Discontentment and unhappiness by the physicians and patients at your medical practice will paint quite a bad picture. You need to create a conducive environment that addresses the pains of not only your patients but also your physicians. Whether it is the implementation of an automated doctor appointment reminder app or installing a vending machine, addressing these factors of gloom and misery will improve customer satisfaction and reduce the turnover of your practice’s physicians.
For the physicians
Why not try the following to keep your medical staff, especially your physicians, happy?
- Redesigning roles. A physician is more inclined towards hearing the patients’ issues and providing a proper and accurate diagnosis for their health problems. However, some other hospitality needs must be catered for. This includes documentation, checking of vitals, and ushering among others. Move this responsibility to other office workers. You might need to hire someone but it will be worth it.
- Collaborative arrangements. As much as they might enjoy treating patients, your physicians are always interested in how they can earn a little more money. And who doesn’t like a little more coin jingling in their pockets? After an analysis of your current model, you can see how to share profits or possibly reduce costs on their end.
- Streamlined services. We recommend that you install an integrated system in the office to coordinate the efforts of the various departments in the office. Coordination and collaboration allow for an easy time for the doctor to test and diagnose the patient. This ensures that the work process is efficient and no particular party is physically exhausted beyond the expected level.
For the patients
We recommend that you consider the following to keep your patients happy:
- Improved communication. We realize that the doctor is the professional here and might want to pass on the information in a direct manner that has no ambiguity. But there is no need to be overbearing about it. Physicians must be able to effectively communicate with their patients.
- Shared decision-making. This is an approach that has been used in the past by healthcare practitioners. A diagnosis and subsequent medical plan are only as good as the cooperation of the client. They must be ready to comply with the plan. Shared decision-making allows for both patient and doctor to work through the issue at hand and come up with an agreed-upon plan.
- All-round care. No patient in this world doesn’t enjoy good service and care. In a medical facility, the patient is handled by several staff members; from the receptionist at the front desk to the nurse to the doctor. All staff must feel the burden to offer quality and efficient service at all times.
Fostering a culture of consideration and empathy at the office will allow you to solve other issues that have not been handled by this article.
