What is your patient experience IQ?

You’ve probably never thought about it, but walking into your medical practice office could be pretty intimidating. “Really?” you ask. Indeed. For those folks who have not navigated the healthcare maze with any level of frequency, walking into your office can be, and often is, very intimidating.

How can we reduce the patient experience IQ – intimidation quotient – in your office?

Signage. Ensure that your signage is clear, concise and helpful. This includes signage outside the office building, into the building and throughout your office. It just won’t do for your patients to leave Reese’s Pieces to find their way out once they leave the reception area. Appropriate signage is a must.

Don’t forget about helping patients get from the parking area to your office. Help make that easy for your patients. They shouldn’t have to guess where your office is.

Windows. I really don’t like frosted windows, sliding windows or windows with 10 sheets of “important” messages taped to them. You’ve seen them: messages that are copies of copies of copies, with half the information cut off and the other half not readable at all. Do you really need all that paper on your windows? Certainly not. Get a good original print, frame it, hang it on the wall, and please, limit the number of signs. And do you really think “No eating, drinking or cell phone calls” signs in the office make a difference? They don’t. Have some coffee and perhaps water for patients. One ophthalmologist office that I visited as a patient had fresh fruit in the morning. Have ample trash cans, napkins, cups and other supplies. And assign a staff member to check the area every 15-20 minutes to ensure that it is clean and tidy.

Training. Train, train, train your staff. Train your staff on soft skills like customer service, communications, listening, problem resolution and collection techniques. Train your staff and educate them as well – educating is different from training. Educate staff by providing useful and helpful information, available in a form that is convenient. Put it in notebooks at stations, as well as on the practice’s intranet. Make it clear, concise, available and easy to access.

Make sure you train your staff on the concept of the patient-centered medical home. Train them on the patient experience. Your staff can singlehandedly reduce the patient experience IQ in your office, and make a huge difference in word-of-mouth referrals.

The staff has first and last contact with the patient, as well as contact throughout the visit. Whether on the phone, by email or in person, staff must understand that patients are there to be helped. That they do not feel well. Your staff must be empathetic, positive without being frivolous and concerned without being nosy, and must show the patient that your practice is committed to taking care of each and every individual. Each patient in your practice is the most important person when he or she is being ushered through the practice.

Want to lower your practice’s IQ? Three simple things can make a world of difference for the patient experience: Signage, windows and training. The patient must know that customer service is not just something on which the staff was trained, but something the staff lives every day – for every patient. Customer service – the patient experience – is what your practice is about.

Learn more about the consulting team.