The diagnosis of a problem is only one aspect of the patient experience at your medical office. Other aspects of patient experience include factors that your practice managment team may not typically consider. You need to look at the medical practice management of your office to see if changes need to be made to keep a patient satisfied. An article on the American Medial News website talks about steps you can take to improve service for patients in your office.
“When patients talk about what they see as a good experience at a doctor’s office, the physician’s diagnosis of their problem may be less of a factor than whether the waiting room chairs are comfortable.”
Keeping patients satisfied requires looking at the patient experience from beginning to end. This is the best way to ensure that a patient visiting your physician's office has a pleasant experience. You do not want to lose out on patients because of failure to address customer service issues. Many times a bad experience will be a reflection of the doctor competence and not the office.
Here are 2 minor improvements that can have a big impact on patients:
1. Answering calls on the second ring and not on the fourth or fifth. Making sure the phone is answered quickly shows the responsiveness to patient service. A proper phone schedule can decrease patient frustration if they need to contact your office.
2. Give your waiting room a fresh look. The waiting room or lobby in your office is another area for minor improvements. This is where patients often spend a majority of time before they are called into the back. You also need to ensure that you have a range of current reading material, access to water or other refreshments and even background music to put the patients at ease.
The goal is to build upon the relationship with your patients so they will come back to your office for a checkup or other medical issue. If you have any questions about practice management or if your physician's office needs support, please contact us.
Leave a Reply