Culturally Competent Care: Patient Experience in Asia with Joyce Nazario

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Hello, and welcome to Every Moment is a Choice.

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I'm your host, Erika Behl, and I invite you to join me on a transformative journey to

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uncover the extraordinary potential that lies within every single moment of our lives.

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From the choices we make in our relationships, careers, and personal growth, to the mindset

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we embrace in the face of adversity, this podcast will empower you to embrace the notion

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that every moment holds a choice, and it's up to us to seize it.

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Join me as we engage in insightful conversations with thought leaders, experts, and everyday

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people who have harnessed the power of choice to achieve greatness, overcome obstacles,

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and create extraordinary lives.

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If you feel inspired by this episode, please read it and consider subscribing.

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I'm keen to know how it's impacted you.

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Today I am delighted to have Joyce Nazario on the podcast.

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Joyce is an expert in patient experience, now a growing field in hospital and healthcare

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management, but one that Joyce has been a pioneer in Asia, particularly in the Philippines

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for over 13 years.

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Based in Manila, she is the first person in Asia to earn the Certified Patient Experience

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Professional, or CPXP, accreditation, and is currently the Patient Experience Excellence

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Head at Metro Pacific Hospital Holdings, the largest private hospital network in the Philippines.

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Joyce is also a sought after speaker due to her wealth of knowledge about cultural context

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in patient experience, and the role of the family in healthcare decision making in Asia.

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She calls for culturally competent care that takes into consideration local preferences,

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traditions, and needs to achieve better patient outcomes in diverse environments.

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This is on a mission to achieve improved health in the Philippines through better patient

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experience, and has some amazing stories to share from her journey.

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So let's get started.

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Hi, Joyce.

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Hi, Erika.

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Thank you for having me on the podcast.

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It's my first.

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I'm super excited to be here.

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I'm super excited to have you here.

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Okay.

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So let's get started.

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So patient experience, how would you define patient experience?

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My very first brush with the definition of patient experience is really the Barrell Institute

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patient experience definition.

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And I think it's a wonderful way to define, but I think we've moved on a little bit from

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that, meaning we understand that it's about meeting the patient at every touch point.

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But my definition would probably be a little bit more about how each patient experiences

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at every touch point.

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So for me, patient experience or great patient experience, patient experience excellence

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really is assured, affordable, and accessible care at every single touch point in the journey.

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So we have to, for me, patient experience has to have those in mind every encounter

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with the patient, whether it's face to face or virtually or on a website or post care

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call.

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That's patient experience for me.

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Awesome.

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I've heard you, you know, you've done some interviews and you've been on stage talking

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about patient experience specifically in Asia, you know, different from how it is in the

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US or in Europe and other places.

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What makes it different here in Asia?

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I think there's a lot of, there's a lot of priority in having the family within the healthcare

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context.

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I see that healthcare is, is a familial experience.

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Just a very good example, when my uncle who is actually a second removed uncle gets everyone

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in the family is in a group chat.

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Everyone wants to know what are the results of the test or what is the result of the last

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time he went to the hospital.

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It's a group chat of 15 people, you know, and these 15 people are going to be with whoever

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the sick family member is on a rotation.

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And these 15 people want to understand at every point what, you know, what's happening

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in the journey.

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We don't do things here, I think in the Asian context alone anymore.

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You know, we always have to have someone with us no matter what we do.

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And there's actually a lot of expectation around having family members, but I would

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say even friends, you know, within your healthcare journey.

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There's so much expectation for there to have someone around you during your healthcare

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journey.

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And so many people are involved in the healthcare journey.

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And I think it's a wonderful thing because as a patient, that's one of the few things

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that you feel like you can control or have control over is your emotion.

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And that's why patient experience is very different from customer experience.

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Customer experience, you have a lot of agency over what you're going to do or what you're

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going to choose.

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You have agency over the product you want.

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You have agency over the purse you want to buy, the shoe you want to, you know.

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But when it comes to healthcare, because you know so little about sometimes what's happening

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to your body, you have no agency sometimes over the choices you make.

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You hand over a lot of trust and a lot of faith in the healthcare system and a lot of

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the only things that you can really control is really your emotions.

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And it's your family and your friends that help you manage your emotions so that you

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can get that a little bit out of the way.

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You know, you'll have a more positive frame of mind or more positive emotional, you know,

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experience at the time because your family and friends are there.

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And then your body, you let your body be treated or doing the things it needs to do along with

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the healthcare system.

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Of course, the healthcare system will, should, should, for you to have an excellent patient

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experience, should empower those within your emotional sphere, your emotional community

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so that it works really well altogether.

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I love that answer because there's a lot of talk nowadays in patient experience about

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kind of service excellence or customer service and, you know, prioritization of things like

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NPS scores or kind of brand recognition for certain healthcare providers.

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But yeah, coming back to what the patient is actually experiencing and the kind of support

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system they have around them in terms of a family or friends makes a huge difference.

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And I, I agree, I've been in Asia for 15 years now, although I'm from the U S and I see it

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too.

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So you're things alone here.

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And I think that's a beautiful thing, but also very interesting in terms of how a patient

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experience professional then engages with a patient.

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Do you engage with the whole family?

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You know, are you on the 15 person group chat as well?

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Like what, what had, how does that get handled?

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Oh, I think number one, a lot of the times, I mean, just very simply say in the Philippine

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context, once you walk into a patient's room, it's just that they're never alone.

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So whoever is inside the room, if you're a doctor, if you're a nurse, you will have to

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interact with the family that's there in the room.

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And of course, if the patient is there, maybe if you have a very simple procedure, two,

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three day procedure, they're just a couple of times that you'll meet with a family.

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But especially for those patients who need longer term care or very high level care,

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you really get to know the family and friends of the patient because you do see them very

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often as a healthcare worker, whether you're a patient experience officer who does daily

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rounds, whether you're a nurse, of course, who were there through number of shifts and

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through a number of days, the doctor, of course, who sees the patient outside of the, of the

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in room setting, of course, they see, they see you outpatient.

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You already get to know the team behind the patient, you know, the team behind the patient,

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the family and friends, even, and I know this also happens, of course, in the Western context,

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the partner, I mean, the boyfriends and the girlfriends, they're very much part of the

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families here as well.

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So you will really see them around and really part of the group chat, the group chat or

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the group, you know, how you address.

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In the Philippines, we really look for, I would say one or two family members that we

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also communicate with along with the patient.

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We actually, one thing is a little bit funny about the Philippines is I think in the Western

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context, it's everything is confidential right away.

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It stops with the patient.

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In the Philippines, the Philippine context, you ask the patients, do you want your medical

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details to be confidential from your immediate family with you?

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We actually ask for that because it's kind of a given already that whoever is with you,

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they're going to find out about your, you know, your medical, whatever you have happening

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in the healthcare journey or medical when they're in the room.

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Yeah.

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Yeah.

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Wow.

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I know it's, it's a, it's a different setup.

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And I think it's very interesting how, as I don't think it's just the Philippines.

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I mean, I think it's different places across Asia have similar as well.

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And one of the things I really like your phrase when you talk about culturally competent care.

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I mean, this, this isn't just involving the family, but this is kind of all different

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types of factors.

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What other factors are there in culturally competent care?

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In the Philippines, we have two major, I would say two major religions.

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So of course, a lot of us are Catholic, but you know, we have a lot of Muslim brothers

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and sisters and that also goes into the other countries, of course, surrounding the in Southeast

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Asia.

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And there are a lot of things that you really have to think about in terms of making sure

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that they have the care that is appropriate to their religion.

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Number one.

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So of course, the food that they eat is very important.

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It's really part of a lot of the, you know, depending where you are in the Philippines,

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like the hospitals of Metro Pacific health that are in Mindanao, they really have their

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own set up for our Muslim brothers and sisters.

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They have certain languages as well.

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And we have interpreters already available.

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You don't have to look for one.

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They're integrated into the staff already so that there isn't any gap in terms of getting

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to communicate with the patients according to their language.

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Again, food is very important.

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And one thing that I know it's very simple, but I think the dignity and privacy, especially

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how different cultures manage the females and males, it's very important for them.

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I mean, there's especially for the females, they really would prefer to have female health

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care workers taking care of them, especially in more vulnerable settings.

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Say, you know, of course, bathing, dressing up, certain procedures that would require

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them to remove clothing.

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It's very, very important for them that that is part of the care that they're given, you

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know, the dignity according to the work where they are in the country.

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Also the way that you see, you know, you get to talk or speak to different health care

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workers.

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You know, I was having a conversation with my colleagues from Bangkok, actually, and

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he was saying, you know, the difference between our nurses is the Filipino nurses are very,

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I would say, outgoing, very outgoing.

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You know, they find out that you're a Filipino, even understand a little bit of Filipino.

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They call you kuya or ate, which is like, which is a very respectful term for older

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brothers.

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They say, kuya, you're here again.

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So ate, you're here again.

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But he was saying that a lot of the Thai nurses, because of the culture, are very, I would

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say a little bit more demure in the way that they get to speak to the patient.

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So sometimes also, especially for cultures that are very, I would say more straightforward,

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you know, there is something in the way that the health care, you know, the health care

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does happen.

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So it's the same thing.

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If you're a patient and you're Thai, you're not as straightforward in, you know, in asking

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for what you need, because that is part of your culture.

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So it's the same.

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But if you are a health care worker and you're taking care of your Thai patient, you have

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to understand the culture and be the one to draw out what they need.

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You know, you have to draw out what they need, but in a way that doesn't overwhelm the way

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that, you know, that how they're thinking, how they're feeling at the time that they're

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in the hospital or on the phone or, you know, whatever way that they're interacting with

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the health care system.

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Yeah.

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I mean, there's, there seems to be so many factors, but the end goal, like you mentioned

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earlier, is kind of the emotional state of the patient.

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And whatever factors kind of contribute to that, you want to make them emotionally kind

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of engaged and supported, I guess.

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Yeah.

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So that's so cool.

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I mean, I mean, across Asia, there's a huge diversity of languages, like you mentioned.

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So there's language, religion, the different kind of cultural norms that come along with

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religious practices and all that and everything.

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So do you make sure that your staff, because you mentioned there are some integrated and

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Mindanao with the Muslim so that they can treat Muslim patients.

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The diversity of your own staff when you have a patient experience team, do you have to

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craft it specifically for the type of patients that are coming in?

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Yes, you know, we really do as much as we can.

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Well, Mindanao is very specific because they have a very high population of say, Muslim

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brothers and sisters.

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So of course, you will really see within the staff, it's integrated.

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Of course, they wear their, you know, what they have to wear on top of their head.

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So that's really part of it.

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That's very, that's very normal for them.

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They also have certain languages.

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Again, one of the languages we often hear in Mindanao is called the usug.

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So there's a certain hospital that has, we already have staff that speak the usug already

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for the specific set of patients.

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One of the things that we like to do, and it's very important and I think very specific

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to the patient experience team is we have this thing called prepping.

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Prepping, you prep, you prep the patients and you prep actually also your doctors because

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you kind of act as an in-between as patient experience.

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I like to say that we're kind of the gap fillers, right?

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Because we understand the patients, but we work with the healthcare workers.

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So we fill the gaps between them.

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So we often prep, for example, our patients, if we have a good relationship with them,

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we tell them, oh, by the way, your doctor is actually pretty, you know, he speaks really

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fast and he's very smart, but this is the way he gives her healthcare information.

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Before he arrives, you might want to list down three questions already so that when

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he comes in, he doesn't forget that to answer those questions.

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On the other hand, we'll talk to the doctor if he's coming in before the patient.

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By the way, your patient is very shy and she actually mentioned these things to me.

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So when you come in, maybe doctor, you could bring up these certain aspects that she was

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asking me a bit earlier because I believe she would like these addressed during the

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conversation you have when you come visit your patients.

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So that's a very important aspect of, I would say, patient experience.

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Of course, patient experience officers do this, but actually the nurses do this a lot

235
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as well because they're the in-between, right?

236
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And it's something that we have to understand.

237
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And again, like you said, for cultural context, as those in-betweens, we have to understand

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them and get them into the healthcare conversation.

239
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That's what we actually makes for me the best patient experience.

240
00:14:32,480 --> 00:14:36,280
You know, when you mentioned earlier that brand is important, of course, brand is important

241
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because we're a business.

242
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We need patients to come into the hospital.

243
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That's true.

244
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NPS is important because we want to understand that do the patients really love us enough

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to come back or tell other people that this is a good healthcare institution, come to

246
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the healthcare institution.

247
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But in the end, as much as I give a lot of importance to these, personally, we track

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also NPS as a metric, as a business metric.

249
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But in the end, it's really about what happens at the worst of times.

250
00:15:07,440 --> 00:15:13,960
And even just to share a story that it happened lately to someone on the team as well that

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unfortunately there was something going on in the family.

252
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They had to bring that person to the emergency room.

253
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And he didn't say to the marketing team, oh my gosh, marketing team, it was amazing.

254
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The first person he talked on the team was me and said, you know, this amazing care that

255
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we received in the emergency room, you know, it really matters.

256
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And I said, yes, of course, patient experience matters because in the end, that's what they

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remember.

258
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They're not going to remember as much what they saw online.

259
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You know, they're not going to remember so much what every number of stars the hospital

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has.

261
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They're going to remember the care that they actually received on the spot.

262
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And even more so if it's appropriate to who they are as a person.

263
00:15:52,600 --> 00:15:55,640
And again, that's where the cultural context comes in.

264
00:15:55,640 --> 00:15:58,080
Was it appropriate to them as a Muslim?

265
00:15:58,080 --> 00:15:59,640
Was it appropriate to them as a Buddhist?

266
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Was it appropriate to them as, you know, practicing Hindu?

267
00:16:02,840 --> 00:16:04,920
Was it appropriate to them again as an Indian?

268
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Were they spoken to in a way that tried to adjust to the accent that they had?

269
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Were they spoken to in a way that they have a different way of speaking English and trying

270
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to meet that gap so that they have better understanding?

271
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That matters the most.

272
00:16:16,880 --> 00:16:17,880
Yeah.

273
00:16:17,880 --> 00:16:22,400
And what you brought up there highlights, like you said, the difference between a customer

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experience and a patient experience.

275
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When someone is a patient, they could be there in an emergency situation.

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They could be having one of the worst days of their life, basically, if they come in

277
00:16:33,600 --> 00:16:37,760
for a serious injury or something has happened to their mom or something.

278
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I mean, this is really the emotions will be running so high.

279
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And in that moment, they need something more than just, you know, a shiny waiting room

280
00:16:46,680 --> 00:16:49,720
or a nice digital app or something.

281
00:16:49,720 --> 00:16:51,760
They need empathy.

282
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They need empathy.

283
00:16:53,160 --> 00:16:57,080
And I think that's what you're describing is meeting them where they are.

284
00:16:57,080 --> 00:16:58,080
That's so beautiful.

285
00:16:58,080 --> 00:16:59,080
So beautiful.

286
00:16:59,080 --> 00:17:05,640
Yeah, so we talked a little bit about the diversity in the kind of health care team

287
00:17:05,640 --> 00:17:08,120
and in the patient experience team.

288
00:17:08,120 --> 00:17:12,980
How do you see the role of you said patient experience is kind of like a go between sometimes

289
00:17:12,980 --> 00:17:15,440
between the doctors and the nurses.

290
00:17:15,440 --> 00:17:21,300
Do you ever find yourself having to do like damage control because a patient's experience

291
00:17:21,300 --> 00:17:25,840
is always, you know, it's not just the patient experience person who formulates there.

292
00:17:25,840 --> 00:17:28,240
It's whoever they come into contact with.

293
00:17:28,240 --> 00:17:33,680
So are you often trying to kind of talk to doctors or other health care workers?

294
00:17:33,680 --> 00:17:38,560
Definitely, because I think it's really more of when we talk about damage controller going

295
00:17:38,560 --> 00:17:43,040
between it's really more again, it's getting to see the doctors to understand how the nurses

296
00:17:43,040 --> 00:17:46,760
are or the nurses have to understand how the doctors are or the patients to understand

297
00:17:46,760 --> 00:17:50,160
how the nurses are or the patients understand how the doctors are.

298
00:17:50,160 --> 00:17:52,280
It's really putting things into the right context.

299
00:17:52,280 --> 00:17:56,760
And of course, for example, the doctor came and they were short with the patient and the

300
00:17:56,760 --> 00:17:58,480
nurses and really like that doctor too much.

301
00:17:58,480 --> 00:17:59,960
He's really short with me.

302
00:17:59,960 --> 00:18:03,520
And of course, our job as patient experience officers, we actually your doctor is one of

303
00:18:03,520 --> 00:18:06,840
the best spine doctors that we have in the Philippines.

304
00:18:06,840 --> 00:18:11,720
We understand it's just that, you know, this is her or his brilliant mind, the way he,

305
00:18:11,720 --> 00:18:13,160
you know, he talks.

306
00:18:13,160 --> 00:18:16,680
But if you look at the actual results of what you were doing, you actually have the best

307
00:18:16,680 --> 00:18:19,920
results we've ever seen, you know, compared to other patients.

308
00:18:19,920 --> 00:18:23,560
I will talk to him, of course, and let him know that he would like to spend more time

309
00:18:23,560 --> 00:18:25,960
with him to understand a little bit more.

310
00:18:25,960 --> 00:18:30,040
And I know for a fact that he's very concerned about you because when we get to talk about

311
00:18:30,040 --> 00:18:34,660
you as a patient, you know, he's really looking at the results that you need.

312
00:18:34,660 --> 00:18:36,360
So it's just really about this communication.

313
00:18:36,360 --> 00:18:38,120
And I know that he's working on it as well.

314
00:18:38,120 --> 00:18:40,560
And then, you know, of course, you'll get back and you have to be very honest.

315
00:18:40,560 --> 00:18:44,400
You get back to the doctor and I'll do it maybe in a more Filipino way.

316
00:18:44,400 --> 00:18:48,160
Doc, you know, the patient was saying that they might want to spend a little bit more

317
00:18:48,160 --> 00:18:49,160
time with you.

318
00:18:49,160 --> 00:18:50,160
And that's how you do it, right?

319
00:18:50,160 --> 00:18:51,160
That's the go between.

320
00:18:51,160 --> 00:18:56,120
No, she was saying, you know, the patient was saying that, you know, you're really smart,

321
00:18:56,120 --> 00:18:58,280
but they didn't really understand some parts of what you were saying.

322
00:18:58,280 --> 00:18:59,280
Can you do that the next time, Doc?

323
00:18:59,280 --> 00:19:00,280
Yeah, I mean, that's the way it is, right?

324
00:19:00,280 --> 00:19:05,720
That's the way it is because you have to meet people or try to get them where they are so

325
00:19:05,720 --> 00:19:07,840
that they understand better.

326
00:19:07,840 --> 00:19:09,640
You know, you're not going to apply.

327
00:19:09,640 --> 00:19:14,080
And that's one thing as a patient experience professional, you have to have a lot of, we

328
00:19:14,080 --> 00:19:18,720
have to learn how to adjust and move like water through everyone and everything.

329
00:19:18,720 --> 00:19:21,720
You know, you have to have that capacity to be flexible.

330
00:19:21,720 --> 00:19:24,080
Sometimes you're going to be the tough person.

331
00:19:24,080 --> 00:19:26,720
Patient experience often has complaints management under them.

332
00:19:26,720 --> 00:19:29,320
I was a complaints manager for many years.

333
00:19:29,320 --> 00:19:33,320
Sometimes you have to be the person to, you know, stop very intense situations.

334
00:19:33,320 --> 00:19:34,320
So you're the tough one.

335
00:19:34,320 --> 00:19:39,360
But a lot of the times also you're kind of the buffer for a lot of things that are happening.

336
00:19:39,360 --> 00:19:43,760
You're the soft one when it comes to certain interactions that are happening.

337
00:19:43,760 --> 00:19:48,880
So it sounds like in terms of the top skill set for patient experience, you're talking

338
00:19:48,880 --> 00:19:49,880
about communication.

339
00:19:49,880 --> 00:19:53,280
You've got empathy in there.

340
00:19:53,280 --> 00:19:57,800
What else would you consider kind of the top skills for someone in patient experience?

341
00:19:57,800 --> 00:19:58,800
Critical thinking.

342
00:19:58,800 --> 00:19:59,800
Very important.

343
00:19:59,800 --> 00:20:00,800
Critical thinking.

344
00:20:00,800 --> 00:20:06,000
Because you're put into a lot of situations where, number one, you have to be very knowledgeable

345
00:20:06,000 --> 00:20:07,000
about the healthcare system.

346
00:20:07,000 --> 00:20:11,240
You can't be a true patient experience professional without understanding the ins and outs of

347
00:20:11,240 --> 00:20:12,240
a hospital.

348
00:20:12,240 --> 00:20:17,040
I had one of my former bosses, her name is Marilene.

349
00:20:17,040 --> 00:20:19,920
She was the first one who actually used patient experience in the Philippines.

350
00:20:19,920 --> 00:20:21,800
She was my boss in my former company.

351
00:20:21,800 --> 00:20:23,440
We actually work together now in the Pacific.

352
00:20:23,440 --> 00:20:27,120
But she's the one who used it here and she got it from Cleveland Clinic.

353
00:20:27,120 --> 00:20:29,320
So more than 10 years back, more than 10 years back.

354
00:20:29,320 --> 00:20:33,560
And she was the one who didn't allow us to go on the floor without having enough training

355
00:20:33,560 --> 00:20:38,240
from the ones who are the other patient experience officers that were working because she said

356
00:20:38,240 --> 00:20:41,960
that we can't do our job right if we don't understand what's happening within the healthcare

357
00:20:41,960 --> 00:20:44,280
system because it's so complex.

358
00:20:44,280 --> 00:20:47,600
The hospitals I used to work for, there were two hospitals of 600 beds each.

359
00:20:47,600 --> 00:20:49,960
For the Philippines, that's a very big hospital already.

360
00:20:49,960 --> 00:20:51,880
So I believe in the same thing.

361
00:20:51,880 --> 00:20:53,400
You have to understand the system very well.

362
00:20:53,400 --> 00:20:56,800
And number two, how to think at the moment.

363
00:20:56,800 --> 00:21:02,720
Again, I come from complaints management and there are some very, very volatile situations

364
00:21:02,720 --> 00:21:03,720
that you could be in.

365
00:21:03,720 --> 00:21:05,720
You know, it could be privacy.

366
00:21:05,720 --> 00:21:08,600
It could be a very bad outcome.

367
00:21:08,600 --> 00:21:14,720
You have to rethink on your feet sometimes with having to mix being empathetic, but honest,

368
00:21:14,720 --> 00:21:20,160
but also understand your position as someone working in the hospital.

369
00:21:20,160 --> 00:21:22,360
You can't just throw that out the window for the patients.

370
00:21:22,360 --> 00:21:24,280
You have to balance all of those things.

371
00:21:24,280 --> 00:21:27,920
And critical thinking really is able to manage all of these things together.

372
00:21:27,920 --> 00:21:31,680
And as a patient experience officer, really top-of-the-skill for me.

373
00:21:31,680 --> 00:21:34,800
It's not something you can just learn.

374
00:21:34,800 --> 00:21:35,800
It takes a while.

375
00:21:35,800 --> 00:21:39,840
It takes a while for you to be able to do that within the healthcare context.

376
00:21:39,840 --> 00:21:40,840
Yeah.

377
00:21:40,840 --> 00:21:41,840
Yeah.

378
00:21:41,840 --> 00:21:46,240
It seems like, I mean, there's so much of a responsibility for patient experience officers

379
00:21:46,240 --> 00:21:52,640
and anybody who is dealing with patients frontline to be able to make decisions in the moment.

380
00:21:52,640 --> 00:21:58,880
So not everything is a checklist and not everything is kind of prescribed.

381
00:21:58,880 --> 00:22:02,000
So you have to think of how do I deal with this situation in the moment?

382
00:22:02,000 --> 00:22:04,520
What are the tools I can use to do that?

383
00:22:04,520 --> 00:22:10,080
I mean, I know that you are a certified patient experience professional, the CPXP, which is

384
00:22:10,080 --> 00:22:12,600
a international accreditation.

385
00:22:12,600 --> 00:22:17,960
How do you, when you're managing people who are patient experience officers, do you kind

386
00:22:17,960 --> 00:22:22,440
of train them in similar techniques or do you give them communication skills?

387
00:22:22,440 --> 00:22:23,960
What kind of things do you do with them?

388
00:22:23,960 --> 00:22:28,320
Here in Metro Pacific, currently my role is really, I'm at the head office at the moment.

389
00:22:28,320 --> 00:22:32,720
So I don't do a lot of operations anymore, but in my previous experience, yes, it was

390
00:22:32,720 --> 00:22:38,120
very important for the new patient experience officers to really learn on the floor.

391
00:22:38,120 --> 00:22:42,520
So of course they read the policies as part of it, they go through the induction, but

392
00:22:42,520 --> 00:22:46,960
a lot of the time it's really, we really did a buddy system throughout the different departments

393
00:22:46,960 --> 00:22:50,320
of patient experience before they could actually take care of patients on their own.

394
00:22:50,320 --> 00:22:54,080
So it is very important that they got to see, you know, frontline patient assistance.

395
00:22:54,080 --> 00:22:59,360
So of course we have the kind of concierging, you have the one-on-one assistance or you're

396
00:22:59,360 --> 00:23:03,920
deployed to a high traffic unit and you do a lot of patient management and flow.

397
00:23:03,920 --> 00:23:07,360
The analytics part of course, so that they could see the surveys, understand how the

398
00:23:07,360 --> 00:23:08,920
reports are being made.

399
00:23:08,920 --> 00:23:12,440
And of course how the reports are being relayed through the hospital, through the different

400
00:23:12,440 --> 00:23:16,040
road shows or the different town hall style of reporting.

401
00:23:16,040 --> 00:23:17,800
So they should be part of that as well.

402
00:23:17,800 --> 00:23:21,040
The rewards and recognition part, of course they have, we have to celebrate.

403
00:23:21,040 --> 00:23:24,560
I think that's one of the best parts about healthcare is we're so celebrated now and

404
00:23:24,560 --> 00:23:28,240
it, you know, there's a lot of recognition that finally the healthcare workers have received

405
00:23:28,240 --> 00:23:33,200
because there are years prior to COVID, it was, it was terrible on online, Erica.

406
00:23:33,200 --> 00:23:38,400
I mean, there were so many, and I don't know if you remember, there were so many tired

407
00:23:38,400 --> 00:23:42,600
nurses and doctors being, pictures being put online and saying, you know, our doctors are

408
00:23:42,600 --> 00:23:46,800
sleeping on the job or our nurses are sleeping on the job, but they were just tired.

409
00:23:46,800 --> 00:23:48,240
And now it's the flip, right?

410
00:23:48,240 --> 00:23:52,640
When we see tired doctors and nurses, we celebrate them now that they're there taking care of

411
00:23:52,640 --> 00:23:53,640
us.

412
00:23:53,640 --> 00:23:54,640
And I'm so happy.

413
00:23:54,640 --> 00:23:56,480
One of the very, very few positives of COVID.

414
00:23:56,480 --> 00:24:00,480
You know, there's a lot of realization how difficult the work is in health care and,

415
00:24:00,480 --> 00:24:02,760
you know, it's, it's a good thing in a lot of ways.

416
00:24:02,760 --> 00:24:04,000
So we have to celebrate that.

417
00:24:04,000 --> 00:24:07,640
So of course, patient experience, we were the ones who of course bring in the voice

418
00:24:07,640 --> 00:24:10,040
of the patient to make sure that it's celebrated.

419
00:24:10,040 --> 00:24:12,660
So that's, that's a fun activity as well.

420
00:24:12,660 --> 00:24:17,280
Of course, again, as the complaints management part, they have to understand how to frontline

421
00:24:17,280 --> 00:24:22,560
handle issues and concerns and make sure that things don't escalate or as much as possible.

422
00:24:22,560 --> 00:24:26,680
The service recovery turnaround times are pretty fast because we want, you know, we're

423
00:24:26,680 --> 00:24:31,640
all people and there's no such thing as zero errors when it comes to services because humans

424
00:24:31,640 --> 00:24:33,360
handle that, right?

425
00:24:33,360 --> 00:24:38,000
But a good system has a very good service recovery system as well embedded.

426
00:24:38,000 --> 00:24:42,640
And that's one very important part that the different patient experience officers do have

427
00:24:42,640 --> 00:24:43,640
to do.

428
00:24:43,640 --> 00:24:47,240
So, you know, just to recap, so of course we have the frontline assistant, we have our

429
00:24:47,240 --> 00:24:51,720
concierging, we have the, we have the rewards and recognition, we have the analytics, and

430
00:24:51,720 --> 00:24:53,560
of course we have the complaints management as well.

431
00:24:53,560 --> 00:24:57,280
So those are important parts of what the patient experience officer should have.

432
00:24:57,280 --> 00:25:00,480
Strategy, of course, as you move up, strategy comes into play already as well.

433
00:25:00,480 --> 00:25:03,320
So I'm really more of strategy at this point in time.

434
00:25:03,320 --> 00:25:04,760
Yeah, yeah.

435
00:25:04,760 --> 00:25:10,320
You brought up the kind of the patient's overall perception of healthcare workers and how that's

436
00:25:10,320 --> 00:25:13,160
changed from with COVID.

437
00:25:13,160 --> 00:25:18,560
And I think that's, it's encouraging to hear that patients are kind of realizing how tough

438
00:25:18,560 --> 00:25:24,880
a job it is and having a bit more understanding of what healthcare workers have to go through.

439
00:25:24,880 --> 00:25:26,000
Do you think that's universal?

440
00:25:26,000 --> 00:25:32,600
Because I think in some cases, you know, patients have not always seen them, you know, with

441
00:25:32,600 --> 00:25:36,640
such sympathetic kind of lenses, or maybe they did a bit during COVID and now it's gone

442
00:25:36,640 --> 00:25:39,280
back to, oh, why am I not being treated?

443
00:25:39,280 --> 00:25:42,040
Why is this taking so long or something?

444
00:25:42,040 --> 00:25:43,040
How do you see that overall?

445
00:25:43,040 --> 00:25:46,360
Because I think the impact on the healthcare workers right now, there are still a lot of

446
00:25:46,360 --> 00:25:48,160
healthcare workers who are quite burned out.

447
00:25:48,160 --> 00:25:49,160
They are.

448
00:25:49,160 --> 00:25:54,920
And patient experience, you know, you can't give unless you have yourself.

449
00:25:54,920 --> 00:25:59,640
It's hard for patient experience people to actually, if they're burned out, you know,

450
00:25:59,640 --> 00:26:00,920
show a lot of empathy.

451
00:26:00,920 --> 00:26:03,560
So how do you see that changing as well?

452
00:26:03,560 --> 00:26:04,560
Do you see a lot of burnout?

453
00:26:04,560 --> 00:26:05,560
I agree with that.

454
00:26:05,560 --> 00:26:07,680
You can't give from a cup that's empty, right?

455
00:26:07,680 --> 00:26:09,560
There's nothing to give anymore.

456
00:26:09,560 --> 00:26:12,840
In my context, my goodness, this is the cultural context, right?

457
00:26:12,840 --> 00:26:15,840
The Philippines export nurses.

458
00:26:15,840 --> 00:26:21,160
We have, so it's kind of different because a lot of other countries desperately need

459
00:26:21,160 --> 00:26:22,160
nurses.

460
00:26:22,160 --> 00:26:25,360
The Philippines, we have the nurses actually.

461
00:26:25,360 --> 00:26:26,560
We're very lucky in that way.

462
00:26:26,560 --> 00:26:32,640
But I would say the last two years, what actually exacerbated the shortage of nurses was the

463
00:26:32,640 --> 00:26:38,680
Philippine healthcare system decided to move to K to 12 a couple of years ago.

464
00:26:38,680 --> 00:26:41,320
So K to 12, before we were K to 10.

465
00:26:41,320 --> 00:26:45,960
I mean, we didn't have the seventh grade, we didn't have the eighth grade.

466
00:26:45,960 --> 00:26:49,520
Up to sixth grade, then you'd go straight into high school four years, so 10 years.

467
00:26:49,520 --> 00:26:56,080
So what happened was, and the years that that happened coincided with COVID.

468
00:26:56,080 --> 00:27:01,720
So there was a massive shortage of nurses everywhere because also the Philippines had

469
00:27:01,720 --> 00:27:06,240
a shortage of nurses for the very first time because there were always a lot of nurses

470
00:27:06,240 --> 00:27:07,240
in the Philippines.

471
00:27:07,240 --> 00:27:12,120
So for us, we're actually seeing so many new nurses coming back.

472
00:27:12,120 --> 00:27:13,640
That's the difference with us.

473
00:27:13,640 --> 00:27:17,760
And this is because this is my perspective, of course, again, this is the cultural perspective.

474
00:27:17,760 --> 00:27:22,280
We know that they're coming back to us again because they didn't go during COVID because

475
00:27:22,280 --> 00:27:26,760
number one, because of the change in the educational system, that's number one, and number two,

476
00:27:26,760 --> 00:27:27,760
because of COVID itself.

477
00:27:27,760 --> 00:27:31,840
But now this is the first year because the shortage came in 2020, 2021.

478
00:27:31,840 --> 00:27:35,840
So it just really, it coincided exactly.

479
00:27:35,840 --> 00:27:39,880
I would say nursing enrollment is up again this year.

480
00:27:39,880 --> 00:27:43,840
There are so many more nurses who are set to graduate within 2023.

481
00:27:43,840 --> 00:27:45,280
So we know that it's there.

482
00:27:45,280 --> 00:27:47,920
There is burnout, but they're going abroad again.

483
00:27:47,920 --> 00:27:51,080
I mean, everyone is going back abroad.

484
00:27:51,080 --> 00:27:52,360
And again, it's a different context.

485
00:27:52,360 --> 00:27:56,080
I would like to be able to speak more for the other countries, but for us, it's a bit

486
00:27:56,080 --> 00:27:57,080
better already.

487
00:27:57,080 --> 00:28:00,160
It's a bit better in our case because again, they come from the Philippines.

488
00:28:00,160 --> 00:28:01,960
A lot of them come from the Philippines.

489
00:28:01,960 --> 00:28:08,760
Yeah, I mean, living here in Singapore, most of the nurses at the hospitals here are Filipina.

490
00:28:08,760 --> 00:28:13,840
And I think wherever you go in the world, you're going to find Filipina nurses.

491
00:28:13,840 --> 00:28:15,640
What is the trend behind that?

492
00:28:15,640 --> 00:28:18,000
Why are there so many nurses coming from Philippines?

493
00:28:18,000 --> 00:28:21,000
Again, go back to the cultural context.

494
00:28:21,000 --> 00:28:24,560
It's just that the culture of the Philippines is caring.

495
00:28:24,560 --> 00:28:28,160
As a culture, we're hospitable.

496
00:28:28,160 --> 00:28:29,880
We take care of each other.

497
00:28:29,880 --> 00:28:32,960
15 member group chats.

498
00:28:32,960 --> 00:28:35,560
That's the kind of culture we have as Filipinos.

499
00:28:35,560 --> 00:28:41,760
You know, when I get to talk to colleagues, friends, especially Western, and they talk

500
00:28:41,760 --> 00:28:47,600
about say, a assisted living home or nursing home, that doesn't happen in the Philippines.

501
00:28:47,600 --> 00:28:50,720
Your grandparents are going to stay and live with you.

502
00:28:50,720 --> 00:28:55,560
And if they don't, people will think, oh my gosh, why aren't you taking care of your grandparents

503
00:28:55,560 --> 00:28:57,520
or the old people in your family?

504
00:28:57,520 --> 00:29:00,200
It's just almost unheard of.

505
00:29:00,200 --> 00:29:05,880
Even the poorest of the poor would have their grandparents or the elders in the family come

506
00:29:05,880 --> 00:29:07,000
live with them.

507
00:29:07,000 --> 00:29:10,040
Your aunts or uncles who don't have children, they will come live with you when you get

508
00:29:10,040 --> 00:29:11,040
older.

509
00:29:11,040 --> 00:29:12,040
It doesn't matter.

510
00:29:12,040 --> 00:29:13,280
It's just the culture of the Philippines.

511
00:29:13,280 --> 00:29:19,000
And that's why I think we're so drawn to the nursing, to the nursing profession, because

512
00:29:19,000 --> 00:29:22,160
that part is not hard to learn for us.

513
00:29:22,160 --> 00:29:25,960
Maybe they have to change up the empathy and the warmth and the compassion for the family,

514
00:29:25,960 --> 00:29:30,160
to make it appropriate to the health care, into the health care setting.

515
00:29:30,160 --> 00:29:31,640
But it's there already.

516
00:29:31,640 --> 00:29:36,120
It's not something you hardly have to talk about because we always say it's like, oh

517
00:29:36,120 --> 00:29:37,120
yeah, they're like family.

518
00:29:37,120 --> 00:29:42,120
Again, the term I was telling you, ate kuya, that's for an older family member or even

519
00:29:42,120 --> 00:29:43,960
older tita, tito.

520
00:29:43,960 --> 00:29:47,080
That's for an older family member, aunt or uncle.

521
00:29:47,080 --> 00:29:49,040
It's just everyone gets called that.

522
00:29:49,040 --> 00:29:52,800
If you go into all of the hospitals in the Philippines, especially the government hospitals,

523
00:29:52,800 --> 00:29:54,840
everyone's going to call you ate kuya.

524
00:29:54,840 --> 00:29:57,160
They perceive you a little bit older than you.

525
00:29:57,160 --> 00:29:58,160
They will say that.

526
00:29:58,160 --> 00:30:02,240
Or they call the grandparents lola, which is grandmother, lolo, lolo.

527
00:30:02,240 --> 00:30:08,200
Or kind of in between, say you're in your fifties, nai, nai is mother, nai, nai, nai

528
00:30:08,200 --> 00:30:09,200
is father.

529
00:30:09,200 --> 00:30:10,200
It's just really like that.

530
00:30:10,200 --> 00:30:12,120
It's so natural for us.

531
00:30:12,120 --> 00:30:13,120
So I guess that's it.

532
00:30:13,120 --> 00:30:15,280
I mean, we take care of each other.

533
00:30:15,280 --> 00:30:16,280
We take care of each other.

534
00:30:16,280 --> 00:30:17,280
Yeah.

535
00:30:17,280 --> 00:30:18,280
Yeah.

536
00:30:18,280 --> 00:30:21,520
It does seem to be a very natural attribute of those nurses.

537
00:30:21,520 --> 00:30:26,200
I mean, even here in Singapore, when I was a patient, I always say that the doctors are

538
00:30:26,200 --> 00:30:30,600
highly skilled and the doctors treated me, but it's the nurse who holds your hand.

539
00:30:30,600 --> 00:30:31,600
That's true.

540
00:30:31,600 --> 00:30:36,760
And one other important thing about the Filipino nurse and the Filipino diaspora, we speak

541
00:30:36,760 --> 00:30:37,760
English.

542
00:30:37,760 --> 00:30:38,760
Such an advantage, right?

543
00:30:38,760 --> 00:30:43,520
Because, yeah, because the Americans were here for 15 years and that's when they released

544
00:30:43,520 --> 00:30:44,520
us.

545
00:30:44,520 --> 00:30:48,400
So a lot of us, I think the country itself, English was the national language for some

546
00:30:48,400 --> 00:30:50,560
time before it went back to Filipino.

547
00:30:50,560 --> 00:30:54,720
So yes, that's a very important part of our history, something that made us very equipped

548
00:30:54,720 --> 00:30:56,520
also to be nurses abroad.

549
00:30:56,520 --> 00:30:57,520
Yeah.

550
00:30:57,520 --> 00:30:58,520
Yeah.

551
00:30:58,520 --> 00:31:03,400
So I want to talk a little bit about, because everyone in healthcare is talking about artificial

552
00:31:03,400 --> 00:31:09,520
intelligence, AI, and the role that AI may play in healthcare, will play in healthcare,

553
00:31:09,520 --> 00:31:10,520
we don't know.

554
00:31:10,520 --> 00:31:12,960
There's so many possibilities in startups.

555
00:31:12,960 --> 00:31:20,480
So over the next few years in particular, do you see AI helping patient experience or

556
00:31:20,480 --> 00:31:22,760
replacing patient experience?

557
00:31:22,760 --> 00:31:25,800
How do you see frontline healthcare workers responding to it?

558
00:31:25,800 --> 00:31:30,200
AI is definitely a big, big plus for healthcare.

559
00:31:30,200 --> 00:31:35,320
Number one, one of the things that it's so difficult sometimes to get your foot in the

560
00:31:35,320 --> 00:31:37,320
door when it comes to healthcare.

561
00:31:37,320 --> 00:31:42,520
You call, the phone lines are busy, emails take a long time to reply to, you have to

562
00:31:42,520 --> 00:31:43,520
line up.

563
00:31:43,520 --> 00:31:50,040
But AI will, because of the way it's evolved, especially using NLP now, all of those various,

564
00:31:50,040 --> 00:31:53,320
all of that information that they need from the hospital, they can just type it in and

565
00:31:53,320 --> 00:31:54,320
it will pop up.

566
00:31:54,320 --> 00:31:58,320
It'll be correct because it's all one database anyways, that database that goes into the

567
00:31:58,320 --> 00:32:01,360
AI should be screened and filtered before.

568
00:32:01,360 --> 00:32:04,960
And this is going to make things so much easier to get the patient's foot into the door for

569
00:32:04,960 --> 00:32:08,640
healthcare scheduling, basic information.

570
00:32:08,640 --> 00:32:10,120
What is the admission process?

571
00:32:10,120 --> 00:32:11,120
What is the discharge?

572
00:32:11,120 --> 00:32:14,680
It's just going to make it so fast, which is amazing.

573
00:32:14,680 --> 00:32:17,560
I mean, I'm a hundred percent for AI.

574
00:32:17,560 --> 00:32:22,320
So caveat, the thing is with healthcare is you have to be very careful about the information

575
00:32:22,320 --> 00:32:25,920
itself, because when it comes to retail, you can make a mistake.

576
00:32:25,920 --> 00:32:28,880
No one's going to die over that sort of information.

577
00:32:28,880 --> 00:32:30,800
But healthcare, that's the thing.

578
00:32:30,800 --> 00:32:34,920
We have to be a stickler and very meticulous about the information going into the AI because

579
00:32:34,920 --> 00:32:39,160
we don't want it coming back with the wrong sort of information for our patients.

580
00:32:39,160 --> 00:32:45,040
So I would say at least at the beginning for the next year or two, we want to use AI as

581
00:32:45,040 --> 00:32:48,880
really more of informational, more of like a compendium of information that answers back

582
00:32:48,880 --> 00:32:51,840
very quickly, which is okay because that's kind of basic things.

583
00:32:51,840 --> 00:32:54,680
So it's kind of processes more than actual medical care.

584
00:32:54,680 --> 00:32:57,640
But yes, in the future, I mean, it's been going on for a long time.

585
00:32:57,640 --> 00:33:01,920
We all know that radiology is used AI and it's actually a higher percentage in terms

586
00:33:01,920 --> 00:33:04,400
of diagnosing things.

587
00:33:04,400 --> 00:33:06,080
So I don't see anything wrong with it.

588
00:33:06,080 --> 00:33:09,100
The doctors are like, oh my gosh, what's going to happen to our jobs?

589
00:33:09,100 --> 00:33:12,960
But in the end, putting this information into the system, it's not done by AI, it's still

590
00:33:12,960 --> 00:33:13,960
done by people, right?

591
00:33:13,960 --> 00:33:18,080
So all of our jobs, whether patient experience, whether doctors, whether nurses, we're going

592
00:33:18,080 --> 00:33:25,080
to undergo a very, I would say, very tough transition or transformation into our roles.

593
00:33:25,080 --> 00:33:29,020
But I think overall and in the end, this will really benefit our patients.

594
00:33:29,020 --> 00:33:33,240
When you're sick, when you feel bad, I want to wait, not even 30 minutes, not even five

595
00:33:33,240 --> 00:33:34,800
minutes for anything.

596
00:33:34,800 --> 00:33:40,320
And the opportunity to get this information immediately, I mean, even I come from the

597
00:33:40,320 --> 00:33:43,520
healthcare industry and say, I mean, we're very open here.

598
00:33:43,520 --> 00:33:44,800
I say I had a UTI.

599
00:33:44,800 --> 00:33:49,440
I had to wait for four days or five days for the results to come out from my test before

600
00:33:49,440 --> 00:33:52,720
I could get the right medication because they didn't want to give me an antibiotic early

601
00:33:52,720 --> 00:33:57,200
on because they, you know, antimicrobial resistance.

602
00:33:57,200 --> 00:34:01,760
But I was suffering for four or five days.

603
00:34:01,760 --> 00:34:02,760
And it was tough.

604
00:34:02,760 --> 00:34:03,760
I had work to do.

605
00:34:03,760 --> 00:34:06,480
I had to take care of my family, take care of my husband.

606
00:34:06,480 --> 00:34:07,960
And it didn't kill me.

607
00:34:07,960 --> 00:34:11,040
I agree, it didn't kill me, but it was not a fun five days.

608
00:34:11,040 --> 00:34:13,060
It was not a fun four days.

609
00:34:13,060 --> 00:34:17,200
And for that to get done immediately for a patient, you know, I don't feel well right

610
00:34:17,200 --> 00:34:18,200
now.

611
00:34:18,200 --> 00:34:20,400
Call in the next hour, you get your medicines delivered.

612
00:34:20,400 --> 00:34:21,400
Amazing.

613
00:34:21,400 --> 00:34:22,400
Go for AI.

614
00:34:22,400 --> 00:34:25,080
Go for AI.

615
00:34:25,080 --> 00:34:30,960
So if you had a magic wand and could kind of integrate any type of AI into specifically

616
00:34:30,960 --> 00:34:36,240
the patient experience function within your hospitals, say you had a bunch of hospitals,

617
00:34:36,240 --> 00:34:40,960
what kind of tool would you want that you think would make a huge difference to patients?

618
00:34:40,960 --> 00:34:45,360
Well, actually, I think especially in the Philippine context, Filipinos like to talk

619
00:34:45,360 --> 00:34:46,360
a lot, actually.

620
00:34:46,360 --> 00:34:48,400
They like to text, they like to talk a lot.

621
00:34:48,400 --> 00:34:52,520
If it was at all possible, if you could say have a tablet in every room and you could

622
00:34:52,520 --> 00:34:54,520
have a talking AI.

623
00:34:54,520 --> 00:34:57,560
So you just open up the tablet and ask them in person, that would be the best kind of

624
00:34:57,560 --> 00:34:58,560
AI.

625
00:34:58,560 --> 00:35:00,120
The soonest possible time, I would love that.

626
00:35:00,120 --> 00:35:01,120
Text is okay.

627
00:35:01,120 --> 00:35:02,360
It takes a little bit more time.

628
00:35:02,360 --> 00:35:07,640
But even now, I'm actually personally shifting to when I write anything, a document, I turn

629
00:35:07,640 --> 00:35:09,640
on dictation because it's faster.

630
00:35:09,640 --> 00:35:12,560
Instead of typing out for me, dictation is a bit faster.

631
00:35:12,560 --> 00:35:14,280
I just kind of edit it out a bit after.

632
00:35:14,280 --> 00:35:18,800
And I think same thing for health care because the less that you have to move, it's better.

633
00:35:18,800 --> 00:35:20,920
But of course, there are people who don't have that voice function.

634
00:35:20,920 --> 00:35:22,120
So of course, text should be available.

635
00:35:22,120 --> 00:35:23,880
That would be the best for me.

636
00:35:23,880 --> 00:35:26,720
What should come in when you have that AI function?

637
00:35:26,720 --> 00:35:30,480
Number one is really because the pain points and the patient's journey, and we've seen

638
00:35:30,480 --> 00:35:32,440
that through many years, is really the discharge process.

639
00:35:32,440 --> 00:35:36,240
It's really to get the discharge as soon as the doctor says you can go home to get you

640
00:35:36,240 --> 00:35:37,240
out of the door in 15 minutes.

641
00:35:37,240 --> 00:35:42,160
Just enough for you to have a nice bath and pack your stuff and leave.

642
00:35:42,160 --> 00:35:43,560
Your medicines can be delivered to your home.

643
00:35:43,560 --> 00:35:46,120
That would be the best thing.

644
00:35:46,120 --> 00:35:47,360
How long does it normally take?

645
00:35:47,360 --> 00:35:49,360
I mean, what are we talking here?

646
00:35:49,360 --> 00:35:53,400
Well, it's not just the Philippines, but I think an average around the world is around

647
00:35:53,400 --> 00:35:56,920
four hours probably from discharge.

648
00:35:56,920 --> 00:36:00,120
And that's considering, I would say, after the clinical discharge.

649
00:36:00,120 --> 00:36:01,940
So yeah, it does take time.

650
00:36:01,940 --> 00:36:02,940
Some hospitals are very good at it.

651
00:36:02,940 --> 00:36:03,940
They do it an hour.

652
00:36:03,940 --> 00:36:05,360
If you have insurance, you can get out in an hour.

653
00:36:05,360 --> 00:36:09,040
But some hospitals don't, especially if you have to pay on your own or your payments are

654
00:36:09,040 --> 00:36:10,240
coming in from multiple sources.

655
00:36:10,240 --> 00:36:14,680
Yeah, it can take a couple of hours before you can leave the hospital.

656
00:36:14,680 --> 00:36:18,640
That's kind of an impact on the patient, but also on the hospital because you're not freeing

657
00:36:18,640 --> 00:36:19,640
up the bed.

658
00:36:19,640 --> 00:36:20,640
Exactly.

659
00:36:20,640 --> 00:36:24,880
The next patient who can't get into a bed, because they want to get into a bed, but they're

660
00:36:24,880 --> 00:36:26,720
stuck in the ER and they can't get into a bed.

661
00:36:26,720 --> 00:36:31,760
Or even a direct admission patient who's ready to get into the room so that they can prep

662
00:36:31,760 --> 00:36:33,640
for their surgery the next day.

663
00:36:33,640 --> 00:36:35,920
They can't get into the bed because someone is still there.

664
00:36:35,920 --> 00:36:38,360
He's out to clean up afterwards, do the disinfection.

665
00:36:38,360 --> 00:36:39,960
So yes, it does impact.

666
00:36:39,960 --> 00:36:42,280
It impacts admission, actually.

667
00:36:42,280 --> 00:36:43,280
Yeah.

668
00:36:43,280 --> 00:36:44,280
Yeah.

669
00:36:44,280 --> 00:36:45,280
Cool.

670
00:36:45,280 --> 00:36:46,280
So OK.

671
00:36:46,280 --> 00:36:52,000
So I want to hear a little bit more about you and your journey through to PX patient

672
00:36:52,000 --> 00:36:53,000
experience as well.

673
00:36:53,000 --> 00:36:57,800
So if we go back in time a little bit, as a young girl, would you have envisioned that

674
00:36:57,800 --> 00:37:00,080
you'd be doing patient experience?

675
00:37:00,080 --> 00:37:01,080
What were your aspirations?

676
00:37:01,080 --> 00:37:02,640
I mean, not at all.

677
00:37:02,640 --> 00:37:07,080
But of course, as every little girl and her dad, her dad was like, my darling, you're

678
00:37:07,080 --> 00:37:08,600
going to be a doctor one day, aren't you?

679
00:37:08,600 --> 00:37:09,600
I was like, yes, of course, dad.

680
00:37:09,600 --> 00:37:10,600
I'm going to be a doctor.

681
00:37:10,600 --> 00:37:13,000
So I went to the right schools.

682
00:37:13,000 --> 00:37:14,520
I did train to be a doctor.

683
00:37:14,520 --> 00:37:16,960
But I have to be very frank, my grades were not that good.

684
00:37:16,960 --> 00:37:22,160
And I feel very sorry for the patients because of what happened as their doctor.

685
00:37:22,160 --> 00:37:24,800
But you know, I couldn't get it out of my head.

686
00:37:24,800 --> 00:37:27,480
I mean, whenever I walked into a hospital, I was like, I really like it here.

687
00:37:27,480 --> 00:37:32,040
I can't, I couldn't, you know, I was so interested in what was happening in the hospitals every

688
00:37:32,040 --> 00:37:33,680
time I had to walk into one.

689
00:37:33,680 --> 00:37:34,680
I mean, I was very lucky.

690
00:37:34,680 --> 00:37:36,880
I don't remember really having to go myself.

691
00:37:36,880 --> 00:37:40,800
But of course, you know, your parents go there, you know, your relatives, your friends, you

692
00:37:40,800 --> 00:37:42,280
come visit them.

693
00:37:42,280 --> 00:37:44,480
And I was just so interested with everything that was happening.

694
00:37:44,480 --> 00:37:46,720
So I thought, you know, maybe I should go back into health care.

695
00:37:46,720 --> 00:37:49,560
I actually went to school in Germany for a couple of years.

696
00:37:49,560 --> 00:37:51,840
And you know, I came back and my dad was like, so what do you want to do with your life?

697
00:37:51,840 --> 00:37:54,920
I'm like, I don't know, maybe you should just, you know, I worked with them for a while.

698
00:37:54,920 --> 00:37:57,760
And then that opening, there's a new hospital that was being built.

699
00:37:57,760 --> 00:38:01,880
And I joined that hospital as back then it was customer care officer.

700
00:38:01,880 --> 00:38:07,280
My dad was like, I don't know, I think you, you have too much school to join, you know,

701
00:38:07,280 --> 00:38:08,280
at that level.

702
00:38:08,280 --> 00:38:09,280
I was like, let me try, please.

703
00:38:09,280 --> 00:38:10,280
I want to try it.

704
00:38:10,280 --> 00:38:11,280
I want to try it.

705
00:38:11,280 --> 00:38:12,280
Okay, fine.

706
00:38:12,280 --> 00:38:13,280
As long as you don't ask me for money.

707
00:38:13,280 --> 00:38:16,920
You can, you know, you can take care of yourself.

708
00:38:16,920 --> 00:38:17,920
Fine.

709
00:38:17,920 --> 00:38:18,920
Do what you want to do.

710
00:38:18,920 --> 00:38:21,440
And I just found the passion for it.

711
00:38:21,440 --> 00:38:25,960
I was always the one who the manager should ask, we have a patient here.

712
00:38:25,960 --> 00:38:26,960
Can someone stay?

713
00:38:26,960 --> 00:38:28,440
I'd be like, yes, I'll be the one to stay.

714
00:38:28,440 --> 00:38:30,440
Is there an opportunity for promotion?

715
00:38:30,440 --> 00:38:33,240
Yes, I will work every weekend for the promotion.

716
00:38:33,240 --> 00:38:36,720
I just, it just became my life and I loved it.

717
00:38:36,720 --> 00:38:42,200
I mean, I, I was so amazed, especially when it really transformed into patient experience.

718
00:38:42,200 --> 00:38:45,760
And I think that was really the tipping point where it became patient experience versus

719
00:38:45,760 --> 00:38:50,640
customer service because back then customer service was, it felt very, I mean, it was

720
00:38:50,640 --> 00:38:54,920
nice because I did a lot of, I would say VIP assistance because hospital I worked for before

721
00:38:54,920 --> 00:38:58,440
was is a premier hospital in the Philippines, which was nice.

722
00:38:58,440 --> 00:39:02,960
But things changed for me when I got into the company, when I became a complaints manager,

723
00:39:02,960 --> 00:39:07,360
because that's where I saw the real worth of the patient experience as patient experience

724
00:39:07,360 --> 00:39:11,400
professional, because that's where you got, you know, people going through the worst of

725
00:39:11,400 --> 00:39:15,960
times, you know, their childhood past, you know, unexpected outcomes.

726
00:39:15,960 --> 00:39:20,760
You were there, you know, to hold their hand when you had to bring them down to the basement,

727
00:39:20,760 --> 00:39:25,000
you know, and that's where I felt this is where I really belong or for them to understand.

728
00:39:25,000 --> 00:39:28,280
They didn't understand, say something, there's something that happened that was unexpected,

729
00:39:28,280 --> 00:39:34,120
but it was a possibility to help them understand and come to grips with that happening.

730
00:39:34,120 --> 00:39:37,120
I thought this is where I really was meant to be.

731
00:39:37,120 --> 00:39:41,680
And then we did the surveys and then the surveys came out and it started becoming digital.

732
00:39:41,680 --> 00:39:43,640
So first of all, surveys were paper.

733
00:39:43,640 --> 00:39:45,160
I started working on the paper surveys.

734
00:39:45,160 --> 00:39:48,160
I was like, wow, this is really good information.

735
00:39:48,160 --> 00:39:51,960
Why aren't we reporting this to the whole hospital this way?

736
00:39:51,960 --> 00:39:52,960
Because it wasn't.

737
00:39:52,960 --> 00:39:55,560
We just report some scores, patient satisfaction scores, and that was it.

738
00:39:55,560 --> 00:39:58,160
It's like, there are a lot of really good comments here.

739
00:39:58,160 --> 00:40:00,600
I think we have to start acting on these comments.

740
00:40:00,600 --> 00:40:05,400
And then the way I started turning up the reports, the different executives of the hospital

741
00:40:05,400 --> 00:40:09,920
were like, they're starting to use it for strategic planning for, you know, I felt so

742
00:40:09,920 --> 00:40:10,920
good about that.

743
00:40:10,920 --> 00:40:13,720
I realized, you know, some paper numbers could do this.

744
00:40:13,720 --> 00:40:17,680
And then we transformed into the digital where things were starting to move very fast.

745
00:40:17,680 --> 00:40:19,960
It was so easy to turn out the reports.

746
00:40:19,960 --> 00:40:24,280
So the analytics, I was able to move it on to someone else and I moved up to a more strategic

747
00:40:24,280 --> 00:40:25,280
position.

748
00:40:25,280 --> 00:40:29,960
And then the way I laid out the patient experience team, we're like, wow, we're doing really

749
00:40:29,960 --> 00:40:31,600
well in patient experience.

750
00:40:31,600 --> 00:40:37,280
You know, the way that we're able to relate to the doctors, the different ancillary units,

751
00:40:37,280 --> 00:40:41,840
the nursing units, and the way we started working on a process reengineering projects

752
00:40:41,840 --> 00:40:42,840
together.

753
00:40:42,840 --> 00:40:44,360
It was amazing how it started.

754
00:40:44,360 --> 00:40:49,880
It really became very, I mean, patient experience is rooted through the organization already.

755
00:40:49,880 --> 00:40:52,800
And every time they wanted something done, it's for patient experience.

756
00:40:52,800 --> 00:40:54,840
And then I said, okay, fine, it's for patient.

757
00:40:54,840 --> 00:40:58,800
I mean, isn't that the end goal of what I think that's the end goal, right?

758
00:40:58,800 --> 00:41:02,680
When everyone says, well, we want this project because it's for patient experience, better

759
00:41:02,680 --> 00:41:03,680
patient experience.

760
00:41:03,680 --> 00:41:06,200
Okay, we'll approve that project.

761
00:41:06,200 --> 00:41:09,640
When you come to that point, you know that you're doing the right job, right?

762
00:41:09,640 --> 00:41:10,640
You're doing the right job.

763
00:41:10,640 --> 00:41:13,520
You're in the right place where people just say the words.

764
00:41:13,520 --> 00:41:18,920
And a couple of years before, it was so hard to transition out of customer service.

765
00:41:18,920 --> 00:41:22,320
And now everyone's like, no, patient experience, patient experience, patient experience.

766
00:41:22,320 --> 00:41:25,120
You see it more often now throughout different hospitals.

767
00:41:25,120 --> 00:41:28,240
If you do search out a lot, they use that term a lot more now.

768
00:41:28,240 --> 00:41:32,680
Of course, our hospitals, now they all use it, the 21 hospitals that we have, but even

769
00:41:32,680 --> 00:41:36,400
the other hospitals, they've really started using that term.

770
00:41:36,400 --> 00:41:40,880
And I'm glad because it brings us all back to what our patients and their families really

771
00:41:40,880 --> 00:41:41,880
need.

772
00:41:41,880 --> 00:41:42,880
Yeah, yeah.

773
00:41:42,880 --> 00:41:49,440
And I'm so glad you brought up the part about helping and guiding patients and their families

774
00:41:49,440 --> 00:41:52,000
through really tough experiences.

775
00:41:52,000 --> 00:41:57,600
And everyone in healthcare has to deal with a lot of emotional, and they do it with different

776
00:41:57,600 --> 00:41:58,600
ways.

777
00:41:58,600 --> 00:42:02,540
You can compartmentalize it, kind of desensitize yourself to people's emotions.

778
00:42:02,540 --> 00:42:05,240
But how do you recharge yourself?

779
00:42:05,240 --> 00:42:09,820
Because dealing with heavy emotions at work means you have to also take care of yourself.

780
00:42:09,820 --> 00:42:12,620
At the beginning, it was very tough for me.

781
00:42:12,620 --> 00:42:18,320
I remember coming home after certain very intense, intense encounters.

782
00:42:18,320 --> 00:42:24,160
And my family couldn't really talk to me because I was processing a lot of it.

783
00:42:24,160 --> 00:42:29,600
But when I reframed it into I'm actually doing this, they're not mad at me per se, or they're

784
00:42:29,600 --> 00:42:31,440
not mad sometimes at the hospital.

785
00:42:31,440 --> 00:42:33,680
They're sometimes mad at the situation that they're in.

786
00:42:33,680 --> 00:42:41,440
And when I reframe it and tell myself, I do absorb the emotions from time to time, that's

787
00:42:41,440 --> 00:42:42,440
true.

788
00:42:42,440 --> 00:42:47,840
But it's really about cognitively putting yourself in the right space when it comes

789
00:42:47,840 --> 00:42:48,840
to dealing with emotions.

790
00:42:48,840 --> 00:42:51,640
I have to admit, it was a very tough time.

791
00:42:51,640 --> 00:42:52,640
So therapy helps.

792
00:42:52,640 --> 00:42:57,520
So I was talking to the therapist and said, the reason why you're having such a tough

793
00:42:57,520 --> 00:43:02,040
time with emotion is it's cognitive dissonance for you.

794
00:43:02,040 --> 00:43:05,720
In your mind, when the patients are angry or it's an intense situation, it's about

795
00:43:05,720 --> 00:43:06,720
you.

796
00:43:06,720 --> 00:43:07,720
But you reframe yourself.

797
00:43:07,720 --> 00:43:08,720
That's not the expectation.

798
00:43:08,720 --> 00:43:10,960
The expectation is they are going to do that.

799
00:43:10,960 --> 00:43:14,680
You just have to reframe it and put it into the context that at this point in time, you're

800
00:43:14,680 --> 00:43:16,120
the only person that they can talk to.

801
00:43:16,120 --> 00:43:17,120
You're the one front-lining.

802
00:43:17,120 --> 00:43:18,120
That's part of your job.

803
00:43:18,120 --> 00:43:19,120
It's part of your job.

804
00:43:19,120 --> 00:43:22,720
And always understand that it's actually for a positive context in the end.

805
00:43:22,720 --> 00:43:24,400
Of course, there are patients.

806
00:43:24,400 --> 00:43:25,400
We can't help that.

807
00:43:25,400 --> 00:43:27,920
But in any industry, of course, there are some patients and their families who will

808
00:43:27,920 --> 00:43:28,920
try to take advantage.

809
00:43:28,920 --> 00:43:29,920
That's part of it.

810
00:43:29,920 --> 00:43:33,000
There's no such thing as a perfect society.

811
00:43:33,000 --> 00:43:36,400
But in the end, something did probably still happen to them that probably triggered it.

812
00:43:36,400 --> 00:43:43,760
So it's about it's up to us to be able to fix that or at least make sure that they have

813
00:43:43,760 --> 00:43:48,240
an understanding of the real situation and help them come to terms with that.

814
00:43:48,240 --> 00:43:51,600
When I get home, of course, I love my crafting.

815
00:43:51,600 --> 00:43:57,640
Crafting is a lot of ways for me to express and to de-stress or to decompress from what

816
00:43:57,640 --> 00:43:58,640
I do.

817
00:43:58,640 --> 00:43:59,640
I love crafting.

818
00:43:59,640 --> 00:44:03,160
So I was very into that for a while, especially when I was on the front line.

819
00:44:03,160 --> 00:44:09,000
Yes, not as much now because again, I'm in strategy right now and I handle a bigger...

820
00:44:09,000 --> 00:44:15,160
A lot of my free time is doing things like this, talking about it, talking about it more.

821
00:44:15,160 --> 00:44:16,640
But yes, I do that.

822
00:44:16,640 --> 00:44:18,920
I love my daughters.

823
00:44:18,920 --> 00:44:21,200
My daughters, they're into sports.

824
00:44:21,200 --> 00:44:22,520
My husband is into sports as well.

825
00:44:22,520 --> 00:44:23,760
He's a basketball coach.

826
00:44:23,760 --> 00:44:28,920
So watching the basketball games, the soccer games, the tennis games that they are, it's

827
00:44:28,920 --> 00:44:29,920
such a different...

828
00:44:29,920 --> 00:44:33,720
You have to switch your mind because it's so different from what's happening in the

829
00:44:33,720 --> 00:44:36,600
hospital where there's so much movement.

830
00:44:36,600 --> 00:44:40,000
That's really one thing happens to result into something immediately.

831
00:44:40,000 --> 00:44:42,640
There's no long process time.

832
00:44:42,640 --> 00:44:43,640
It's amazing.

833
00:44:43,640 --> 00:44:44,640
It's a good way to...

834
00:44:44,640 --> 00:44:46,840
It's really a good way to de-stress.

835
00:44:46,840 --> 00:44:50,760
I wouldn't say I'm very religious in the sense, but yes, of course, I'm Catholic.

836
00:44:50,760 --> 00:44:53,680
So a lot of prayers, faith really does matter for me.

837
00:44:53,680 --> 00:44:54,680
And of course, my friends.

838
00:44:54,680 --> 00:44:57,480
I really enjoy spending time with my friends and talking to my friends.

839
00:44:57,480 --> 00:44:59,080
We don't see each other as much as you're older.

840
00:44:59,080 --> 00:45:01,200
You don't get to see each other as much.

841
00:45:01,200 --> 00:45:04,680
But I love going on Instagram, exchanging memes with them.

842
00:45:04,680 --> 00:45:06,680
It's just a totally...

843
00:45:06,680 --> 00:45:07,680
I love de-stress.

844
00:45:07,680 --> 00:45:08,680
I love them.

845
00:45:08,680 --> 00:45:09,680
I love those jokes.

846
00:45:09,680 --> 00:45:10,680
I love those videos.

847
00:45:10,680 --> 00:45:11,680
A hundred percent.

848
00:45:11,680 --> 00:45:14,680
I use that to de-stress.

849
00:45:14,680 --> 00:45:16,800
Nice, nice.

850
00:45:16,800 --> 00:45:18,480
And I mean, it's true.

851
00:45:18,480 --> 00:45:22,720
You need to kind of remove yourself from the situation and get into a totally different

852
00:45:22,720 --> 00:45:24,760
situation as well.

853
00:45:24,760 --> 00:45:27,760
Because hospitals are very dynamic places, like you said.

854
00:45:27,760 --> 00:45:32,320
There's not a lot of time to process things before the next thing is happening.

855
00:45:32,320 --> 00:45:33,320
Right?

856
00:45:33,320 --> 00:45:38,160
So are you able to kind of be more present with your girls and with your family and your

857
00:45:38,160 --> 00:45:39,160
friends?

858
00:45:39,160 --> 00:45:41,600
Do you feel like you kind of switch off and then you're kind of like, okay, I'm here now.

859
00:45:41,600 --> 00:45:43,000
I turn off the...

860
00:45:43,000 --> 00:45:46,880
Or are you constantly getting texts about stuff going on at the hospital or do you kind

861
00:45:46,880 --> 00:45:51,120
of shut that out when you're trying to be present with your family?

862
00:45:51,120 --> 00:45:56,600
Now because of where I am now, I'm lucky I don't get operational texts anymore.

863
00:45:56,600 --> 00:46:01,880
But I have to admit when I was still on the front line or I was in a specific hospital

864
00:46:01,880 --> 00:46:02,880
or hospitals working.

865
00:46:02,880 --> 00:46:07,160
Yes, I would have my phone with me because it depends, right?

866
00:46:07,160 --> 00:46:12,800
You have to have really good people under you and you kind of take turns, right?

867
00:46:12,800 --> 00:46:15,480
Because in the end, it's not about reaching one person.

868
00:46:15,480 --> 00:46:19,580
It's about reaching a person who can help you in that instance.

869
00:46:19,580 --> 00:46:25,760
So for you in patient experience, I mean, in any role, you have to have people who are

870
00:46:25,760 --> 00:46:26,760
good.

871
00:46:26,760 --> 00:46:30,360
You're one downs, you're two downs, who are good so that all of you can rest.

872
00:46:30,360 --> 00:46:31,600
All of you can rest.

873
00:46:31,600 --> 00:46:36,000
And they would only get in touch with you if there's something that really needed your

874
00:46:36,000 --> 00:46:39,520
attention, which generally would not because they can handle.

875
00:46:39,520 --> 00:46:45,680
I think when I was still in the hospital operations, like right before I left, I would rarely get

876
00:46:45,680 --> 00:46:51,240
messages already on the weekends or during holidays because the person, the officers

877
00:46:51,240 --> 00:46:54,960
in charge that we left were the trained people.

878
00:46:54,960 --> 00:46:57,080
They knew how to handle situations and they weren't young.

879
00:46:57,080 --> 00:46:59,760
None of them were like 25 years old or 23 years old.

880
00:46:59,760 --> 00:47:00,760
They were mature.

881
00:47:00,760 --> 00:47:01,760
They were mature.

882
00:47:01,760 --> 00:47:06,800
So and it gave, when we were able to do it that way, you know, really have that good

883
00:47:06,800 --> 00:47:11,480
officer in charge for the day in the hospital, we were able to get our rest on the off days.

884
00:47:11,480 --> 00:47:15,800
Again, we were available, but we knew if we did get a call, it was something that needed

885
00:47:15,800 --> 00:47:17,600
our attention, even if it was a holiday.

886
00:47:17,600 --> 00:47:19,440
That wouldn't happen very often anymore.

887
00:47:19,440 --> 00:47:20,440
Yeah.

888
00:47:20,440 --> 00:47:21,440
Yeah.

889
00:47:21,440 --> 00:47:22,900
And that's a sign of a well-functioning kind of team.

890
00:47:22,900 --> 00:47:26,420
If you have people on the ground who know how to make the decisions, know how to get

891
00:47:26,420 --> 00:47:30,120
stuff done, don't always need to be escalating every single issue, right?

892
00:47:30,120 --> 00:47:31,120
I agree.

893
00:47:31,120 --> 00:47:34,280
And as a leader, you have to have that succession plan in place.

894
00:47:34,280 --> 00:47:38,200
I mean, you're only a good leader if you can actually leave and they can function without

895
00:47:38,200 --> 00:47:39,200
you.

896
00:47:39,200 --> 00:47:41,960
That means you've really done your job in making sure that the patient experience team

897
00:47:41,960 --> 00:47:43,560
will work whether or not you're there.

898
00:47:43,560 --> 00:47:47,440
Of course, you'd like to believe that they need you every moment of the day, but that's

899
00:47:47,440 --> 00:47:49,440
not being the right kind of leader.

900
00:47:49,440 --> 00:47:51,440
That's not being the right kind of leader.

901
00:47:51,440 --> 00:47:52,440
Absolutely.

902
00:47:52,440 --> 00:47:53,440
Absolutely.

903
00:47:53,440 --> 00:47:54,440
So true.

904
00:47:54,440 --> 00:47:59,400
So what advice would you give if you have young nurses coming up or young patient experience

905
00:47:59,400 --> 00:48:00,960
professionals coming up?

906
00:48:00,960 --> 00:48:05,600
Is there anything you know now that you wish you knew when you were just getting started

907
00:48:05,600 --> 00:48:06,600
that you would tell them?

908
00:48:06,600 --> 00:48:11,040
You know, you have to let go of all your preconceptions about healthcare.

909
00:48:11,040 --> 00:48:15,320
I think that's one thing, because when I got into healthcare, these were my ideas.

910
00:48:15,320 --> 00:48:18,740
And the moment that I told myself, wait, wait, wait, you know what?

911
00:48:18,740 --> 00:48:24,680
You have to learn from every single situation that you are in, learn the lessons from each

912
00:48:24,680 --> 00:48:29,080
of these situations, and they might not even come up exactly the same again in a couple

913
00:48:29,080 --> 00:48:33,480
of weeks, months, but you've learned something that maybe can help you, you'll probably be

914
00:48:33,480 --> 00:48:35,560
able to apply in the future.

915
00:48:35,560 --> 00:48:39,280
Of course, there are things that are kind of the same, but it's just because people

916
00:48:39,280 --> 00:48:41,040
are not the same.

917
00:48:41,040 --> 00:48:44,880
The way you deal and function with each person is different.

918
00:48:44,880 --> 00:48:51,000
I mean, I've had presidents of the Philippines come up, and they're not as difficult to deal

919
00:48:51,000 --> 00:48:54,040
with as some other patients, because everyone is different.

920
00:48:54,040 --> 00:48:56,960
I mean, that's just the truth.

921
00:48:56,960 --> 00:48:58,320
You know, that's just the truth.

922
00:48:58,320 --> 00:49:02,440
But you know how to deal with people who have high expectations and demands of you.

923
00:49:02,440 --> 00:49:06,880
You're able to use that lesson from previous patients and use it into the current situation,

924
00:49:06,880 --> 00:49:08,800
and it makes it much easier for you.

925
00:49:08,800 --> 00:49:12,000
So I mean, just let go of all preconceptions.

926
00:49:12,000 --> 00:49:15,600
And I think that's one thing that really helped get me through the toughest of situations

927
00:49:15,600 --> 00:49:16,920
is in the end.

928
00:49:16,920 --> 00:49:21,200
Number one, I was able to fix something or do something for someone, very important.

929
00:49:21,200 --> 00:49:25,560
I always think about that, that it's a tough day, but in the end, you know what?

930
00:49:25,560 --> 00:49:26,760
I was able to do something good.

931
00:49:26,760 --> 00:49:31,440
If it wasn't for me in the end, at least it was for the organization, maybe for my coworkers.

932
00:49:31,440 --> 00:49:33,000
You know, it happens, right?

933
00:49:33,000 --> 00:49:36,200
There are instances where one of the patients started throwing things, and the nurses and

934
00:49:36,200 --> 00:49:38,480
the doctors, they were like, they didn't know what to do.

935
00:49:38,480 --> 00:49:40,120
So I took them aside and told them, you know what?

936
00:49:40,120 --> 00:49:41,120
I'm just going to talk to this patient.

937
00:49:41,120 --> 00:49:44,560
Then I told the patient, excuse me, sir, if you want to keep doing this, you're going

938
00:49:44,560 --> 00:49:45,560
to have to leave the hospital.

939
00:49:45,560 --> 00:49:51,160
And it may not have been for him, but at least for the, I was able to take care and protect

940
00:49:51,160 --> 00:49:53,280
the nurses and doctors of the hospital.

941
00:49:53,280 --> 00:49:56,120
So it's always in that context.

942
00:49:56,120 --> 00:50:00,360
If you keep having that in mind, you do have to have some downtime.

943
00:50:00,360 --> 00:50:01,360
That's true.

944
00:50:01,360 --> 00:50:04,080
Where you don't have anything in your mind, but on a daily basis, if you have that in

945
00:50:04,080 --> 00:50:06,840
mind, it actually grows your capacity.

946
00:50:06,840 --> 00:50:07,840
You know, it grows your capacity.

947
00:50:07,840 --> 00:50:12,840
I mean, when you say you're an expert, actually, when you're an expert, the more you know,

948
00:50:12,840 --> 00:50:13,840
you don't know anything.

949
00:50:13,840 --> 00:50:15,840
It's kind of like that.

950
00:50:15,840 --> 00:50:19,360
You learn more so that all of a sudden it just expands for you.

951
00:50:19,360 --> 00:50:21,280
You can take more because you learn more.

952
00:50:21,280 --> 00:50:22,280
Very true.

953
00:50:22,280 --> 00:50:27,520
So are there any predictions you have around where patient experience is headed over the

954
00:50:27,520 --> 00:50:28,520
next few years?

955
00:50:28,520 --> 00:50:32,680
We talked a little bit about AI, but do you see anything else kind of on the horizon or

956
00:50:32,680 --> 00:50:34,440
anything you'd like to see?

957
00:50:34,440 --> 00:50:35,440
Patient experience in the home.

958
00:50:35,440 --> 00:50:39,720
Hospital at home is growing very much in the Asia aspect.

959
00:50:39,720 --> 00:50:43,360
And I think that's true because we've been seeing that, I would say in the hospitals

960
00:50:43,360 --> 00:50:48,560
lately, high value cases are actually growing, meaning those that really need more difficult

961
00:50:48,560 --> 00:50:49,560
surgeries, et cetera.

962
00:50:49,560 --> 00:50:55,200
But a lot of the primary and the very simple, simple cases are actually taken care of at

963
00:50:55,200 --> 00:50:56,200
home.

964
00:50:56,200 --> 00:50:59,360
And that was really pushed by COVID in itself, that people realize that they don't have to

965
00:50:59,360 --> 00:51:02,880
come to the hospital and be admitted in the hospital for two to three days when things

966
00:51:02,880 --> 00:51:04,760
can be done at home.

967
00:51:04,760 --> 00:51:07,960
Right now, patient experience is very centered where the facility is.

968
00:51:07,960 --> 00:51:11,880
And of course, I will talk about, of course, also as a website, as you know, things that

969
00:51:11,880 --> 00:51:17,040
the patients can have touch points, but not as much as care at home.

970
00:51:17,040 --> 00:51:21,720
And I think patient experience has to move in that direction, how we're going to change

971
00:51:21,720 --> 00:51:25,480
the way we do patient experience in a person's home.

972
00:51:25,480 --> 00:51:28,880
Because I mean, again, there's virtual hospital, hospital at home.

973
00:51:28,880 --> 00:51:33,080
How will we come up with new ways to collect data on that?

974
00:51:33,080 --> 00:51:39,480
How will we come up on ways on how to be empathetic, but also think about what we have to think

975
00:51:39,480 --> 00:51:41,480
about when you're also not in your home facility?

976
00:51:41,480 --> 00:51:44,440
Of course, you know, there's a lot of different things to think about, the legalities, et

977
00:51:44,440 --> 00:51:45,440
cetera.

978
00:51:45,440 --> 00:51:47,760
So that's one direction that's very important.

979
00:51:47,760 --> 00:51:52,120
I think second is patient experience is kind of in between right now in the Philippines.

980
00:51:52,120 --> 00:51:57,000
I'm very lucky that the Pacific is putting me in leadership in some certain hospitals,

981
00:51:57,000 --> 00:51:59,320
but that's not happening in a lot of hospitals.

982
00:51:59,320 --> 00:52:03,760
So I think the transformation across the Philippines and across the rest of Southeast Asia, that's

983
00:52:03,760 --> 00:52:08,760
happening where we're getting C-suite level executives already with a patient experience

984
00:52:08,760 --> 00:52:13,240
title that's very important because, you know, as much as I believe in grassroots, it does

985
00:52:13,240 --> 00:52:18,320
get a little bit faster done if there's pressure from, if it's a top down approach, you know,

986
00:52:18,320 --> 00:52:22,120
that's really important because there you get the right metrics into the KPIs, you know,

987
00:52:22,120 --> 00:52:25,840
you get the right metrics in, you get the right balance score card, you know, items

988
00:52:25,840 --> 00:52:27,320
in and that really helps.

989
00:52:27,320 --> 00:52:28,320
That really helps.

990
00:52:28,320 --> 00:52:29,320
Yeah.

991
00:52:29,320 --> 00:52:32,440
And it's one thing to have frontline people showing empathy, but it's another thing to

992
00:52:32,440 --> 00:52:37,320
have someone sitting, like you said, at the C-suite table discussing the importance of

993
00:52:37,320 --> 00:52:42,400
patient experience so that the people controlling the finance and the budget are all aware.

994
00:52:42,400 --> 00:52:43,400
I agree.

995
00:52:43,400 --> 00:52:44,400
The modeling, right?

996
00:52:44,400 --> 00:52:45,400
The modeling.

997
00:52:45,400 --> 00:52:49,680
I mean, if you see your C-suite executives doing the right thing, it's much easier for

998
00:52:49,680 --> 00:52:51,840
you to do the right thing as well.

999
00:52:51,840 --> 00:52:57,560
And I mean, my bosses who would really take the time and effort to do things, you know,

1000
00:52:57,560 --> 00:53:01,520
you wouldn't want to be like, you don't want to be embarrassed because they do it, you

1001
00:53:01,520 --> 00:53:02,520
don't do it right.

1002
00:53:02,520 --> 00:53:03,520
So that's important as well.

1003
00:53:03,520 --> 00:53:04,520
Yeah.

1004
00:53:04,520 --> 00:53:05,520
Yeah.

1005
00:53:05,520 --> 00:53:06,800
This has been an amazing discussion, Joyce.

1006
00:53:06,800 --> 00:53:11,480
I love the kind of insight into your world.

1007
00:53:11,480 --> 00:53:16,080
And I think the listeners, you know, will appreciate it as well because it's so rare

1008
00:53:16,080 --> 00:53:20,600
that we get to see kind of the inner workings, that kind of the day to day and everything

1009
00:53:20,600 --> 00:53:25,040
of how patient experience actually works, especially in a place like Manila where you

1010
00:53:25,040 --> 00:53:26,880
have so many patients.

1011
00:53:26,880 --> 00:53:28,320
I mean, it's a massive city.

1012
00:53:28,320 --> 00:53:29,960
How big is Manila, by the way?

1013
00:53:29,960 --> 00:53:35,480
I think Metro Manila is, I think it's actually more, but I remember a year, two years ago

1014
00:53:35,480 --> 00:53:38,080
we had 11 million people in Metro Manila.

1015
00:53:38,080 --> 00:53:39,080
Yeah.

1016
00:53:39,080 --> 00:53:41,920
And it's not any big US city right there.

1017
00:53:41,920 --> 00:53:45,000
We're not talking about a small place and everything.

1018
00:53:45,000 --> 00:53:46,000
Yeah.

1019
00:53:46,000 --> 00:53:49,960
So my last question, Joyce, today, you've talked about, you know, patient experience

1020
00:53:49,960 --> 00:53:52,040
is so important to you.

1021
00:53:52,040 --> 00:53:53,960
What would you like to be remembered for?

1022
00:53:53,960 --> 00:53:56,240
You know, that's all the questions.

1023
00:53:56,240 --> 00:53:57,240
It's a tough question.

1024
00:53:57,240 --> 00:54:02,760
And I think that's very Filipino of me to say, oh, you know, it's all of a sudden I

1025
00:54:02,760 --> 00:54:05,240
feel a little bit shy about answering that.

1026
00:54:05,240 --> 00:54:11,240
But I think in the end, I would like, if I was remembered for something, is really making

1027
00:54:11,240 --> 00:54:16,400
healthcare in the Philippines really more, I wouldn't say patient centered, but what's

1028
00:54:16,400 --> 00:54:17,400
that?

1029
00:54:17,400 --> 00:54:18,400
Patient easy.

1030
00:54:18,400 --> 00:54:19,400
Right?

1031
00:54:19,400 --> 00:54:21,400
I mean, I want it to be easy for them.

1032
00:54:21,400 --> 00:54:24,440
You know, patient centered, yes, that's true.

1033
00:54:24,440 --> 00:54:26,200
But just make it easy for them.

1034
00:54:26,200 --> 00:54:28,520
You know, that's all we want.

1035
00:54:28,520 --> 00:54:33,680
We just want people to be able to pick up the phone, type a message, walk into the hospital

1036
00:54:33,680 --> 00:54:36,360
and people look at them and say, hey, we're here to help you out.

1037
00:54:36,360 --> 00:54:37,360
What do you need?

1038
00:54:37,360 --> 00:54:39,320
Okay, five minutes, you get stuff done.

1039
00:54:39,320 --> 00:54:40,320
Patient easy.

1040
00:54:40,320 --> 00:54:44,880
That would be the best thing in the whole world for everyone, myself, my family, your

1041
00:54:44,880 --> 00:54:49,320
family, our friends, just make it easy for them to get the healthcare that they need.

1042
00:54:49,320 --> 00:54:50,720
Thank you so much, Joyce.

1043
00:54:50,720 --> 00:54:51,720
Perfect ending.

1044
00:54:51,720 --> 00:54:52,720
Thank you.

1045
00:54:52,720 --> 00:54:54,720
Thank you, Erica, for having me.

1046
00:54:54,720 --> 00:55:01,560
It was, I didn't realize it was actually an hour already, but I love patient experience.

1047
00:55:01,560 --> 00:55:02,560
Patients are family.

1048
00:55:02,560 --> 00:55:05,160
They're what I live for, you know, they're what I live for.

1049
00:55:05,160 --> 00:55:07,520
Thank you so much.

1050
00:55:07,520 --> 00:55:09,320
Thank you for listening today.

1051
00:55:09,320 --> 00:55:12,600
I hope this has been a useful investment of your time.

1052
00:55:12,600 --> 00:55:17,320
If you feel inspired by this episode, please read it and consider subscribing.

1053
00:55:17,320 --> 00:55:19,360
I'm keen to know how it's impacted you.

1054
00:55:19,360 --> 00:55:32,880
Now go out there and seize those moments.