Patient engagement is essential to delivering effective medical and care services. The level of engagement a patient has with their care affects their patient experience, their relationship with healthcare providers, and the likelihood that a given treatment plan will be successful.
Improving patient engagement is increasingly a priority for many healthcare services across the country.
What is Patient Engagement?
Patient engagement is the degree to which patients collaborate with medical professionals to make informed decisions about their care. The term describes everything from how able patients feel to participate in medical decisions affecting them, to how comfortable they are voicing issues and concerns, to how consistently they are able and willing to follow treatment plans.
A patient engagement strategy is therefore any plan to boost patient understanding, confidence and participation. High patient engagement has a proven relationship with how positively patients view their relationship with their healthcare provider.
Other common benefits include:
- Better health choices by patients, such as improved diet and exercise.
- Improved health outcomes.
- Increased confidence of patients in medical staff.
- Greater understanding of medical information for patient.
- Improved mental health outcomes during treatment.
- Reduced hospital readmission rates.
High patient engagement means creating an environment where everyone interacting with healthcare services feels their voices are heard. Engaged patients are more able to take an active role in their own care. They know their needs and concerns will be listened to, and acted upon.
It is essential to patient experience that all healthcare settings have a comprehensive patient and public involvement strategy.
The Patient Experience in Healthcare
Patient experience is a broad term that describes everything a patient experiences from first contact with their healthcare provider. It is their conversations with a GP receptionist; their interactions with nurses and doctors; their ability to navigate hospitals; the way they receive and understand medical information and updates, and anything else that affects how they experience their care journey.
A positive patient experience is essential to patient engagement. It is the primary way care providers can build trust and encourage mutually beneficial communication with patients.
Patients who have a positive patient experience from the beginning are likely to be more engaged. They are more likely to have better health outcomes and lower readmission rates.
Patients who report a poor patient experience often have medical conditions aggravated by poor communication and therefore care. These poor experiences can also have a “knock-on” effect. People report their poor experiences to friends and family, often on social media, leading to others approaching health services with a prior distrust. It is therefore essential to treat every patient experience as important.
What Makes a Good Patient Experience?
What makes a patient experience positive is complex. However, there are some key factors that are commonly associated with a positive patient experience:
- Patients feeling involved in their own care and empowered to make choices.
- Patients having the information necessary to make decisions with informed consent.
- Having a support system that can help them through their care journey, whether that be family or an external support service.
- Patients being treated with respect and compassion by all care staff.
- Being given the time they need with medical staff. Not feeling as though they are being rushed or sidelined.
- Not experiencing unexpected delays to treatment, or otherwise being inconvenienced by disorganisation or inefficiency in their care.
Many of these points appear simple to achieve, however there can be substantial difficulties when resources are stretched. A combination of low staffing levels, poor digital infrastructure, and disconnected services can lead patients to fall through the cracks and patient experience to suffer. That is why it is essential to have good, comprehensive patient engagement strategies in place.
8 Strategies To Improve Patient Engagement in Healthcare
Effective patient engagement improves patient experience and can lead to better health outcomes. Engagement builds trust with healthcare providers, and empowers people to take an active role in their own care. The first step in creating an environment that prioritises patient involvement is developing a comprehensive and meaningful patient engagement strategy:
1. Communicate Clearly and Accessibly
All information provided to patients in a healthcare setting should be clear, inclusive and accessible.
That may mean ensuring that medical information is presented in plain language, in a way that would make sense to someone without a medical background. It also means taking into account a diverse range of cultural, linguistic and disability related needs.
Examples of accessibility in communication include offering materials in multiple languages, using large print or audio formats, or making sure a patient has an advocate present at all times. Every patient is different, and communicating effectively means taking account of those needs at the individual level.
Digital tools like patient portals can help communicate efficiently, providing updates and easy access to information. However, not everyone is digitally literate or has reliable internet access. Alternative formats and support using digital services are therefore essential to making sure no one is left behind. Inclusive communication is not just about providing information but about creating connection and trust.
2. Provide Training
Good patient care isn’t just about medical training, it is also about meeting the mental and emotional needs of the patient. Healthcare professionals need regular training that goes beyond clinical knowledge. Empathy, active listening and an understanding of difference are essential skills for anyone working within a healthcare setting.
Ongoing professional development of these “soft skills” help ensure staff can meet patient needs. Training should include:
- Cultural sensitivity and cultural competence.
- Disability training, including hidden and “invisible” disabilities.
- Understanding how to approach patients with language barriers.
- Dealing with informed consent, and knowing when a patient cannot consent.
- Being trauma-informed. Understanding the impact trauma has on a patient.
- Mental health training. Dealing with patients who have complex mental health needs. Particularly where they are on a unit that is not specifically for mental health issues.
This list is far from exhaustive and will depend on the particular medical environment in question. However, providing training that goes beyond a specific medical role can make a big, positive difference to patient experience and engagement.
3. Personalise Treatment to the Patient
Personalising treatment to the individual means seeing a patient as more than just a diagnosis. A good treatment plan should reflect the patient’s preferences, beliefs and needs. For example, recommending a dietary change that ignores a patient’s cultural or lifestyle choices (like telling a vegetarian to eat more fish) demonstrates a lack of attention and consideration. However, a medical professional recommending something that takes these things into account (as a vegetarian, I’m recommending B12 supplements) can build trust and mutual respect with a patient.
Personalising a treatment plan relies on good communication skills. When patients feel they are being listened to and understood, they are more likely to communicate openly themselves. This increases understanding between patient and healthcare provider and increases adherence to treatment plans.
4. Understand Your Patients
To provide good quality care, it’s essential to understand what patients as a whole need, value, and experience. Digital engagement tools can be used to conduct surveys, consultations and gather feedback from patients. This enables healthcare providers to gather patient input on a larger scale. These tools help identify service gaps, unmet needs, and see where improvements need to be made at a structural level.
Personalising care at the individual level can help improve patient experience for an individual. However, conducting listening activities with patients at scale can help shape more responsive, fit-for-purpose systems across healthcare services as a whole. When patients see their voices influencing decisions, it reinforces trust and deepens engagement.
5. Understand Your Staff
Often the first step in engaging patients is engaging staff. Understanding what healthcare workers need to provide good quality care is the first step in building a positive patient experience. An issue can be flagged again and again by patients. However, if the root cause of an issue is something that can only be resolved internally, then engaging staff is vital.
Engaging with staff through structured consultation platforms gives healthcare providers a clearer view of what’s working and what could be done better.
Speaking about how Delib’s platform has been used in the NHS, Angela Beagrie the Equality and Diversity Coordinator for Stockport CCG said:
“Citizen Space is one of the key tools which will allow us to manage change within the NHS, increase consultation…and reach more and more people.”
6. Involve Patients in Decision-Making
Patient engagement is about more than simply informing patients, it’s about including them. Involving patients at both the individual level and through group consultations drives engagement. Engaging patients is a key part of gaining informed consent in any medical setting. Informed consent is about more than a simple signature on a page, it is part of an ongoing and mutually respectful dialogue.
Care plans should be adapted to patient needs and preferences where possible. Patients should feel they have the power to ask questions, raise concerns and to make choices about their care.
At the group level, everything from patient experience surveys to public consultations are key to ensuring healthcare systems evolve with changing public needs.
7. Measure Patient Engagement
Given the importance of patient engagement, it is essential to measure it in a way that is quantifiable and easy to track. Tracking patient engagement efforts helps healthcare providers understand what’s working and where to improve.
Quantitative measures may include the number of consultations held, response rates, patient satisfaction scores, or digital engagement statistics. More qualitative feedback can also be useful. Patient stories can show common issues that numbers can’t. Using a mix of data methods allows providers to assess the impact of their engagement strategies in a more complete way.
8. Act on the Information – Close the Feedback Loop
Gathering feedback is only the first step. A good engagement process must then demonstrate how information is used to make change. Patients, staff and the public should receive updates about what was heard and what actions are being taken in response.
This process – sometimes called closing the feedback loop – demonstrates a willingness on the part of healthcare providers to not only listen, but also to change. When people see their input leading to improvement, they’re more likely to engage again in future.
Citizen Space is the go-to platform for connecting governments, developers, and citizens. If you’d like to learn more about how our software supports patient healthcare and streamlines public engagement, book a free demo and we’ll walk you through it.
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