Strategies for Improving Patient Safety and Satisfaction in Healthcare

This report examines the crucial role of patient experience in enhancing patient safety and satisfaction within healthcare settings. It begins with a literature review that highlights the significance of service quality, patient expectations, and the impact of factors such as waiting times, communication, and the hospital environment on patient perceptions. The report then moves on to provide actionable recommendations for healthcare organizations, including personalized attention, transparency, enhanced service quality, effective feedback mechanisms, patient education, hospital cleanliness, a positive atmosphere, the elimination of discriminatory practices, diversity management, and the use of innovative technologies. The conclusion emphasizes the importance of these strategies for creating a positive patient experience, ultimately leading to improved healthcare outcomes and organizational success.

RUNNING HEAD: Effective Management in Health
Effective Management in Health
How patient experience can be used for enhancing patient safety and satisfaction level

Effective Management in Health 1
Executive summary
Healthcare sector is an important part of the economy which ensures the quality of the health
of people. A major focus of people is on the quality of the services offered and safety in the
healthcare organizations. These factors can affect the satisfaction level of the individual in an
adverse manner. For enhancing the satisfaction level of the patients, healthcare organizations
need to analyze those factors which are affecting the satisfaction level and safety of the
patients contributing to a bad experience. This report has discussed the measures which can
be used for enhancing the experience gained by the patients.

Effective Management in Health 2
Table of Contents
Literature review........................................................................................................................3
Recommendations......................................................................................................................6
Conclusion................................................................................................................................10
References................................................................................................................................11

Effective Management in Health 3
Literature review
According to Mehta (2015), quality of the services offered in the Healthcare setting
determines the satisfaction level of the patients. Satisfaction level of the patients determines
the chances of success and growth of the healthcare setting. Healthcare organizations are
facing issues due to the change in the expectations of the patients, introduction of the
advanced technology and aging population. Healthcare organizations are focusing on
enhancing the quality of the services offered to the service users. Quality and safety have
become a prominent part of the life of every individual. It is difficult to define the term
quality in relation to the healthcare sector. Quality standards cannot be set in the healthcare
sector as the services are intangible. This aspect has affected the measurement process of the
quality of the healthcare service provided to the patient. Safety concerns are increasing
among the healthcare settings as it has been identified that there has been a rise in the number
of cases of infection due to the lack of proper safety or cleanliness in the premises of the
hospitals (Berkowitz, 2016).
Patient satisfaction level is the indicator of the quality of the services which are being offered
by the healthcare organization. Priority of the healthcare organization is on ensuring the good
health of the patients by providing safe and quality healthcare services to them. Healthcare
organizations can enhance the satisfaction level of the patients by identifying the factors
affecting the quality of health. Performance of the hospital can be measured on the basis of
the experience of the patients. Quality of the health care services and satisfaction level of
patients are positively related with each other. Hospitals are using various strategies and
techniques for the analysis of the safety, quality and satisfaction level of the patients. Lack of
proper staffing in the healthcare organization affects the satisfaction level of the patients (Al-
Abri & Al-Balushi, 2014).

Effective Management in Health 4
According to Raivio, et. al. (2014), there are various factors which are creating an impact on
the satisfaction level of the patients. These factors include bad experience gained by the
patient at the front desk, long waiting time, lack of proper equipment, lack of practices of
managing diversity, lack of proper communication between doctors and patients, low-quality
services, lack of safety, lack of cleanliness and unattractive practices. Service quality directly
creates an impact on the health and well-being of the individual. Front desk staff of the
healthcare organization should deal with the patients and their families in an effective
manner. Bad experience at the front desk affects the satisfaction level of the patients.
Experience gained by the individual determines the preference of the patients. Frustration
among the patients increases when they face issues in navigating the hospital, they have to
wait for getting treated and lack of proper communication. All these factors increase the
dissatisfaction level among the patients by giving them a bad experience. Chances of success
and growth of the hospital are dependent on the satisfaction level and experience gained by
the patient. Satisfaction level of the patients determines the quality of the services which are
provided by the healthcare organization to its customers (Xesfingi & Vozikis, 2016). The
environment of the healthcare organization is another important element which contributes
towards the satisfaction level of the patient. Satisfaction level of the patients and safety is the
main goal of every healthcare organization for which it is operating. Four criteria can be
considered for analyzing the satisfaction level, safety, and experience gained by the patient. It
includes quality, efficiency, equity and acceptability (Mosadeghrad, 2014).
The expectation of every patient differs which affects the experience gained by them. Cost of
the service along with its quality is important. Continuous improvement in the quality of the
services and safety within reasonable price is an important aspect which must be considered
by every healthcare organization for providing a quality experience to the patients.
Satisfaction is needed as it generates loyalty among the patients which forms a base for the

Effective Management in Health 5
success and growth of the business (Naidu, 2016). A situation of dissatisfaction among the
patients arises when the services offered by the healthcare professionals is below the
expectation level of the patient. Different factors need to be considered by the healthcare
professionals for providing satisfied services to the patients and these factors include quality
of the service, cost of the service, availability of medicines, availability of doctors, comfort
level, infrastructure of the hospital, behaviour of the healthcare professionals towards the
patients and emotional support (Farzianpour, et. al., 2015).
In the words of Werder (2015), the technology used in the healthcare organization creates an
impact on the satisfaction level, safety, and experience of the patients. This experience has
been divided into four categories and the first category is the quality of the service,
communication, and safety, the second category is technology and tools used, the third
category is technology as an enabler and fourth category is electronic health record and
access to the records. Technology provides various benefits to the healthcare organization by
meeting the expectations of the patients. Patient satisfaction level is a tool for the attainment
of the goals of the hospital which can be achieved with the fulfillment of expectations of the
patients.
For the purpose of satisfying the patients, Healthcare setting needs to focus on the quality of
the services offered. There are different ways available which can be used by the Healthcare
organization for enhancing safety and satisfaction level of the patients for providing them a
quality experience. These ways include providing personalised attention and accountability,
transparency, enhancing the quality of the services offered, setting up call centres for
collecting feedbacks related to issues faced by patients, spending time on the patient
education, enhancing the atmosphere of the hospital, focusing on cleanliness of the hospital,
implementation of policies and practices for eliminating discriminatory practices and
managing diversity (Kennedy, et. al., 2014).

Effective Management in Health 6
Recommendations
A major concern of the Healthcare organizations is decreasing satisfaction and lack of proper
security measures which are creating an impact on the experience of the patients. These
healthcare organizations are focusing on identification of the measures or strategies which
will help in providing a quality experience to the patients. These strategies which are
recommended to healthcare organizations for enhancing the experience of the patients are
discussed as follows:
 Personalised attention and accountability: healthcare professionals working in the
healthcare organizations should pay personal attention to the patients for meeting their
expectations and needs. It will help in enhancing the quality of health of the service
user. Healthcare professional must take responsibility towards the patients and must
listen to the patient with patience. The healthy relationship needs to be established
with the patients for making the comfortable. Communication should be made clear
for making the patients understand the aspects discussed and patient centered care
approach need to be adopted for providing better services. Healthcare professionals
should be available in the rotation for ensuring the health of the patients (LaVela &
Gallan, 2014).
 Transparency: transparency needs to be maintained in the healthcare setting for
gaining the trust of the patients. Hospitals need to ensure that fair practices are being
followed within the organization. Healthcare professional must ensure that patients
are aware of every aspect related to their health and which is a part of its treatment.
Every patient must be considered equal and equal treatment should be provided.
 Enhancing the quality of the services offered: the focus of the healthcare organization
should be on enhancing the quality of the services offered. It is the most important

Effective Management in Health 7
aspect which affects the health of the individual. For enhancing the quality of the
services offered, focus on the healthcare professionals should be on providing
attention to the needs of the patients and encouraging equal treatment to every patient
for ensuring that every patient is satisfied with the quality of the healthcare services
provided by the organization (Ali & Ahmed, 2010).
 Setting up call centers for collecting feedbacks related to issues faced by patients: for
listening to the issues or complaints of the patients, a separate department needs to be
established where patients can lodge their complaints. These complaints and issues
must be given importance and focus should be on eliminating the aspects affecting the
quality of the services and delivery of the services on time. Feedback forms should be
provided to the patients for collecting immediate feedbacks from the patients.
 Spending time on the patient education: healthcare professionals need to avoid being
in a rush while providing healthcare services to the patients. Patients are sometimes
unsure and confused and it is the responsibility of the healthcare profession to clear
the doubts of the service user. Healthcare professional must educate the patient and
provide a summary of the discussion for ensuring that proper understanding is
developed (Farley, et. al., 2014).
 Focusing on the cleanliness of the hospital: It has been analyzed that patients develop
infections due to the lack of cleanliness in the hospital. Quality of the hospital is an
indicator with the help of cleanliness of the premises of the hospital. These cases of
infection developing at the premises of hospital can be eliminated with the help of
proper cleanliness.
 Enhancing the atmosphere of the hospital: a hospital is a place where patients feel
relaxed and away from noises. Hospitals should maintain a less noisy, harsh free and

Effective Management in Health 8
clean environment for the patients. This can be done with the help of use of effective
equipment at the atmosphere of the hospital (Billingsley, 2015).
 Implementation of policies and practices for eliminating discriminatory practices:
discriminatory practices can affect the quality of health of the patients. Hospitals need
to implement effective policies and practices which will help in eliminating
discriminatory practices. Every patient must be provided equal attention for
enhancing the experience of the patient. A check needs to be kept by the management
for ensuring that staff of the hospital is complying with policies and practices
formulated for eliminating discriminatory practices. These policies and practices will
ensure the safety of the patients (Östman, et. al., 2015).
 Managing diversity: patients of the hospital are from different cultures, background,
age, gender, caste, and race. These aspects must be considered by the hospital so as to
ensure that quality healthcare services are being offered to the patients. The language
barrier may affect the quality of the healthcare services. For the purpose of
communicating with the patients from a different culture, technology can be used and
training can be provided to the staff of the healthcare setting for communicating with
the patients in an effective manner.
 Use of innovative technologies: advanced technologies can be used for providing
better healthcare services to the patients. Hospitals must focus on providing results of
the tests timely so as to ensure that proper treatment is provided to the patient on time.
Technology can be used for storing the details of the patients. This will enhance the
quality of the health of individual which will contribute towards the enhanced health
of the patient and quality experience. Equipment needs to be installed near the patient
so that it can call the health care professional during emergency situations (Gau, et.
al., 2013).

Effective Management in Health 9
Conclusion
Thus, it can be concluded from the above discussion, that there are various factors present in
the healthcare setting which is affecting the health of the patients. Due to these factors,
quality of health of the patients and satisfaction level of the patients is decreasing. It results in
providing a bad experience to the patients. The focus of the healthcare setting should be on
enhancing the quality of the services offered to the patients which will enhance the
experience gained by them. A healthcare organization can adopt different strategies which
will help in providing quality healthcare services to the patients and enhancing their
experience. These strategies are discussed in this report which will contribute towards the
enhanced experience of the patients.

Effective Management in Health 10
References
Al-Abri, R. & Al-Balushi, A., 2014, ‘Patient Satisfaction Survey as a Tool Towards Quality
Improvement’, Oman Medical Journal. 2014;29(1):3-7.
Ali, S. S. & Ahmed, F., 2010, ‘Measuring Indian Patients' Satisfaction: A Case Of Private
Hospitals’, School of Economics and Management.
Berkowitz, B., 2016, ‘The Patient Experience and Patient Satisfaction: Measurement of a
Complex Dynamic’, The Online Journal of Issues in Nursing.
Billingsley, R. A., 2015, ‘Improving the Patient Experience by Implementing Patient-
Centered Care in a Community Hospital’, Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) Projects, 70.
Farley, M., Enguidanos, E. R., Coletti, C. M., Honigman, L., Mazzeo, A., Pinson, T. B.,
Reed, K. & Wiler, J. L., 2014, ‘Patient Satisfaction Surveys and Quality of Care: An
Information Paper’, Annals of Emergency Medicine, Volume 64, no. 4.
Farzianpour, F., Byravan, R. and Amirian, S., 2015, ‘Evaluation of Patient Satisfaction and
Factors Affecting It: A Review of the Literature’, Health, 7, 1460-1465.
Gau, Y. M., Buettner, P., Usher, K. & Stewart, L., 2013, ‘Burden experienced by community
health volunteers in Taiwan: a survey’, BMC Public Health, 13, p.491.
Kennedy, D. M., Fasolino, J. P. & Gullen, D. J., 2014, ‘Improving the patient experience
through provider communication skills building’, Patient Experience Journal, Vol. 1: Issue 1,
Article 10.
LaVela, S. L. & Gallan, A. S., 2014, ‘Evaluation and measurement of patient experience’,
Patient Experience Journal, Vol. 1: Issue 1, Article 5.
Mehta, S. J., 2015, ‘Patient Satisfaction Reporting and Its Implications for Patient Care’,
AMA Journal of Ethics, Vol. 7, pp. 616-621.

Effective Management in Health 11
Mosadeghrad, A. M., 2014, ‘Factors influencing healthcare service quality’, International
Journal of Health Policy and Management.
Naidu, A., 2016, ‘Factors affecting patient satisfaction and healthcare quality’, Research
Gate.
Östman, M., Ung, E. & Falk, K., 2015, ‘Health-care encounters create both discontinuity and
continuity in daily life when living with chronic heart failure - A grounded theory
study’, International Journal of Qualitative Studies on Health and Well-Being, 10.
Raivio, R., Jääskeläinen, J., Holmberg-Marttila, D. & Mattila, K. J., 2014, ‘Decreasing trends
in patient satisfaction, accessibility and continuity of care in Finnish primary health care – a
14-year follow-up questionnaire study’, BMC Family Practice.
Werder, M., 2015, ‘Health information technology: A key ingredient of the patient
experience’, Patient Experience Journal, Vol. 2: Issue 1, Article 19.
Xesfingi, S. & Vozikis, A., 2016, ‘Patient satisfaction with the healthcare system: Assessing
the impact of socio-economic and healthcare provision factors’, BMC Health Services
Research.