Some of the most important challenges for every society are those relating to healthcare and health outcomes. Even in non-pandemic periods, it matters how people receive and react to healthcare since it affects everything from societal well-being to economic performance. A key component of this is patient engagement in healthcare, which can assist physicians, hospitals, and other providers in achieving better results for both their organizations and their patients.
What is Patient Engagement in Healthcare?
The way that patients participate with their health in the healthcare system is referred to as patient engagement. This includes how and to what degree people learn about their medical illnesses and symptoms, whether they look for professional assistance when necessary, and how compliant they are with treatments and preventive measures. In the end, patient involvement is a gauge of health interest, well-being activity, and collaboration with healthcare professionals, families, and public policy to accomplish desired outcomes.
Here are some typical illustrations of patient involvement in healthcare:
- A patient detects new symptoms, looks them up online, and chooses to get in touch with their doctor to get an opinion on the matter. Following a consultation via telemedicine, the doctor provides medication and directs the patient to resources that explain how to take it safely.
- A patient schedules a yearly checkup after hearing from their doctor about the value of preventative care, which leads to the discovery of an easily treated disease.
- A patient wishing to improve their health logs onto a video portal made by their doctor to learn the safest way to start a new fitness regimen.
- Patient engagement activities that offer individualized appointment reminders can help a medical practice that has suffered financial losses and scheduling issues as a result of last-minute cancellations and no-shows.
- After having the chance to learn about treatments and develop trust with physicians beforehand through remote technologies, a patient who has had medical trauma in the past and has avoided appointments becomes more proactive about their health.
Why Is Patient Engagement Important in Healthcare?
Patient participation in healthcare is crucial because it improves outcomes for everyone. This includes fewer ER and urgent care visits, fewer elective procedures, and cheaper healthcare costs, according to a study. When these elements work together, patients’ lives are improved while our healthcare system is less taxed, which frees up resources for urgent care requirements (and, right now, for pandemic response).
Both patients and providers benefit financially from patient engagement in healthcare. Through better resource management, treatment adherence, and preventive care, it also helps save lives. Positive psychological effects on loyalty and trust are advantageous to both patients and providers.
Some people might believe that since doctors are the authorities, patients should just heed their recommendations. However, studies demonstrate that when patients participate in decision-making, they develop a higher grasp of and dedication to the healing and health maintenance processes. Improved health outcomes and cost reductions result from greater patient engagement.
Who Makes Use of Patient Engagement
All patients and their families who are currently receiving medical care or may in the future do so are the final users of patient engagement technologies. Patients who are older and may require additional support to remember appointments and proper medication administration are some of the groups that can most profit from patient engagement tools. These groups also include new adults who are learning for the first time how to manage their healthcare independently and people who are pregnant or experiencing other major medical changes.
Although patient participation is heavily influenced by consumer demand doctors, medical practices, hospitals, and other healthcare organizations and providers are the ones that make it available.
Why Is Video Important for Patient Engagement in Healthcare?
Video is crucial even though it is not technically necessary for a patient engagement solution with a focus on healthcare. With the use of facial expressions, verbal intonation, and body language, video enables patients and doctors to connect and communicate more effectively. Since people of all ages increasingly report preferring to learn through video, video is also an excellent tool for assisting people in understanding their conditions and treatments. Last but not least, analytics for video-based patient engagement solutions can or at the very least should be included to assist you monitor how patients are utilizing the products
What to Consider When Choosing a Patient Engagement Solution
There are a number of important considerations you should make while searching for a video-focused patient engagement solution for your clinic, hospital, or other medical facility in order to effectively reach the majority of your patients.
Accessible on all platforms and devices
Face it, every one of us uses the internet and information in a unique way. This is valid for both your patients and your employees, so be sure to pick a video platform for patient engagement that is compatible with all operating systems and device types. Video should be of a good quality and appear as though it was created to be transmitted to the device in question without any hiccups or lag, on all platforms, from computers to mobile.
Easy to use without downloads or installation
The key to patient participation in healthcare is helping people overcome their obstacles. Any patient engagement programme you implement must be simple to use. There is no software to download or set up as a result. Your patients should be able to access the information they need with just one click.
White label marketing
You don’t want to divert them with other brands and items in order to keep them focused on their health and care. Patients merely desire a high-trust interaction that makes them feel as though they are speaking with their doctor’s office or another healthcare professional directly. White-label branding is crucial for this since it enables you to modify your platform to match the appearance and lingo of your company.
Availability of captioning
Engagement of patients in healthcare is largely dependent on accessibility. Captioning ought to be a component of the solution you pick because of this. All patients, who could be discovering some medical terms for the first time, stand to gain from this, but medical professionals who interact with older populations in particular will find it very helpful.
Availability of translation
If you want a patient engagement solution that can reach all of your customers and their families, translation choices are crucial, just like captioning is. Information is made more accessible with the use of translation. Furthermore, it fosters trust and demonstrates your knowledge of the importance of cultural context in healthcare.
Interactive elements for a forward-looking experience
Despite the fact that studies have proven that people of all ages enjoy learning through video, it’s still crucial to make the video interesting. Holding your patients’ interest should be possible with a video-focused patient engagement in healthcare solution.
Choices for live and recorded video
Your patients may occasionally benefit most from independent learning and research. However, you might want to speak with them directly and in person, whether for a group telemedicine call discussing a particular health concern or issue. Your patient engagement solution will more frequently meet the demands of your patients if it has the option to deliver live and recorded video.
Sharing stuff in different formats while watching video
Video is excellent. Patients occasionally want information in other formats, though. To ensure that patients can read and examine items following your video communication, use a video platform for patient engagement that also enables you to share documents and presentations.
Email videos
Getting patients to open their emails can occasionally be the easiest way to involve them in their treatment. But let’s face it, we are all overloaded with email, and messages are sometimes put on the back burner for later. Using video emails will ensure that your communications have a greater effect. A patient can receive a message via video email just like they would normally, but instead of text to read, clicking the message causes a brief video to start playing.
This approach, which is more individualized and more memorable, also enables receivers to respond via video utilizing the camera that is already available in the majority of modern computers and mobile devices, strengthening the relationship and trust between patients and the medical care teams.
Analytics
Analytics are crucial for having a patient engagement software that is actually functional and for being able to evaluate its advantages. You should be aware of the health education films your patients are seeing and how frequently.
Additionally, you should find out if patients watch a certain segment of a movie frequently (does it contain very helpful and motivating information? perhaps it gets bored or becomes too long? Or need numerous viewings to grasp because it is unclear). For your patient involvement in healthcare solution to be as effective as possible, analytics are essential.
Security
It is crucial to keep patient medical information confidential, and your patients presumably already have faith in you to do so. Although they won’t care if the topics they are studying are connected to a disease or not, they’ll want to know that your patient engagement solution respects their privacy and won’t disclose them.
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