Patient Experience: a Experience from the Heart | Izo
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Patient Experience: a Experience from the Heart

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When we talk about Customer Experience Management, we are referring to the way of managing emotions. A customer who is going to buy a cell phone because the latest model has come out and wants to access the newest is not the same as a customer who is going to buy a phone because the one they used to have was stolen and still need to pay for it in monthly.

To generate memorable experiences, we apply the basic CEM principle of discovering the history and identifying the emotional state of the client in order to develop an interaction associated with the situation and the feelings that the client experiences. Enhancing that moment of truth, it could be included in the sale of the cell phone, state-of-the-art technological accessories for those who like to be fashionable, or insurance against theft for those who have been stolen. This would be a clear example of how to manage the experience and generate value for the organization in terms of the financial results that can be obtained.

With this same concept, to identify the emotions and understand the feelings that may be present in a visible or invisible way in an interaction, let's move to the health environment in all its extension: consultations and medical examinations, hospital care, treatments and even pharmacies. With total security and definitely, it is not the same to apply for a credit card, buy a vehicle, change cell phone, market groceries, file a claim for a wrong account statement, etc. If we think about it carefully, any interaction in any industry, unless it brings a very strong emotional component it is not comparable to an interaction that takes place in the context of health. This is due to the strong emotional load that the state of health in people's lives can represent and therefore it is critical and key to be able to discover what the client / patient is experiencing.

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Let's imagine the emotions and feelings that can arise in the following situations and try to connect emotionally in each of them:
• A woman going for her routine annual check-up (peace of mind, uncertainty).
• A father who goes to the pharmacy to buy medicine for his young son who is ill with home hospitalization (anguish, anxiety, sadness).
• A son who accompanies his father to chemotherapy sessions (sadness, impotence).
• A new mother who sees her child for the first time (joy, excitement), but then sees him enter the intensive care unit (sadness, helplessness, anguish).
• A young man who is going to have tests to determine the cause of his frequent fainting spells (uncertainty, anxiety).

We could illustrate a number of situations that appear in every day-to-day care center and they all have something in common: the intensity of the feelings that are awakened by a vital moment such as life itself. It is also important to understand the role of family members and companions since they, although in a slightly different way, also experience the patient's situation and in one way or another are receiving a strong emotional charge depending on the level of closeness with the patient. In addition to this, and depending on the conditions of the patients, it is the family members and / or companions who have to receive the good or bad news, who have to appear for the paperwork, treatment, medications, etc.

Now let's explore the side of the providers of these services; At this point we must be broad and not only think that experience is the responsibility of specialists or nurses; It is also important to have a greeting or a friendly smile in the corridors, which authentically demonstrate an expression of understanding and solidarity, even if that exhibition is the only interaction they have; a willingness to help with any question, something as simple as being able to answer “where is it…”, “where can I…”, “where should I…”. Going back to the principles and keys of managing emotions and experience as such, it is essential if we want to make a difference in the experience to be generated:

1. Take off your shoes and put yourself in the client's shoes, to understand the circumstances that, for the most part, surround all the people who visit the doctor.
2. Understand that we are emotional more than rational and much more in the scenarios that have to do with the health and life of people.
3. You have to look for the history in what will require a lot of tact and not be invasive, and always trying to achieve that emotional connection with the patient and / or their companions.

There is something else that is very important to consider: in most industries the customer is the one who chooses the service or product but in terms of Health, no one wants to be sick or see relatives sick. It is something that happens in life and is not optional; no one chooses to suffer from one disease or another, so in the face of this inevitable event, the most that can be chosen is the specialist, the institution, etc; even if it is not treated in delicate situations such as routine exams or the birth of a child where the experience is substantially different from any type of illness. So, by the very nature, the connotation and the context of a disease, emotionality is something that is on the surface.

For all the above, at all levels of the organization and in their respective measure, they must work on these soft skills, in which all employees can wholeheartedly deliver, being empathetic and understanding the circumstances that mostly surround them. all the people who visit the doctor.

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