Quality of medical services being a priority in the development of Sanatoriums
The tourist flow to the health resorts of the Caucasus Mineralnye Vody is increasing annually. This can be partly due to foreign policy situation, however, the development of the region as well as the improved level of service and competitiveness of resorts also play an important role as a whole. How do the health resorts of the Caucasus Mineralnye Vody improve the quality of medical services, choose equipment and attract more guests every year? Sergey Kechedzhiev, Candidate of Medical Sciences, owner of Excellence in Public Health award, Deputy Director for Medical Affairs of the Kazakhstan Sanatorium (Yessentuki) of the President’s Affairs Administration of the Republic of Kazakhstan shares his experience and recommendations with colleagues.
– Our Sanatorium specializes in the treatment of digestive organs, metabolic disorders and related diseases, so we pay great attention to new methods and treatment procedures in this field. First of all, we assess whether the acquisition of new equipment is necessary according to our specialization. We start from the needs of vacationers, guided by current trends and the experience of our colleagues. Many guests come to our Sanatorium for several years in a row. This shows that the health resort is not standing still. We communicate with our guests during and after their vacation, get feedback, handle objections, pay attention to their wishes and requests.
For example, it was with the introduction of a new method of rehabilitation after COVID in an oxygen chamber. In this case, we focused primarily on the request of our guests, and the experience of our colleagues in using “O2one – H810” was decisive. We were among the first ones in the Caucasus Mineralnye Vody who bought this equipment and within a year and a half the invested funds were repaid. The service is in demand among those who come to us on a voucher and among our outpatients.
In my opinion, the popularity of the Sanatorium depends primarily on the quality of medical services. The uniqueness of therapeutic factors used in balneotherapy and thermal mud treatment, the availability of modern equipment and the introduction of innovative methods play an important role for sure. However, all these things will not have the desired effect without knowledge and experience of resort medicine professionals. In our profession you can never stop at the achieved level, otherwise you will lose yourself as a doctor, and the health resort will not be in demand. Reading literature, professional development, online learning, and attending industry conferences help you to improve and develop yourself all the time. Besides, we exchange knowledge and practical experience with representatives of other health resorts – there are about forty in our region with vast experience in health improvement.
I will also share an interesting observation about the nutritional therapy. Guests who have been coming to our Sanatorium for decades since the 2000s, prefer dietary meals instead of the buffet system. We provide the “a la carte” system which gives the opportunity to choose dishes, but the menu is always prescribed individually and it is balanced according to the peculiarities of diseases.
One of the effective solutions that helps us attract new guests and increase loyalty among our regular guests is the inclusion of services that enrich the treatment program in the standard vouchers. Usually it does not cost a lot for the Sanatorium, and vacationers see it as something positive. Based on our experience, increasing the number of procedures included in the voucher and adding comprehensive health diagnostics on the MS PRO device to the treatment program work this way.
We are always happy to exchange experience in the sphere of providing health resort services and wish our colleagues sustainable development, positive feedback from their patients and high workload rates!
