Healthcare is the ultimate service industry. After all, what service could possibly be more important than providing for the health of a human being or saving a person’s life?

Because healthcare is a service industry, one of the key duties for any hospital CEO must be to serve as the Chief Experience Officer. In that role, the CEO is responsible for making sure the hospital staff is delivering optimal care in terms of quality, safety and the patient experience.  Here are just a few of the many questions the CEO needs both to ask and answer:

How are our patients being treated? Are they receiving care in a timely manner? What are the interactions like between patient and staff? What is the community’s perception of our hospital?

Are we providing our staff with the right training and resources available to improve the patient experience?

Improving the patient experience builds patient trust and that is how you build your brand. After people visit your hospital, they’re always going to share their experiences with family, friends and neighbors. If they’ve been treated with respect and courtesy, your patients become brand ambassadors, spreading the good word about your hospital. But if the experience has been negative, those impressions will also be shared. Either way, the word does get it out. It’s your choice. And word-of-mouth is possibly the most powerful form of advertising ever created.

To learn more about how your hospital can use social media and innovative marketing tools to create a new, positive image in your community, call Brentwood Communications at 615-425-0821.