Some healthcare organizations have made symptom analysis a mandatory part of the user journey. What are the benefits of doing so?
The typical use case involves the collection of patient data before a visit. This is a good way to provide complete information about the patient before the visit, but it also brings some significant disadvantages. Below we present what we have learned so far:
Advantages:
- Higher use of symptom-checking tools;
- Completeness of patient data before the visit;
- Better patient preparedness for the visit;
- Opportunity to redirect users to proper care;
- Opportunity to spot high-risk patients and contact them earlier.
Disadvantages:
- An additional step for users;
- Some users may feel hesitant to use the symptom checker and, as a result, may not book a consultation;
- Redundant in many cases (e.g., user acquisition);
- Redundant in case of follow-up visits.
When deciding whether your symptom-checking tool should be mandatory, please consider all the goals you want to achieve. In our experience, a symptom checker as a mandatory step works best after the booking process when it is used as a patient intake tool.
AKw, NBo, AHe