Bridging the Gap: from industry to patient life

A Tailor-Made Patient Communication Strategies are based on the reality assessment.

Patient Engagement:Bridging Healthcare and the Patient’s Mental World

Today, we have access to virtually unlimited informational resources in every industry field. At the same time, the volume of information available creates three important issues we face, which I identify as critical when we are talking about healthcare in general and particularly ophthalmology.  

The first one is to identify the quality of the information found on the Internet or heard from a person you have never met. 

The second is to find inside the huge volume of basic information something special that an individual may value the most about his or her particular case. 

And the third is our volume of attention. We are facing incredibly higher information load compared to what our brain was designed for, thus amount of attention available is limiited, limiting an ability to absorb full scope of information and to transfer it into the knowledge.

We do have a massive communication challenge, where we are not able to fully uncover and deliver the value perception.

Patient communication is a challenging process, as it covers the scope of 

- Customer acquisition 

- Building the trust, and thus conversion 

- Retention or referring, whatever is applicable 

In my experience, at the industry we are often trying to do a process we call a patient education, rather that thinking about the patient communication process. The quality of patient communication critically important at all stages of patient journey from customer acquisition phase to the post-surgical follow up, and it influences both - the quality of treatment and the customer experience, which both are affecting the practice outcomes. 

Every patient is unique, but what unites them?

They do not listen

Patients may seem not to be listening, a sentiment I can confirm. When a patient asks the same questions multiple times, forgets to follow instructions, or does not adhere to their prescription, it's often perceived as a lack of attention, leading to frustration on the doctor's side.

The core of this issue lies in the dynamics of how we communicate. Despite providing all information in a clear and mindful way, there is often a mismatch in the alignment of our communication methods with the patient's capacity for attention and information processing. This mismatch can exacerbate the perception that patients are not listening, when in fact, the challenge lies in capturing and maintaining their attention effectively.

Research in cognitive psychology and neuroscience has shown that human attention is not only limited but also highly selective. Factors such as cognitive load, emotional state, and relevance of information to the individual's current needs and interests significantly influence what they pay attention to and retain. Therefore, adjusting our communication strategies to these human attention dynamics is crucial for effective patient education and engagement.

They do not understand

This issue seems to be similar to the previous one, however, there is a significant difference. Misunderstanding doesn't merely reflect a lack of attention; it involves a deeper issue of comprehension and interpretation. Patients may either not follow the prescription at all or follow it in their own manner, indicating a disconnect not just in listening, but in understanding the information as intended. This gap between the healthcare provider's instructions and the patient's actions can stem from various factors, including medical jargon, the complexity of information, or the patient's personal beliefs and perceptions.

Transforming Patient Communication

Over the past five years, I've dedicated myself to mastering the art of patient communication, focusing on capturing attention, simplifying complex information, promoting technologies, and ensuring comprehension and action. My approach is built on practical experience and proven frameworks designed to enhance every aspect of patient interaction.

Leveraging this wealth of knowledge, I offer a service that meticulously assesses and refines your patient communication strategies. The goal is to unlock opportunities for improvement that directly contribute to increased clinic traffic, higher conversion rates, and ultimately, greater patient satisfaction. Through tailored interventions, I ensure that patients not only listen and understand but are also compelled to act and eager to refer others.

With my involvement and dedicated expertise, I will not just make an enhancement of your current patient communication setup but a transformation that brings peace of mind, knowing your patients are fully engaged and advocating for your practice by tailor-made sulutions for your clinic. 

Unique Challenges and Tailored Solutions

The issue I am referrind to, creates a massive burden on healthcare practicioners and in some cases leads to global threats like antivaccination campaigns in recent years, and less global but still critical for global population health problems like vision loss due to non compliance with therapy in glaucoma, or vision quality issues after the cataract surgery if patient receives an IOL which is not perfectly suitable for particular lifestyle visual needs. 

As the industry we do hope, that patient receives all the needed information and treatment durign the visit to a health care professional in either public or private sector. And in many cases it is the case. But we stil do have significant amount of patient claims that doctors are not explaining something, and doctors claims that patients are not following the preccriptions and this leads to suboptimal treatment results. The priate sector in this case suffering from lower conversion rates, unsatisfactory feedbacks about the clinics or doctors and losing the customers. 

I am mastering patient communication strategies for more than 5 years and have my unique Smart Sight Framework which helps to identify personal focusing point and deliver the most relevant information to ensure better understanding, attention and actions desired. 

The Smart Sight Framework, used to improve premium IOL conversion rate is simple to describe, but needs a deep dive at personnel training stage, as it includes number of psychological tricks you have to know.

The framework shortly is the following:

Smart Sight patient education framework is a unique approach designed to give a patients undergoing cataract and refractive surgery the value they are looking for at the clinic and in the surgeon, increasing premium conversion as the result. 

Step 1: Uncover the real values of the person.

Every patient is unique. And values, that person perceives as the most important in terms of visual outcomes are not always evident. First of all we have to uncover the personal values. 

Step2: Find the most critical.

Focus on most critical visual needs. The common mistake here is to focus on "what is the most time consuming". The most valuable are hidden in the what annoys the patient the most in the daily life.

Step 3: Know your technologies in full.

Your equipment and disposables have benefits, which was the key for you when you choose it for use. But, think from patient perspective based on values you discovered - what is relevant?

Step 4: Educate with core in focus.

With the values in mind, deliver the education in simplified manner, focusing on the most relevant to patient values. Only basic things. Simple. But relevant to what you discovered on step 1 and 2.

Step 5: Identify the match.

Offer the IOL for the most critical visual needs. Tell the truth that no ideal IOL exist in the world. The drawbacks are actually advantages given the current situation, and the benefits represent value.

It helps surgeons and counseling staff build trust and demonstrate value to enhance the conversion rate to premium procedures and is based on the facts, that no adult willing to be "educated by someone" and general misunderstanding of the vision among patients.

That's is the pathway to success! And, there is 2 points to imptove basically.

There are two critical points in communication strategy at every clinic:

Printed and Digital Patient Communication

We have to review and update of standard patient communucation setup, which is delivered to a patients in any form such as web site, social media, email campaign, personalised email letters, informative concent forms, videos. 

Every message in the communication settings shall be clearly understood by the patient and shall touch the real patint needs and concerns, still being medically correct and legally safe. 

Using my Smart Sight Framework, I will help you to refine all the communication sets to be delivering your unique value in easy to understand and trust creation manner for the patient. 

And based on what we promise, we have to deliver by...

Mastering Personal Patient Interactions for teams

Empowering the personal communication skills to be better listener and confinent speaker for every patient. It is not so complicated as could be perceived. 

Being a highly qualified professional, it is difficult to switch to a simple language, especially if you shall do it regularly and keep sayins same phrases many times of the day to a different persons. My aim is to help you get out of that routine to master your unique communication style, which will be easier to use and less boring for you.

Here you shall be ready to dive a bit into psychological specific of person being a patient, to reflect and to dive into your personal mindset. And then, simply practice with my help and reach a new reality. 

It is derived from my vision:

True business success is rooted in an authentic understanding of human psychology. I advocate for what I term the Smart Sight Framework — a journey distinct from manipulation, grounded in integrity, transparency, and a desire to help. 

This approach focuses on deeply comprehending customer needs and conveying the value of your services or products in a manner that emphasizes assistance over financial gain. At its core, it's about establishing trust first, ensuring that every interaction reflects a commitment to genuinely improving lives. 

My vision underscores all the efforts, aiming to transform how we connect with and deliver value to customers, ultimately defining a new standard of excellence in our field."

Let's talk to see how I can help your clinic to overcome the gap.

Oleksii Sologub

MSc, LLB, MBA

Premium IOL Clinical Integration

Patient Communication & Conversion Strategy

Board-Level Advisor in Ophthalmology