What Is Patient Engagement in Healthcare?

If you are a healthcare worker, then you may know the sheer importance of patient engagement. It is a process through which a medical practitioner gets to know more about the patient. It implies a patient being more involved with the doctor, so the doctor can find the perfect solution to the problem.

Patient engagement is broadly divided into 3 types, and everyone must know these aspects and details about them.

Consultation

Doctor and patient talking and discussing health treatment while sitting at the desk. Physician pointing into tablet pc. Medicine and health care concept.

This one is the most basic step. You can even call it the foundation of patient engagement. It comes into existence when the patient simply receives information about his or her diagnosis. This means it is a one-way process wherein the doctor tells the patient about what they have interpreted based on the tests done. The patient has no clue about anything, and there is almost no input or response from the client. Hence, it is quite clear that patients are barely or not at all involved in decision-making.

Involvement

At this stage, things are quite relaxed, and it seems that the situation is more in hand and not out of control. There is two-way communication between the healthcare practitioner and the patient. The practitioner tries his or her level best to seek the preference of the patient about certain treatment options. This means that the doctor tells in detail about the possible solutions to the current problem. For instance, the doctor may recommend that there is another way out other than surgery. At this point, the patient is still confused and asks questions about their condition. It is important to point out that it is not always the goal to push the highest level of engagement. Sometimes you should not give your clients too much influence.

 Partnership

This is when the treatment decisions are made together as a team based on mutual feedback. At this stage, the patient and the doctor decide what will be done to solve the problem at hand. To optimize the process of interacting with your client, you may make use of tools like https://www.webmdpracticepro.com/ that will ensure that your patient is satisfied with the communication and your decisions. It is all about mutual understanding at the end of the day. The ultimate goal is to provide the best care you can comprise and improve your patient engagement, which is a significant point if you want to know exactly how you could further lure your patients.

Patient engagement is one of the biggest differentiators between a good rehabilitation experience or an excellent one. In the best-case scenario, excellent patient engagement not only makes a client pleased and happy but also attracts more patients. This is because happy clients tell their friends and family about the clinic’s practice and good behavior. If you truly want your clients to have a good relationship with you, then you must know and apply the three types of engagement mentioned above.