When it comes to patient communication, it does not matter the way - is it direct to patient conversation of a surgeon, general practitioner, or counselor, or it comes to social media messaging, website or even printed brochure - in health care, I observe 3 crucial mistakes we do, which leads to loss of trust, anxiety, and frustration of the patient.
Why should we address these mistakes in our communication with patients?
First and foremost, in the private sector, the patient is our customer. Their trust and satisfaction are key to increasing conversion rates. Satisfied customers are more likely to spend more, leading to higher margins, and refer your clinic to friends, thereby organically increasing your patient flow.
Second, simply because in health care, we face a significant amount of false information, fakes, misleading information, and so on, which may affect patient decisions in terms of treatment plan selection or compliance with doctors' recommendations. This can lead to a significant decrease in health function or even death due to a wrong understanding or lack of trust in health care professionals.
So, from commercial and professional points of view, we have to improve our communication skills in all aspects, so lets come to the 3 crucial mistakes I observe over and over in different touch points during the patient journey path.
It is 3 simple words: Assumption, Underestimation, and Miscommunication
• Assumption: Assuming that patients understand medical jargon or the implications of their condition without proper explanation.
• Underestimation: Underestimating the patient’s ability to comprehend their health issues or the importance they place on their health.
• Miscommunication: Failing to convey information clearly, leading to misunderstandings about diagnosis, treatment plans, or medication instructions.
We often assume that the patient knows what we know. This is a common human error rooted in the concept of mirror neurons. We tend to expect that the person in front of us is similar to us in terms of what they know, what they believe, and what they want.
We underestimate (and it is also caused by assumption!) what is known to patient from the open sources, google, AI, etc and more importantly - what is perceived and believed, as different people may draw different conclusions from the same text they read, depending on their background, knowledge, ability to think logically, fatigue at the time of reading, etc.
As we assume and underestimate the true context, we miscommunicate by delivering either not relevant to real patient fears, needs, and expectations information or we communicate in a complicated way which, despite the time we spend, will not result in improved patient understanding, awareness, and informed decision making.
These three mistakes can lead to a loss of trust, increased anxiety, and frustration for the patient. Addressing them is essential for improving patient satisfaction, adherence to treatment plans, and overall health outcomes. What can you do to avoid these communication patterns and improve your outcomes in terms of patient conversion, overall patient satisfaction, and, most importantly, improving your personal satisfaction with your daily work?
My answer is to realize these issues, critically review your patient journey and update communication in all forms at all patient touch points, rebuild communication strategy, and implement a Smart Sight Framework to your clinical practice at the the personal-to-patient communication stage and in cataract or refractive RLE business try an IOL-adviser.AI solution which will help you to simplify patient education process to save time for productive discussion.
I will discuss the steps to improve in my next publications, so stay tuned! :)
Oleksii Sologub
MSc, LLB, SE MBA
Entrepreneur | Patient Strategic Communication Expert
Board Member & Strategic Business Consultant in Ophthalmology
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