Need for hospitality and guest relations in healthcare

• The healthcare sector is getting transformed through a paradigm shift from mere medical treatment to wholesome patient satisfaction and this includes hospitality and guest relations. To attain this, the training and development of guest relations professionals is a must in healthcare.
• Another important factor to note is the increasing competition among hospitals and health centres. To run hospitals profitably, the healthcare operations management must be efficient and it should employ well-trained guest relations executives. 

Importance of training guest relations professionals in healthcare

1. Healthcare centres and hospitals are areas where people assemble in large numbers daily. There is a dire need for the presence of competent guest relations professionals who will attend to the visitors, greet and welcome them, ascertain their needs and fulfill them with quality service by directing them to the right areas of medical assistance.
2. Hospitals are the havens where distressed patients in acute trauma and pain arrive to seek relief. More than just cursory smiles and polite enquiries, patients need genuine attention to address their problems. Hospitals must have guest relations personnel who will attend to the patient, make them feel relaxed and comfortable and then learn their requirements. Patient, polite and genuinely helpful persons with an amiable disposition should be selected to suit this role. The fact that there is someone who will patiently listen to them and guide them will itself bring solace to most patients. This is the first step to improve patient satisfaction and enrich their hospital experience. The solution to attaining this is training the guest relations professionals in hospitals.
3. Healthcare centres and large clinics have numerous departments like labs, scan centres, blood banks and operating theatres. Relatives of patients are found frantically running from "pillar-to-post" in anxiety trying to enlist the best treatment for their loved ones. Why should a hospital be such a place of chaos and confusion? Can't the healthcare operations management be streamlined and coordinated to give a simple and swift  access to the hospital's facilities?
4. Yes, it can and this is where the healthcare human resources personnel step in. Guest Relations professionals should be trained to guide, coordinate and facilitate the needs of the patients to ensure quick delivery of service and treatment.
5. Talk of hospitals and patients groan. Not only in pain but in the horror of waiting endlessly at counters and to meet doctors. Minimizing the waiting time of patients is the only way to maximize the patient experience at hospitals. Guest relations professionals at hospitals must be trained to ensure adherence to appointment timings, immediate attention to the patient by doctors, swift lab testing and processing and shorter queues at counters.
6. Guest relations professionals at hospitals must be made to understand that patient service is their foremost responsibility. Right from greeting them and answering their phone call patiently to welcoming them warmly in person, seating them, listening to their grievances, understanding their needs and guiding them, every aspect of patient hospitality should be carefully addressed. This is what makes the hospitals' hospitality a wholesome experience.

Training healthcare guest relations professionals

• Strategic Bed Occupancy Allotment which is to be made on the basis of current HBO and future forecasts with priority to patient related ailments. For example, low risk patients may be allocated general ward/rooms while high risk ones need bed occupancy in critical care units.