Patient Experience - The Art of Boxing Chocolate Faster
John A. Marzano
Marketing & Content Strategist | Healthcare Branding & Storytelling Enthusiast | Fixing 'Marketing Malpractice.'
I had an interesting experience recently for a follow up appointment with my provider that had me thinking I was on a conveyer belt boxing chocolate with Lucy.
I can't figure out if it's something new in healthcare, or a process to handle more demand capacity?
Normally, as a patient, you walk into a more private office of one medical specialty that feels more personal and specific to your need.
My recent experience when stepping off the 2nd floor elevator, was a lineup queue that felt more like a train station or airport terminal with signage directing me to the appropriate line. One for URO, one for PULM, one for NEURO, and one for TRANSPLANT.
Yikes! Don't get in the wrong line, for sure.
Lined against the wall on the opposite side of the queue were the office intake team. Each cube was still private and clearly marked as long as a patient could understand the abbreviations of the medical specialty.
It's efficient and personal enough if you can get beyond the waiting queue.
The waiting area is also large enough that if you close your eyes and listen, you might place yourself in Terminal C.
After a short wait, I get called back with another patient by a NP who takes us through another maze of exam rooms along hallways as long as football fields. There must be 30-40 rooms on this floor.
The NP is noticeably frustrated. She has 300 patients to be seen on the day.
The technology to manage EPIC MyCharts is invaluable in this type of environment, and I wonder if that isn't part of the reason why assembly-line medicine is becoming more of the norm than the exception in care delivery.
It may be faster in boxing more chocolate on a daily basis, yet it doesn't seem fitting for an industry that wants so desperately to deliver a better patient experience.
On this day, the actual delivery of care by the PA-C is spot on. It's personal to my need, private, and yet it still feels like I'm just another person with a medical issue.
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There's not enough time, not enough staff bandwidth to deliver it any better.
So, I'll go back to my original question...is the airport queue because of demand capacity, workforce shortages, limited physical space, over testing, or all of the above?
My assumption is all of the above and much more.
Yet it doesn't feel any better, or make the patient experience any better.
Most times you will see the NP or PA-C. The doctor doesn't have an opening until October.
The checkout line was the same with electronic boards signaling you to the correct cube. In a combined practice delivery like this one, it took some time to exit.
Is this what the delivery model has evolved to today?
This is sick care, not 'health' care.
Healthcare Growth Strategist
4moVery sadly, this is too true! The patient experience as well as their confidentiality is totally lost in the realm of efficiency and cost effectiveness. We must rethink how we are delivering healthcare. This is not acceptable and could / should be so much better.
Content Writer, Nurse Advocate, Blogger, Digital Journalist
5moAs I say, the Health Care System is built for the Health Care System, not the people who use it. If you have time, see if your Health Care System has a Patient and Family Council. If so, volunteer to be on it as it gives you a voice regarding the challenges systems face and advocate for the patient/family. I belong to the Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer and value the opportunity to give 'the leadership' input. Amazingly, they listen, and changes have been made that have improved workflow for the professionals working in clinics as well as the patients/families using the system. Someone from some corporation designed that system that was used as an example. They obviously did not ask the people who use the system for their input in the design......... As for the NP being frustrated - seeing 300 patients a day is a route to burnout........they need to hire more staff, but probably don't want to spend the $$$. Don't worry, she will be gone soon and then more problems occur. Sad days for sure. Glad the PA was good!
Executive in Residence, Associate Instructor, and Graduate Faculty Scholar at UCF
5moI have to believe it is all about throughput. My daughter-in-law is a midwife and her clinic days seem to be like this. She has too many patients on the schedule to be able to spend the time she wants with any one of them. Staff costs for clinic days are fixed so pushing more patients through the same window results in more profit. Providers blame it on the payors and patients blame in on the providers. Comprehensive exams are becoming an endangered species.
President at Five Star Clinical Solutions, LLC
5moWhat it is, is a badly broken system which is imploding rapidly! It’s a MESS! For anyone to be treated in this manner especially when receiving something a personal as healthcare, is an inexcusable outrage!