Digital Solution

When it comes to innovative approaches, modern institutions no longer think of long written questionnaires to measure patient satisfaction. Nowadays, we consider that outdated. In the digital era, there are much more modern methods available in the market. After obtaining the ZKN quality mark in 2011, WHC actively searched for a digital solution, says CEO Bastiaan Breukhoven. “Our priority was to work with a digital solution. After market research, we partnered with a provider who could support such an approach. Unfortunately, in practice, that application was not user-friendly, resulting in very little patient feedback. It essentially didn’t yield any results.” In search of an alternative that actually worked, Breukhoven came across CareRate from Rotterdam. “I was immediately impressed by the concept behind their improvement application. Their app makes it extremely accessible for patients to provide feedback. Additionally, there was an instant connection with the CareRate team. Thanks to their guidance and training focus, we had confidence that this project wouldn’t encounter the same issues as the previous one. We haven’t been working together for long, but we are extremely excited about our collaboration.”

Concrete improvement point

The collaboration with CareRate started in mid-September of this year. Since then, the WHC has been highlighting the opportunity for patients to share their experiences in all forms of communication, anonymously if desired. In a period of one and a half months, this has already led to seventy responses. It may not seem like a lot, but it’s slightly more than the intended two per day.

Breukhoven: “On an annual basis, we’re talking about over five hundred patient experiences. We don’t need much more; it has to remain manageable.”

The WHC aims to implement a concrete improvement point every month based on the feedback received. Has that been achieved? “Absolutely,” confirms Breukhoven with pride. “A patient pointed out that the appointment confirmation email we send does not include address details. We have made the necessary changes so that visitors can now transfer this information to their navigation system.” According to Breukhoven, this improvement initiative is a perfect example of short-cycle improvement. “It’s the first of many, and it’s a beginning that definitely leaves us wanting more.”

Guidance

Wasn’t it a big adjustment for WHC employees to be so open to criticism in this way? “No, not really,” says Breukhoven. “There is a lot of enthusiasm internally. That is partly thanks to the guidance provided by CareRate. They focus on what is going well and what can be improved. This approach prevents creating a culture of punishment when processing feedback. That’s something we explicitly want to avoid.” By the way, so far, 95 percent of all patient experiences received through the app at WHC have been positive.