective was communication between doctors and nurses? Was the environment clean and did staff practice good hygiene? Did the staff do a good job of communicating to patients about their medications and with helping patients manage pain? Was there effective care coordination between hospital departments and did patients receive clear care instructions when they were discharged? Healthcare leaders can also use patient surveys to evaluate key drivers of patient trust, such as access to care experiences, wait times for care, staff professionalism and patients’ likelihood of recommending a facility to friends or family.
By analyzing patient experience data, healthcare facilities can understand where the weaknesses are and take steps to advance the quality of care. Those measures could include more staff training on infection control and hygiene measures, better care coordination protocols, better discharge planning or adjustments to staffing to improve staff responsiveness.
But it’s difficult for healthcare leaders to not only analyze the data to identify those gaps, but to proactively take action to mitigate the risk of patient safety incidents. Healthcare leaders can use patient experience insights to understand why preventable patient harm is happening and implement effective protocols.
Using digital tools and data analytics to streamline patient surveys
Patient experience data remains largely unused, which impacts the quality of patient care and safety. This is because many facilities still use paper-based, manual surveys, which are time consuming to analyze, and either have low response rates or are lost or forgotten.
The key to streamlining the survey process, and making data more actionable, is using digitally-based tools to automate patient data collection and analysis.
For example, by offering mobile-friendly surveys that are simple to understand and take 5 minutes to complete, hospitals and other facilities will see higher response rates.
Let’s say a hospital wants to understand patients’ opinions of their experience with MRI or CT services. Within 24 hours of a patient receiving diagnostic imaging services, a digital tool automatically sends that patient an email with a link to complete a survey on their phone. It includes a set of straightforward questions. How easy was it to schedule their appointment? Were you comfortable? How professional and friendly were the staff? How well did the staff explain the process?
A digital survey platform with AI-powered sentiment analysis can give hospital leaders a clearer view of the full diagnostic imaging experience. By scanning open-text comments across hundreds of responses, the platform surfaces recurring themes including common patient concerns, staff training opportunities and service gaps that point to process improvements.
Finally hearing the patient’s voice – thanks to digital technology and analytics
The benefits of digitizing patient surveys go beyond addressing safety concerns. Today’s patients carefully research providers, read patient reviews and have higher expectations for transparency from healthcare organizations. If patients find it difficult to navigate a hospital and easily find the department or unit to receive care, they may become frustrated and leave negative reviews. Hospitals can use patient surveys to understand which departments patients may be struggling to access, and take measures to make their experience smoother. These measures could include renaming service lines, relocating units or changing signage.
By using digital tools to streamline the process of sending and collecting patient feedback, and utilizing AI-powered sentiment analysis, healthcare organizations can better understand potential safety risks. They can design a comprehensive experience that meets patients’ expectations for safe, convenient and high quality healthcare delivery.
About Sloane White
Sloane White is the Director of Communications & Business Development, Tennessee Orthopaedic Alliance, the largest and most comprehensive orthopedic surgery group in Tennessee.
