Create an Experience that Employees Prefer and Patients Want

Technology could streamline processes

Originally published by ASC Focus magazine.
Written by: Robb Webb

In the early 1900s, Frederick Winslow Taylor penned the famous Principles of Scientific Management Theory. In it, he described how to optimize the way work gets done and studied the tiniest of tasks, leading to the division of labor and establishment of rigorous processes and hierarchy.

Long after Taylor’s theory was replaced with modular manufacturing and more recently, human-centered design, we find ourselves faced with yet another opportunity to predict the future.

More than 50 years ago, two physicians opened the nation’s first ASC in Phoenix, Arizona, to provide patients with same-day surgical procedures in a convenient and comfortable setting. Today, we predict a future for ASCs that anticipates technological advances, greater specialization and process improvements that yield efficiency and improved margins.

Most agree with the undeniable impact that technology has had and will have on ASCs. Every organization must find ways to streamline how they operate, and healthcare is no different.

For ASCs to thrive in the future, operators will certainly look to process improvement and other ‘lean’ theories, but they also must consider the human factors that are exponentially more complex.

 

Preserve Personalized Care 

ASCs include a variety of stakeholders that range from physicians to patients and the clinical staff who care for them. These stakeholders can also include any health systems that hold an equity stake in a center and companies that provide management services.

To create a future for outpatient procedures at these facilities, it is necessary to consider the human experience.

When we design ASCs with patients in mind, we discover new ways to create personalized experiences that resonate with each of the stakeholders. By discovering how staff and patients experience the facility, we change the physical environment in subtle ways that provide comfort and privacy.

When they modify processes to create efficiencies and to be effective and engaging for staff and patients, ASCs create experiences that drive preference.

Standardization plays an important role in the delivery of quality care, but consumerism has led to a period where the individual expects to be known and cared for as more than the “next in line.” ASCs can adopt standardized processes and materials while preserving a sense of personalized care.

Clinical staff have recently endured unforeseen hardships during the pandemic, and much has been written about the toll this public health emergency has taken on these frontline heroes.

The future of ASCs will be brightest if we make sure to assess the work experience for all who come together to deliver outpatient surgical procedures. It is imperative that operators do all they can to discover how best to create a welcoming and engaging work experience for each person at the ASC. Simply put, a highly engaged nurse is best positioned to create an amazing experience for a patient.

Understanding how an individual ASC can create an environment that enables physicians to be at their best also will influence the end-to-end experience for all stakeholders.

 

Apply Design Thinking for ASCs

The best way to predict the future is to intentionally begin to design it today.

Many organizations have employed the concept of design thinking to refine strategies and change processes for the benefit of the people served. Using empathy with individual stakeholders, organizations can ‘unlearn’ things they have perfected, so that they remain relevant.

There is immense advantage in the discovery of how individuals would like to experience an ASC, rather than simply staying the course and requiring them to participate in how ASCs have been designed previously.

By way of example, the hotel industry has long created hotels in the form they believe travelers prefer. Through the application of design thinking, hotel management companies have discovered that their customers had different expectations. They had simply been trained through the years to comply with the processes defined by the hotel.

Now, imagine the future for ASCs.

Imagine how the arrival experience could feel for physicians, staff and patients. Imagine how technology could streamline the process and make it feel more personal. Imagine how each interface with another person could make one feel.

Some believe that a sea of sameness exists across the healthcare sector. A quick review of websites demonstrates similar imagery and messaging in terms of quality care, size and impact. Waiting rooms look remarkably similar and the check-in process tends to lean more toward standards of efficiency than individualized care.

ASC operators can adopt a strategy that ranges from smart follower all the way to disruptor. The gravitational pull to what one already knows can be tremendous. The implications for imagining a different future can be daunting.

Creating a future that enables ASC operators to focus clearly on the human components of this business should not distract them from prudent business decisions. Creating a future for ASCs that focuses on both dimensions will become a differentiator for those who work at surgical centers and, most importantly, those people who are cared for in this outpatient setting.