Optimising the patient experience is a key success metric for healthcare today.
So, the best way to improve service delivery is with a holistic Service Design process that takes the entire patient journey into consideration.
However, there is still a lot of confusion about Service Design.
While Service Design is no new concept, there are still some myths surrounding it, especially in the healthcare industry. So, based on our experience, we have gathered the most common questions, the myths around Service Design and the truths that healthcare providers need to know.
Read on to learn more.
While we often talk about healthcare service design and its benefits, we understand that knowing exactly how it works is a key factor in deciding whether it’s right for your healthcare facility, hospital or medical centre.
To help you out, here are 6 truths about Service Design and the myths that are often associated with them.
1. Truth: Service Design allows the team to have more meaningful interactions.
Myth: Service Design involves just discussing the use of kiosks, that take away from human interactions in a service.
Whilst the design and placement of a kiosk can be one of the key elements of service design, its main purpose is not to remove or minimise human interactions, but to elevate them. With the kiosk and queue management solution taking care of mundane tasks, your team is given more time and opportunities to interact with patients.
The less time your healthcare staff spend on administrative tasks such as checking in routine patients, the more time and energy they have to spend with those patients who may need a little extra attention or care to elevate the patient experience.
2. Truth: Service Design provides a way to supplement the daily tasks of healthcare staff.
Myth: The purpose of Service Design is to replace people with a queue management solution making processes more efficient.
The kiosks are not designed to take away jobs from your staff. They’re a way to reduce your workload.
To help your team focus on more high-value tasks that improve patient care, Service Design allows you to identify gaps and addresses repetitive and mundane tasks that often cause burnout among staff.
At NEXA, we help you install kiosks to boost efficiency, not to substitute your staff.
3. Truth: Service Design is best done in advance.
Myth: Service Design is an instant solution.
To innovate your healthcare practice with service design, you need to go through a thorough process that considers every aspect of your healthcare institution.
At NEXA, we look at all of your workflows and pain points to develop what the optimal workflow should look like. While this takes time, it makes this process worth it as it carefully considers all aspects of your current process and systems. Also, having your team proactively involved means that we can ensure all changes and adjustments run smoothly.
4. Truth: Service Design is comprehensive and it encompasses the entire patient journey.
Myth: Service Design is just about hardware instalments at the clinic and software updates.
At NEXA, we go beyond just hardware installations and take the time to understand your organisation’s unique needs through observational studies and workshops.
To make sure that Service Design efficiently improves your service delivery with your queue management solution, we review your physical spaces, patient journey and staff experiences to co-produce a solution that will make the entire healthcare experience as seamless and welcoming as possible.
5. Truth: Service Design needs the involvement of people on the ground who are directly involved in the patient journey.
Myth: Service Design only needs one decision-maker to be successful.
It takes an entire team to co-create a queue management system through service design.
Service Design needs on-the-ground stakeholders such as customer service officers and administration officers to be involved in the process, as well as managers and even patients, volunteers or carers. It is also important to include staff who may not directly interact with patients as part of their journey but still play a vital role behind the scenes. For instance, in Medicare billing, ensuring consent is captured correctly as part of the check-in process and administration policies are adhered to.
This provides a holistic view when implementing adjustments and takes everyone into account.
6. Truth: Service Design needs revisiting even after implementation.
Myth: You only need to conduct Service Design once and it will last forever.
It’s a great place to start, but after project implementation, a post-implementation review is needed to see if there is any room for improvement. Iteration is a key part of Service Design. Is the system working as expected? Have we achieved the desired outcome? Does the system need to be tweaked to ensure the desired benefits are achieved for all users of the system, staff and patients alike.
Now that you have a clearer idea of what Service Design can do for your healthcare facility, it’s time to reconsider your approach to service delivery and get your team together to find out new ways to improve the patient experience.
Are you ready to improve your patient experience with Service Design?
At NEXA, we understand the importance that your healthcare facility places on providing the best possible service and experience for every patient – every single day.
That’s why we’re here to help.
NEXA is an Australian company that delivers innovative digital solutions to empower healthcare providers, staff members and patients by taking advantage of digital technology. With NEXA, you can support and enable your team, deliver excellent service levels and thrive in today’s evolving landscape.
Do you want to experience the benefits that come with integrating NEXA’s virtual queue management solutions into your healthcare facility?
Talk to us today to find out how you can make your patient interactions matter.
