Patient Satisfaction by Design

The concept of the patient experience as it relates to patient satisfaction is a complex dynamic. It is a dynamic that is becoming increasingly more important as patients are faced with multiple choices for their hearing and balance care. As reimbursement and performance policies have become more normative within health care, patient satisfaction has become a metric to measure quality. Patient satisfaction is no longer contained to just the interaction with the audiologist. It extends to the entire experience-the staff, the service, the product, and other factors. Many practices fail to capitalize on one of the primary components of the patient experience-office design. This article discusses the role of evidence-based design in facility planning as it relates to patient satisfaction. It will illustrate how design principles and ideal attributes may be used to send conscious and subconscious cues that will motivate staff, facilitate patient-centered care, and ultimately increase patient satisfaction.