“All of your customers are partners in your mission.” – Shep Hyken

Designing for the patient experience is designing for success. Looking out for your patient’s best interest and ensuring that they feel welcomed, comfortable, and happy when they are in your space not only promises better patient outcomes but can also spell financial rewards for any practice.

The question is, how can you create a world-class patient experience through interior design? And can you leverage your interior design to create positive outcomes for your patients? Find out how on our list below:

1. Understanding the Patient Journey

   Whether reevaluating your existing space or mapping out preliminary plans for the layout, it will be extremely helpful to put yourself in your patients’ shoes and map out the steps they go through with every single visit and even into their respective treatments.

   What do they see? How are things being managed? Can they sit comfortably in your lounge area? How long does it take to get from one place to another? All these questions seek to answer the level of experience that patients will encounter within your practice. Is it up to the level you wish them to be in? Is there room for improvement? Can things be made better?

   Putting all these elements into consideration in your medical office interior design reflects the amount of detail, and level of care that you have for your patients.

2. Understanding the Patient Psychology

   Any visit to a medical facility is bound to bring some level of anxiety. Understanding that they need to be addressed is a great start to delivering a medical visit that is pleasant, proactive, and overwhelmingly positive. A good example is to forego the “waiting room” and instead provide a Lounge experience for your patients. The truth is nobody wants to wait much less wait for medical attention. So, lounges must be designed to convey a relaxed mood and fitted with seats that are comfortable, equipped with amenities to entertain like a TV or a beverage station that will make their stay in the space as relaxed and pleasant as possible.

3. Designing for Comfort

   On the topic of patient psychology, you can never go wrong with comfort as a top consideration. Comfort can mean different things to different people. It can come in the form of the furniture they get to sit on, or the length of travel they need to walk to get from one place to another. It can also come to the kind of lighting you use for any given space and ensure that they are appropriate for any task and mood at hand. If you can design and program your Medical Interiors in such a way that your patients will be comfortable every step of the way, it is exceeding any expectations they may initially have.

4. Connecting Your Interior Design to Your Quality of Care

   As much as this is a blog for Medical Interiors, there is no denying that designing an exceptional patient environment goes beyond what our eyes can see. The patient environment must encompass a larger context and that needs to include the kind and level of care that is expected in a world-class medical practice. A Medical office’s brand is about making a commitment to the kind of service you intend to deliver. It is imperative that the interiors, as well as the physical encounters they will have in their check-in and the care they will get, is aligned to that brand promise as well. They are all connected. The interiors can only do so much in creating that positive patient experience. Do not miss out on having your staff be up to a high level of expertise, professionalism, and care.

5. Positive Experience for Positive Outcomes

   Remember that a positive patient experience is key to creating trust, and establishing long-term relationships with your patients. Not only does it promise returning clients, but a viable source of referrals. The best advertisement is one coming from a satisfied customer, and with social media, online reviews are moving medical practices at the touch of one’s fingertips, and any bad review might push you further down on opportunities to get new clients. One must not rest on their laurels; A positive patient experience is reliant on consistency. You are only as good as your last appointment.

We can never underscore how important Patient Experience is in the making of a high-level medical space. Whatever the scale or the medical service, putting the patient first is key to overwhelming success professionally and financially. Elevate your space so it can elevate your patients as well. Are you ready for success? If so, contact us for a complimentary design consultation, and together we can start your journey for a high-performing and world-class medical space you will be proud of. Let’s go!