The patient experience in a hospital can be complex and confusing, especially in an unfamiliar environment and moments of anxiety. In this context, patient navigation emerges as a key approach to improving the patient journey, ensuring that patients receive appropriate care and feel comfortable throughout the process. In this article, we will discuss the importance of patient navigation in hospitals and how it can help improve the patient experience.
What is patient navigation?
Patient navigation is a service that aims to assist patients throughout their hospital journey, from the moment they arrive at the hospital through to the completion of their treatment and post-discharge follow-up. This approach aims to ensure that patients have easy access to the information they need, are directed to the appropriate services, and receive the support they need to deal with any challenges or concerns that may arise.
Benefits of patient navigation:
- Easier access to services: Patient navigation helps streamline the process of scheduling appointments, tests, and procedures. Navigators assist patients in filling out forms, provide guidance on what documents are needed, and direct individuals to the correct departments, avoiding wasted time and confusion.
- Guidance and emotional support: Dealing with a medical condition can be emotionally challenging. Patient navigators are there to offer emotional support, answer questions, and provide clear information about the treatment process. They can help ease patients’ anxiety while fostering a more welcoming and compassionate environment.
- Care coordination: Patient navigation plays a key role in coordinating healthcare. Navigators work closely with the medical team, facilitating communication between different healthcare professionals and ensuring that all patient needs are met seamlessly and efficiently.
- Reduced readmissions and complications: Patient navigation can help reduce unnecessary hospital readmissions and preventable complications. By providing clear guidance on prescribed medications, post-discharge care, and continuity of care, navigators help patients follow medical recommendations correctly, reducing the risk of relapses and complications.
Patient navigation plays an essential role in improving the hospital journey and the quality of healthcare. By providing practical, emotional and informational support, patient navigators help reduce stress and anxiety for individuals, improving their experience during the treatment period. In addition, patient navigation also contributes to the efficiency of healthcare services by facilitating care coordination and communication.
HOOBOX and its technologies as allies
To further optimize this experience, it is essential to have technological tools that can help monitor and efficiently manage patient navigation. Now is the time to discuss the importance of having a technological tool to monitor patient navigation and the benefits it can bring to the quality of healthcare.
Better monitoring of the patient journey:
A patient navigation technology tool enables more accurate and comprehensive monitoring of the patient journey. It can be used to track the patient’s main points of contact with healthcare services, record treatment steps and collect relevant information about each interaction. This makes it easier to monitor the patient’s progress, identify potential gaps in care and allow for appropriate interventions.
Efficient communication:
A patient navigation technology tool also promotes efficient communication between healthcare team members, patients, and their families. It can send appointment reminders, share treatment information, send test results, and facilitate access to relevant educational resources. This reduces the possibility of miscommunication, improves patient adherence to the treatment plan, and strengthens engagement among all involved parties.
Ease of access to information:
With a technology tool, patients have easy access to important information about their medical condition, prescribed medications, appointment times, and other relevant guidance. This empowers patients, allowing them to take a more active role in managing their health. Additionally, the availability of clear and reliable information helps reduce anxiety and uncertainty associated with the treatment process.
Pattern identification and continuous improvement:
By collecting and analyzing patient navigation data, a technology tool can identify patterns and opportunities for continuous improvement in healthcare processes. It can provide valuable insights into wait times, appointment scheduling efficiency, patient flow, and bottlenecks in the healthcare system. Based on this information, healthcare organizations can implement strategic changes to improve service quality and patient experience.
Security and privacy:
It is important to emphasize that a technological tool for patient navigation must be developed with robust security and privacy protocols. Protecting patient data is essential to ensure the confidentiality and integrity of personal information.
How HOOBOX's Neonpass bus can help:
The Neonpass bus and its solutions play a fundamental role in patient navigation, providing more efficient monitoring and improving the overall patient experience. Through discovery work, we map your institution, discovering the flow, manuals, care guidelines, best practices and how navigators operate. We apply all the rules to the navigation module and facilitate communication, access to information and monitoring of the journey, contributing to more integrated, personalized and safe healthcare. Investing in technology for patient navigation is an important step towards improving the quality of healthcare and promoting a smoother and more satisfactory journey for patients.
