Come With Me... As We Follow a Patient Through A Hospital Stay

How does a hospital operate? It may surprise you to learn that hospitals operate on a very small margin. Healthcare is expensive, and it is a major balancing act for hospitals to manage the cost of care, the cost of their personnel, and collecting reimbursement from health insurance companies. I mention this to give you perspective that cost is a major factor in purchasing decisions – even if your product is clinically superior to the competition.

The operating room is the largest source of revenue for the hospital and it is common for surgeons “to get what they want” because the hospitals need to keep the surgeons happy. Surgeries can be either elective (knee or hip replacement) or emergent (appendectomy or car accident). Patients enter the Emergency Room and are either treated and released or admitted onto one of the floors/units based on their condition. They may be getting prepped for surgery or will need to be monitored further or need tests completed. I always enjoyed spending time in the ER when I had products to implement in there. It is an action-packed department as you might imagine, and I enjoyed the thought of introducing a product that might make the doctors’ and nurses’ lives easier. If you represent a product that is used “house wide” or in every department, such as IV catheters, IV tubing or syringes, you will be coordinating with many different departments and product champions, etc. It is important to know that the departments within with hospitals are very siloed, and there is not communication between the departments. That is where you come in – a rep wears many hats, including intra-hospital communication manager.

The image below provides a visual of what a typical hospital patient flow may look like.  As I mentioned above, you might be selling a product used in all of these departments, or you may sell products tailored to specific departments, examples including the ER, OR, ICU, Lab, Radiology, etc.

Regardless if your products are utilized house wide or are unit specific, it is important to have an understanding of the big picture of the patient journey.  You need to understand how your product fits into it (and hopefully makes it better!).

If you have any questions, please let me know!  If you are interested in breaking into medical sales, schedule a session with me through my website and let's get you started on your journey!