Last night I was staying in a private hospital and I observed several points that can improve the staying experience for the patient.
- Checking blood pressure multiple times - A nurse took the blood pressure from my wife and went out, within 5 mins, another nurse came in and wanted to do the same thing. This happened twice. Clearly there was a lack of communication among the nurses which should be improved. If taking blood pressure is a scheduled routine task, a simple colour labelling outside the door would do the job. Like how one would know if the handicapped toilet is taken by the red or green colour near the knob.
- Taking blood test twice - My wife was being poked twice for blood tests. I mean why can’t they just poke once and draw enough blood for a couple of tests, store the balance blood properly for whatever test is needed later. Twice within 24 hours is ridiculous. Of course I’m not a blood testing expert, maybe the blood will “expires” within 1 hour after being expose to air. As a layman point of view, don’t poke patient just because it is convenient for your job. You poke patient only as it you were doing it for yourself too.
- Frequent disturbances from people entering the room - Patient needs to rest, and frequently entering and leaving the room does not help. For example, I observed the cleaner came into the room twice, the first time to clean toilet and the second time to top up the toilet paper. She can simply bring in the toilet paper the very first time, no need a second trip. I think the hospital management should come out with a KPI that measures the number times the door is open and close from the moment a patient “check in” the room. By placing a physical trigger mechanism to act as a counter at the door, reset it when the patient first enter the room, and note down the number when the patient is discharged. I promise you, the smaller the number, the better the staying experience.