Healthcare is getting personalized. As patients, it’s natural we expect dedicated attention from our doctors. But, that’s impossible without embracing the latest technologies, such as connected devices, mobile apps and automated websites.
With that said, hospitals and doctor offices need to understand what patients expect and create a user-friendly websites to ensure a cheerful hospital visit. Indeed, of the 5,627 registered hospitals in the US, many are failing at creating an ideal online experience.
Thus, if you’re a doctor’s office or a huge hospital system, here are doctor recommended design tips to future proof your website. Following this advice will not only make your patient’s happy, but also help grow your practice.
Design Focused On Patient Experience
Automating the doctor’s visit is the first thing your website design should concentrate on.
Let’s take Jane – A stay at home mother of two. Her youngest child has a high temperature and she wants to meet with her pediatrician ASAP.
In the traditional scenario, Jane would call the doctor’s office and talk with the receptionist. Sadly, the receptionist cannot find an empty slot and writes Jane in after a couple of days. But even when appointments are booked, people cancel or don’t turn up all the time. Thus, there’s an opportunity that Jane has missed because of the information isn’t smart – AKA Well connected and designed.
But with the new web technology available, the doctor’s office can be made digitally accessible to patients. The automated process can overcome the issues faced by the traditional method.
Now, Jane can check the doctor’s availability through the online appointment portal and confirm the appointment. Once the she checks in, it’s easy for the doctor’s office to access her child’s reports and other supporting materials to have ready for the visit. With all the records being ready, the consultation starts and ends on time. Jane is in and out of the hospital, happy and without any hassle.
Doctor’s Recommendation: To future proof your medical business, design your website around solving problems and creating processes.
A Website Connected To Medical Devices
Let’s take Mike as our next patient. Mike is suffering from a severe case of high blood pressure and the doctors are confused about which medicine to prescribe him. Choosing the right one is extremely tricky, as each person reacts differently to each medicine. To solve this, the doctor accesses Mike’s electronic health record (EHR), helping the doctor analyze and find the perfect medicine that suits Mike best.
Similarly, Mike is given a medical wearable device that helps his doctor closely monitor Mike’s vitals, in real time. If there’s an irregular pattern noticed, then both Mike and the doctor get an SMS text and email. This is an important feature, as it helps Mike get help immediately and resolve critical symptoms before they become a problem.
There’re many other conditions that need to be monitored closely. Such patients are usually advised to be in bed with plenty of monitors connected to them. With the advancement of technologies, wearable devices are directly connected to the hospital website to alert doctors if the patient is in need of any help. This design helps patients lead a normal life.
Doctor’s Recommendation: To future proof your medical business, connect your EHR and wearables to your web platform for seamless alerts and help.
A Portal To Connect Doctors
The medical field is always changing, with new medicines and techniques.
Mike’s condition could have been treated faster if his doctor was aware of the newer medicines that are available in the market. Many doctors want to learn about the newest medical advances, but few have the time to actively stay updated on a day to day basis.
This makes knowledge sharing an essential part of a hospital website. It helps doctors stay in touch with current treatment and medicine trends. Also, the vast library resources should be made available through the website to help doctors make maximum use of new knowledge.
Doctor’s Recommendation: To future proof your medical business, create a knowledge sharing portal for your team to stay up to date.
Showcase The Hospitals Research And Success Stories
Running a profitable hospital is a very difficult job. A reputation of a hospital depends on its doctors. Let’s take Meredith (obviously from Grey’s Anatomy) – She’s an excellent doctor and loves to grow professionally. She takes every opportunity to conduct clinical research and try out new experiments in order to take her professional skills to the next level. She is the best of the best and her hospital is lucky to have her on staff.
If you have such staff, then you need to highlight them at every possible turn! The website must showcase the hospital’s success stories, its revolutionary doctors and the clinical research success data to separate it from its competitors. If something’s worth telling, you must let the world know.
Doctor’s Recommendation: To future proof your medical business, your website needs to showcase your latest news, findings and successes.
Tell Their Story For Them
In the end, it’s all about how you tell your story.
You have made Jane, Mike and even Meredith’s life better by providing awesome service and infrastructure. It’s time to reach out to the other Janes and Merediths who are looking for similar things. Your website is essential to showcase all you can do for your patients – And you do that through the stories you tell.
A great idea: Go parallax to tell their story in a convincing way. It’s essential you use a high definition pictures or get a video testimonial to help convince potential patients. Unity Point is a great website that uses story and high definition images in the right way to tell their story.
Doctor’s Recommendation: To future proof your medical business, think about the story you want to tell potential patients – Then tell it on the first page of your website.
Make Your Hospital Website Mobile-Ready
Building a mobile ready website is essential. Now that two third of Americans own a smartphone, embrace the technology and make it easy for patients to access you.
Another great idea: Work with a team of healthcare app developers to create functional and useful app for staff and patients. A well designed and simple app for patient check-in, health data and doctor information will go a long way for patient retention. Connect this app to your website and you’ve got a multiple touch points to engage current and potential patients.
Doctor’s Recommendation: To future proof your medical business, go big on mobile friendly websites and apps.
And there you have it – Our doctor recommended design tips to future proof your website.