Introduction
Satisfaction plays a major role in human life, and for a business to prosper, the management has to try and ensure that all the stakeholders are satisfied. Satisfaction, in simple terms, can be described as the feeling that one gets when his/her desires and expectations are fulfilled or met. There is always a big link between patient and employee satisfaction in that when one is disillusioned, there is a high chance that the other party won’t get the best services. Therefore, all organizations, healthcare included, should have a strategic plan for ensuring that there’s satisfaction between the employee, patients, and even other stakeholders. Some of the main strategies that provide a link between employee and patient satisfaction include; time availability, employee acknowledgment, a happy medium, a governance structure, and patient champions. An in-depth analysis and explanation of the above are listed below.
Creation of a good governance structure to enhance satisfaction.
Having a well-laid-down governance structure is very important, especially when there is a need to have both employees and patients satisfied. The human resource department should therefore consider developing a governance structure to help boost experience in their strategic plans. With this plan in place, the healthcare organization will be able to know the patients’ perspectives on their experiences as received from their feedback (Janicijevic et al., 2013). This feedback and interactions will, in the end, improve the relationship and allow a bond to be created between the employees and the patients.
By developing a governance structure, the organization will be able to have in place a governing body that will, from time to time, find out and keep records on how the patients are feeling, whether their needs have been identified and met, and also if at all the relevant information has been shared on time and understood by them. Generally, the patients feel at ease, and more comfortable speaking to someone on their level, an individual they feel might share in their predicaments (Janicijevic et al., 2013). The governing body will therefore take responsibility for ensuring that all the necessary information is channeled to the employees, who will, in turn, feel empowered and comfortable in their situations while dealing with the patients. With this way of engagement, the relationship and satisfaction between them will improve.
Employee acknowledgment and reward.
The management needs to continuously acknowledge the employees and reward them for their performances, as this will act as a motivating factor for them. With such recognition, the employee’s morale will go up, thereby getting the psyche to deliver and serve the patients well (Sow, 2017). The HR should have in their strategic plans a means of offering contributions that directly relate to the work done by the employees. This will automatically make the employees stay focused on their work by providing patients with the necessary care and keeping them safe.
Recognition and appreciation of exemplary work by the organization will generally inspire the employees to work harder and fight for the organization. Every employee will always try to put more effort into their area work; those who may have failed to get something will try to do better with the hope of getting acknowledged in the next session, whereas those already awarded will try to maintain the momentum. This, I believe, will generally spur a positive attitude within the organization.
A happy medium.
An organization that doesn’t put in place a happy medium as a checklist risks ruining the relationship between the employees and patients. This always acts as an intelligent way of checking out people’s emotions. A happy medium helps in balancing everyone’s needs and also aids in avoiding going to extremes. For the healthcare facility to have a good patient and employee relationship, they need to always have a happy medium checklist in place. Keeping a checklist that’s geared toward the human is in itself a happy medium since it ensures that there is a laid down script on discharge and flexibility (Parveen et al., 2017). This method also ensures that value is brought to patient-centered places and that nonverbal behaviors are included in such places. With this, there will be both social and quality care of relationships.
In short, with a happy medium in place, there will be an easy and improved understanding between the patients and employees which will create a lasting bond as compared to having a bunch of systems in place that will be difficult to understand or be easily read by the patients (Sow, 2017). For this reason, I would ensure that a happy medium is included in top my top strategy list as it helps in balancing the needs and satisfaction between the patients and workers.
Time availability
The organization should always ensure that there is enough time allocated for the employees to perform their duties to the patients. This will go along with ensuring that the patients receive all the necessary attention and care as needed. In any case, an employee has been seen to have a good rapport with a specific patient, and even if the patient is confirmed to be comfortable around them, they should be allowed to spend enough time with the patient. This will ensure that they complete all the work required of them and offer the necessary care before moving to the next place (Parveen et al., 2017). When there is an understanding of the amount of time required both by the patients and the caregivers, it would be easy to develop well-thought-out strategies needed to ensure that there is an employee -patient satisfaction.
The employees should also have enough time balance between rest and work. They shouldn’t be overloaded with work with a limited break. The organization should ensure that they are allowed time to relax as a fatigued employee will not give out his/her best. This will, in the long run, impact services given to the patients and will automatically affect the relationship between the two groups. With all the above stated in mind, I definitely feel that time is an important factor, and that’s why I would not leave it out on my points.
Patient champion.
Like in several other fields, the healthcare sector also has champions amidst it. A patient champion can be described as an employee who is dedicated to improving a specific area in an organization. This is always an arrangement where individuals are assigned to advocate, promote and implement certain things within a department. It can come in the form of volunteering or just deployment (Leggat et al., 2017). Such people always direct their efforts on improving areas where they feel that reformation is needed. With this, it helps in improving work performances, for example, high standards and quality services offered, all for the benefit of the patients. The caregivers, on the other hand, benefit from the continuous flow of new ideas and changes brought about by the specialists. This activity ensures that they are equipped with the relevant information as they’ll be able to learn from experts. I would vouch for this because of the impact it brings to an organization if well implemented. It ensures that all the gaps are sealed, thereby resulting in a better work environment.
References
Janicijevic, I., Seke, K., Djokovic, A., & Filipovic, T. (2013). Healthcare workers’ satisfaction and patient satisfaction–where is the linkage? Hippokratia, 17(2), 157.
Leggat, S. G., Karimi, L., & Bartram, T. (2017). A path analysis study of factors influencing hospital staff perceptions of quality-of-care factors associated with patient satisfaction and patient experience. BMC health services research, 17(1), 1-8.
Parveen, M., Maimani, K., & Kassim, N. M. (2017). A comparative study on job satisfaction between registered nurses and other qualified healthcare professionals. International Journal of Healthcare Management, 10(4), 238-242.
Sow, M. (2017). The relationship between leadership style, organizational culture, and job satisfaction in the US healthcare industry. Manag Econ Res J, 3(2017), 1332.
write