Patient Relations: Your Complete Guide to Patient Service
Yes, you should sweat the small stuff
By Barbara A. Gabriel The first thing he saw was the dead fish.
“If they can’t even keep a fish alive, how are they going to take care of me?” The question, posed by a patient at a practice where consultant Vicki Bradford was conducting a focus group, was asked in jest. But the person who posed it reminded Bradford of a simple truth about patients: They will make clinical decisions based on nonclinical information.
Bradford says you can distinguish yourself from your competitors by sweating the small stuff. “Find out what your patients want and need, and then train your staff to deliver it,” she advises.
How? Just ask them.
Julie Sanderson-Austin, vice president of quality, research, and management at the American Medical Group Association, recommends holding your own informal focus group with an assembly of loyal patients. “Ask them what you can do to make their experience with your practice better,” she advises. “When practices do … they are amazed at how easy the fixes are. Patients really aren’t that demanding. Your patients’ feedback is your best source for determining how you can develop a service-oriented practice.
“Monitoring how patients feel about your services and knowing whether or not they are satisfied with them is just a part of doing business,” says Sanderson-Austin. “And the last time I checked, medicine was still a business.” Continued...
