Hospital auxiliary services can help greatly in enhancing patient satisfaction. These services work at the backend but their contribution in the overall care delivery to the patient is no less than that of clinical services. AMPH Co 2022 students Dr. Fateen Fatima Mazher and Dr. Niranjana Raj invited experts and industry leaders to share their opinions and insights on “Healthcare delivery assisted via auxiliary system” in the AMPH Discussion Circle hosted by the Max Institute of Healthcare Management.
Key insights from the discussion
- Healthcare these days is not just the patient-doctor interaction and treatment of certain ailments but is a journey from when the patient makes the first call to the hospital to the post-discharge follow-ups. In this journey, the patient comes across multiple auxiliary support services and experiences the way they interact and enhance the patient journey. A good experience leads to patient loyalty with the doctor/hospital.
- Auxiliary systems have a role to play in the healthcare delivery value chain even though they are not at the frontend. Both clinical and auxiliary services influence “total patient experience” where auxiliary system acts like a supporting system and enables delivering better clinical services.
- With the right tools, training and guidance, support staff can conduct some procedures which don’t require the expert skills of the doctor or even do parts of the procedures under the guidance of a doctor. This can reduce the burden on doctors. However, handing over clinical services to support staff is a sensitive issue, and the government should roll out specifications to prevent legal complications. This can be done based on experience, skill set, and education.
- Continuous streamlining and standardisation of support staff can keep the staff in check and ensure quality service as well as increased efficiency, patient satisfaction, and revenue. To provide these services with ease and efficiency, training the staff can be outsourced where they are oriented in aspects of patient safety, patient experience and workplace safety.
- In spite of the fact that these services do free up a lot of the doctor’s time to focus on more important aspects of a treatment, an increase in quackery is a problem we should look into while training staff for advanced clinical work.
- With advancing technology and healthcare getting more affordable and accessible, soon the day will come when medical expertise will become uniform across the board. However, the experience we give the patients will be making the real difference, and it’s possible only with a robust support staff who believes in this to the core.
Moderated by the students of AMPH Co 2022, the Max Institute of Healthcare Management hosts the AMPH Discussion Circle on the third Sunday of every month on its LinkedIn page. Click here to go to this discussion thread.