Top-Notch Care

Providing top-notch clinical care isn’t the only way to improve a patient’s health-care experience. A holistic approach to patient experience necessitates attention to all area of the patients’ experiences at the patient service center, including their physical comfort, ensuring their understanding of procedures, openness to ask questions, and awareness of emotional needs.

Patient-Centered Culture

As healthcare professionals, the way we interact with patients determines their level of comfort, often not only with how they feel about their experience with our company, but with how they feel about getting their laboratory experience in general. Evidence shows that companies that practice a patient-centered culture have superior outcomes. BMC Health Services Research found that organizations that are more patient-centered have more positive outcomes such as, greater satisfaction with care, greater job satisfaction among healthcare professionals, increased quality and safety of care, and greater quality of life and well-being of patients.

At HNL Lab Medicine

Our patient-centric philosophy drives our Phlebotomy team to be open to listening and educating, while being patient and kind. Some ways that we do so are:

• Asking questions
• Listening without interrupting
• Validating the patients concerns
• Making eye contact and having open body language
• Always thinking about ways that we can help the patient Providing the patient with a thorough explanation of the procedure they present for does a lot to help put them and their families at ease. In our roles as Laboratory professionals, providing a psychologically safe space isn’t enough, the physical space needs to also be front of mind. At HNL, we are vigilant about providing the patient with a safe, friendly and clean environment to visit when they enter out PSC location.

Extra Care

In special cases, patients require additional attention, understanding, and involvement from healthcare professionals, like Pediatric phlebotomy for example. Pediatric phlebotomy requires additional patience and empathy, which goes along with having a strong enough rapport to confidently make a child, and their parent, simultaneously feel comfortable. One of our phlebotomists has gone as far as to color and produce a Flat Stanley for pediatric patients, as well as purchase small stuffed teddy bears to make the same pediatric patients more comfortable when presenting for a venipuncture. And after the draw is complete, they get to leave with the teddy bear! Going above the typical routine of a venipuncture, regardless of the patient’s age, is something that most healthcare professionals strive for, and that patients always notice.

HNL Phlebotomy Team

Often, lending an empathetic ear can help the patients feel heard, understood and comfortable, which is vital in a laboratory setting. In addition, a clean waiting room, short wait time, quick and easy phlebotomy procedure with a skilled phlebotomist, and maybe even a thoughtful teddy bear could make a tremendous difference in transforming an experience to one riddled with anxiety, to a memorable, pleasant one. As a phlebotomist getting to know your patients is paramount. Responding to their history, needs, and fears surrounding lab medicine not only shows them how much we value them as our patient, but helps us to do our jobs more efficiently and ultimately provide better results. At HNL Lab Medicine, our patients are more than just a test tube. The person behind every laboratory test is a story that we have the privilege of being part of.