Patient engagement is an oft-repeated phrase in modern healthcare and the definition can be nebulous. Despite the confusion surrounding what it actually means, most providers are expected to maintain high levels of it in order to achieve the best possible patient outcomes and provider truly patient-centric care. Let’s start by unraveling the mystery behind this ambiguous concept.

Patient engagement is, at its core, inspiring within patients the desire to actively participate in their own healthcare decision making and educating them so that they are capable of doing so. This must be done in a personalized and unique manner for each and every patient as they will have distinct personalities and expectations of their providers. This gives providers the ability to influence and guide patients towards making positive health decisions, leading to both better patient outcomes and better public health.

Another goal is to enhance the patient experience from beginning to end. This will involve every member of the practice, working together to provide a highly personalized experience. Talk to your patients, get to know them. Without any personalization your engagement strategies will be entirely ineffective. Beyond the patient, these strategies must also include any family or carers that are actively involved in the patient’s care.

The lockdowns and travel restrictions placed on all of us during the COVID-19 pandemic meant that there was also a shift towards digital methods of patient engagement. These methods have also been subject to great development over the past two years. Telehealth, for example, has emerged as a legitimate alternative to in-person care and has experienced a massive boom in popularity.

Keep reading for our top 4 easy strategies for improving patient engagement.

1. Design a Patient Engagement Strategy
   The first step is creating an all-encompassing strategy for patient engagement to guide your providers on how they should go about things for both existing and future patients. This strategy must be patient-centric, encouraging and educating patients towards self-management of chronic conditions and joint decision making with involvement from both the patient and provider. To make it easier for patients to follow along and learn, start by identifying the patient’s unique needs and then establishing both short- and long-term goals as you work towards helping them get to a place where they can actively participate in meeting these needs.

Learn More: Enhancing Patient Engagement Through Personalized Care

2. Engaging Workplace Culture
   As stated above, a truly engaging patient experience will require involvement and engagement by all staff members. You need everyone fully bought-in or any strategies you out in place will fail. It is important to lead by example; an engaging workplace culture is a necessity for patient engagement. Build positive relationships and define a set of values that leads to higher levels of patient engagement and a staff that is fully willing and capable to engage patients at every step of the journey.

3. Invest in Digital Technology
   The patient portal is an extremely powerful tool for patient engagement. It can simplify and streamline the check-in process for patients by offering them the ability to fill out intake and registration form online, as well as updating their contact and insurance information. Personalized, automated text messages and emails are easy to set up and have a great impact on patients. These can be used for appointment reminder and confirmation messages as well. Social media is another powerful tool for connecting with patients directly and guiding their healthcare conversations in the right direction.

4. Empower Patients
   Patient engagement is all about empowering patients, giving them greater control over their own healthcare and involving them in the decision-making process. Empowerment starts with education; guide and teach your patients so that they have all the necessary tools and knowledge they need to be involved in their own healthcare decisions. Introduce them to tools such as secure text or the patient portal through which they can contact their providers to discuss any concerns they may have.