COVID 19 has changed literally everything. From the way we conduct business to the way we earn money, it is no longer the same. A major consequence of COVID 19 was how people perceived other products and services. Consumer habits changed and businesses, including service providers such as hospitals, should keep up with these changes.
Given the changes, many hospitals tried alternatives and formed resolutions for the better. The best of the resolutions and transformations made by hospitals involve some form of integration of modern technology. And the bigger part of the transformation in 2021 should include creating patient-centric hospitals.
Patient centrism is similar to customer-centrism in business. Meaning that everything revolves around the customer. The advertisements, services, products, and even customer service is revolved around catering to the needs of the customer. Similarly in a hospital, the success in 2021 is going to be measured by how much a hospital prioritize their patient. What is the initiative they have taken to treat all patients equally? What are the services improved and how does it impact the well-being of the patient? Are the patient’s needs met and fulfilled as a result of the hospital’s effort? These metrics are more important to the succession of a hospital.
The pressure for health care facilities to adapt to the internet coverage and technology rising is high. Patient centricity is a term we have been a long hearing, but sick of it not being implemented. While this patient centrism has been “talk” for years, Covid-19, accelerated the changes. Hospitals have begun implementing the latest technology for patient and staff convenience. Investing in digitalization, telemedicine, remote health care, are all some of the practices that should be normalized in modern hospitals. I mean in the age of 5G, the world should be able to access health care both virtually and physically. Malaysians should be able to access healthcare using their unifi internet.
Being so far away is not a viable reason for the unavailability of health care. Inaccessibility to affordable transportation is not a person’s fault and neither is it a reason to put their health in danger. It is a hospital’s responsibility to start making their services more accessible to those in remote locations. In the era of broad TM unifi coverage in Malaysia, it would be an utter failure of the hospital to say they could not provide modern solutions for those in remote areas.
What are some new trends that users and patients demand from the hospital, especially in light of how COVID 19 changed health care provision? The demand from the public is all related to patient centricity, in the hopes of gaining efficiency, accessibility, reduce discriminatory practices and increase quality health care services. And in today’s world and time, convenience and quality have never been easier with modern technology.
Telehealth And Telemedicine
Everything was virtual in 2020 and in 2021 as well. The virtual world is not going to go anytime soon and the same applies to the world of medicine. Providing medical services over a virtual platform with technological integration is known as telemedicine. The concept of telemedicine and its practice was popularized over the last decade even though it made its appearance in the ’50s. Until COVID 19, big corporations were holding back the plug on popularizing telehealth and telemedicine.
However, with time and Covid 19, the demand from the tech-savvy population just got higher. The current generation understands how technology works. It makes no difference whether they lived in urban cities or rural areas. Digital literacy is everywhere. Technology is no stranger to us and neither is the world of the internet and unifi broadband plans.
Telemedicine is done through remote delivery of health care service by providing an interactive medical diagnosis or through methods of the store and forwards or remote patient monitoring. Big internet hospitals which were popularized by China, perfectly utilize this method of medicinal practice.
There are now over 600 internet hospitals in china. It is obvious that internet hospitals play a major role in providing everyone health care services during a time of lockdown and overflowing hospitals. The country has successfully combatted coronavirus and brought it under control while the rest of the world is still struggling. We could learn a thing or two from how to successfully integrate technology in healthcare services the way Chinese health care providers did.
Understanding Customer Behavior And Motivation Using Big Data
Being customer-centric or rather patient-centric starts from understanding the patient. So how can we understand the patient in the first place?
By using technology to monitor a patient’s behavior, a hospital can have enough information on the behavior of the patient. The behavior is what is used to personalize health care services to each individual. This comes especially in handy when dealing with the tech-savvy generation who has an insatiable hunger for customization in services. The data and insights we obtain from monitoring the database are invaluable information for the sake of differentiating your hospital and creating a competitive advantage against other health care providers.
Digital Mobile Apps And Platforms For Quality Health Care Service
There are mobile applications for everything now. From tracking our menstrual cycles to even moon cycles, there is a mobile app for that. So it only makes sense that our health care providers also have a mobile app. Using smart devices and apps makes obtaining quality health care services a convenient thing. It can also help save lives, take quick measures in dangerous situations and increase the efficiency of service provision. It also mitigates the discrimination people may face when it comes to health care. A mobile app or even a web service can keep people connected and encourage better patient engagement.
