Presently, the healthcare industry is embracing immediate changes that pose new challenges to medical institutions, regardless of how small or big they are. The ever-changing technological innovations, patient expectations, and government regulations create a unique environment in which practicing health care isn’t just limited to treating patients anymore. Besides, the escalating costs of healthcare, an increasing number of patients, and medical errors have drawn attention to the need for quality control in the healthcare industry.
Several efforts are underway to ensure patient safety, improve treatment outcomes, increase healthcare efficiency, and care coordination to improve the healthcare spectrum. Undoubtedly, the primary care providers are best-positioned to influence the quality of healthcare. With a professional attitude, primary care providers can act as central role players for patient-centered care.
For a more detailed approach, here are some ways the healthcare industry can improve its course of action.
- Efficient Leadership and Management
It is undeniable that healthcare is one of the vast yet stable industries. However, there are still many professionals in every hospital, diagnostic laboratory, wellness center, and other healthcare organization who lack training for performing duties related to healthcare. With the rise in the number of patients and the overall population, one may forecast that the healthcare industry will need more competent managers, administrators, and leaders to oversee all healthcare operations. Also, the hospitals might need to develop more concrete healthcare policies and practices that offer flexibility, innovation, profitability, quality care, risk management, and workforce efficiency.
Hence, the healthcare sector will need more people with a strong business background combined with skills and knowledge relating to the healthcare industry to deal with the challenges faced by the healthcare industry. However, those already working in healthcare, looking for a way to pursue an advanced position or a transition to the business side of the industry can pursue a healthcare MBA degree. The degree will help professionals to apply business concepts such as government regulations, organizational structure, workforce efficiency, financing, risk management, etc., into the healthcare industry.
- Proficient Staff Training
The key to running a successful healthcare facility is to train the medical staff to perform their best in times of need. Staff training and support are essential to ensure that the personnel delivers premium services while ensuring patient-centered care. It is one of the most primitive steps in providing effective patient care as the workforce, such as the nursing staff, is in direct contact with their patients and needs to be as proficient as possible. Having said that, healthcare staff must remain aware of the latest healthcare practices and ways to manage patient care under challenging situations. Staff training leads to a reduced mortality rate, prompt and improved patient care, reduced medical errors, patient satisfaction, and phenomenal teamwork.
- The Incorporation of Telehealth
Most medical practices are preferring telehealth to enhance patient’s access to healthcare services. It is one of the most innovative developments in healthcare that includes telecommunication and the use of information technology to make healthcare more accessible through remote services. It enables long-distance clinicians to contact, advise, educate, monitor, and manage in-person appointments for patients.
Most rural areas in the United States have limited access to health care facilities. Hence, they travel to other places to benefit from quality care services. Thankfully, telehealth has been successful in dealing with all these issues.
For healthcare providers to be just as efficient as machines, organizing and analyzing the health records through telehealth is another critical aspect to improving healthcare outcomes. As a thriving and compassionate healthcare provider, if you want to learn how to analyze and share patient data securely, accurately, and quickly, a health informatics masters degree might just give you a leg up in your career.
- Promote Patient Education
Promoting patient education can help healthcare providers in developing positive behavioral outcomes among patients. Patients who are more informed about their health conditions feel empowered and contribute to taking charge of their well-being. It can also help patients realize what type of care setting fits their condition best, consequently reducing the number of visits to the hospital.
For instance, an uninformed patient with a minor health issue might seek treatment in the ER when it would be best for him or her to seek care from the Urgent Care Center (UCC). The ER is one of the most costly healthcare settings; hence it must be reserved for those who need critical care. Furthermore, several studies and surveys have proved more excellent patient knowledge results in improved healthcare outcomes and patient satisfaction.
- Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA)
When it comes to implementing changes, many people fail to focus on planning, including analyzing its long and short-term benefits. It further involves testing, which helps to identify the shortcomings in the implemented process. Without adequate testing, it is difficult to determine the reliability of the implemented changes in attaining the intended goals.
Healthcare organizations aiming to make positive changes in their processes with favorable outcomes can use the Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) model. The PDSA cycles can make alterations easier to implement and lead to higher sustainability of the implemented changes. This stratagem has been widely utilized by the Institute for Healthcare Improvement for cascading perfection. One of this model’s surprising and unique features is the cyclical nature of influencing and assessing change, which is effectively accomplished via frequent and small PDSAs. This model aims to establish a causal or serviceable relationship between alterations in processes and outcomes. It is excellent for identifying any side effects, minimizing resistance, and helps in achieving positive patient outcomes. In the end, action is taken based on the results of the implemented changes. Undoubtedly, it is a unique approach to providing proactive care.
Conclusion
As you can see, effective healthcare services are the only means to provide quality care. After all, patient care is a dynamic process and should be delivered with quality by every personnel. Above, we have mentioned a few practices that can help to improve the healthcare industry. Of course, there will never be a one-size-fits-all approach; but if improving medical outcomes and patient experiences are possible via eradicating some of the most common barriers, why not do it and change the course of care for good.
