As the significance of positive patient experience continues to burrow deeper into the makeup of healthcare culture, improving interactions between patients and physicians has become a point of concern.
During a presentation at the Becker's 14th Annual Spine, Orthopedic & Pain Management-Driven ASC Conference + The Future of Spine in Chicago on June 9, Susan Sumner, vice president of ambulatory at Nuance Communications — a computer software technology corporation headquartered in Burlington, Mass. — discussed the importance of patient-physician interactions and technological strategies for improving communication, information gathering and ultimately boosting patient satisfaction.
Today's healthcare realities
A significant majority — 66 percent — of healthcare organizations measure physician performance and 50 percent use these measurements to determine incentive payments for physicians.
"Patient satisfaction has never been more paramount and using technology to engage in patient satisfaction is almost essential for any practice that is going to evolve and make it to the next generation," said Ms. Sumner.
Engage the patient
In February 2015, Nuance conducted a survey of more than 3,000 patients across the U.S., United Kingdom and Germany. The survey covered three areas — patient-physician experience, technology awareness and preferences and patient engagement. The survey found that 40 percent of patients feel rushed during their visit. More than a third of participants reported spending 10 minutes or less with their physicians. Furthermore, 68 percent of U.S. and U.K. participants reported that eye contact, a handshake and verbal communication are essential for a positive experience with a physician.
"They want to make connections with the physician, they want to see you, they want to talk to you, they want you to look them in the eye and they want you to shake their hand," said Ms. Sumner.
The survey also found that 69 percent of patients have noticed an increase in the amount of technology used by physicians in the last five years. An overwhelming majority — 97 percent —reported being comfortable with this change.
Technology to improve interactions and documentation
Documentation technology is intrinsically linked to both patient satisfaction and quality of care. A physician staring into a computer screen and typing away impedes direct communication with the patient. Accuracy can also be hindered when dictating care directives and patient information through a keyboard and mouse.
Clumsy methods of documentation can hinder a physician's clinical abilities and ultimately have a detrimental effect on patient satisfaction.
"It will cause a boomerang effect," said Ms. Sumner. "When the patient sees the documentation and notices the level of errors on the documentation...it will bring them [patients] back to the clinic [to correct the errors]. These are the types of things we see all the time."
According to Ms. Sumner, voice-driven, mobile documentation can expedite the documentation process by supporting specificity, compliance and eliminating shortcuts in the EHR the lead to overly concise documentation. The increased accuracy of data collected from the patient can improve satisfaction when the patient accesses the information and observes the accuracy. Highly accurate documentation can also facilitate strong care team communication, which supports faster more informed decisions.
"If you're using an EHR and your documentation isn't embedded into that technology, then you need to change the way you're thinking about the EHR," said Ms. Sumner.
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