Understanding and managing the holistic patient experience for improving well-being and healthcare service delivery
(A2020-63128)

AUTHORS

Teresa Lopes, Minho University ; Cláudia Simões, University of Minho; Patrício Costa, University of Minho / Medical School; Joana César Machado, Universidade Católica do Porto

KEYWORDS

patient experience; patient journey; healthcare services

ABSTRACT

Understanding patient experience (PX) is an important focus area across healthcare organizations. PX definitions predominantly take the healthcare service provider perspective, with services crafting an experience of care for the patient to receive. Such perspective neglects patients’ interactions with care providers and through a myriad of touchpoints in multiple channels beyond the boundaries of the healthcare organization. This study develops a deeper understanding of PX in the increasingly complex service context and establishes linkages with managerial dimensions. We propose the PX as having a holistic scope and occurring throughout the patient journey, involving complex and dynamic interfaces. We further develop a conceptual framework representing the PX throughout the patient journey and the main outcomes. A PX orientation may generate valuable outcomes for the overall healthcare system such as service improvement and patient´s well-being. To successfully manage PX, healthcare organizations are required to identify critical changes in terms of their internal structure and organization. Keywords: patient experience, patient journey, health care services Track: Services Marketing

REFERENCES

The first author is grateful to Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT - Portugal) by providing support to the Ph.D. program through national funding (SFRH/BD/135668/2018).