Healthcare isn’t only about giving aid to people in need of medical attention, but it’s also a part of the customer service industry. Thus, how you treat your patients will heavily influence the level of care you provide.
Despite this, you must never treat your patients as pure customers. When you say customers, you’re implying that these individuals are simply there to buy products from your establishment. This is the worst thing you could do. A great customer service-oriented healthcare establishment treats patients as people, some even treat them as close friends. Never forget you’re there to help and ‘serve’ your patients.
If you’re receiving customer complaints because of how you treat them, you may want to try improving the customer service of your medical establishment or organization. Here are some of them:
1. Find the Right Staff
There are cases however wherein, an establishment has done all it can to ensure a high level of customer servers. You sometimes forget that people have their own biases. Some people are simply not meant for customer service. They’re unable to provide the level of care you want since you hired someone who doesn’t have the right personality or outlook in the medical industry.
Since healthcare workers should know how to give proper care to patients, they should be customer-oriented as well. If not, they may cause medical negligence aside from doctor errors. You wouldn’t want this to happen because it’ll endanger your patients, as well as your medical establishment. The medical malpractice lawsuit may affect your operations.
When looking for the right staff you must understand that there are positions that demand a certain attitude or persona. Front desk officers must be more outspoken and livelier, to entertain and handle patients. Individuals that deal with the elderly must be soft-spoken and understanding. Finding the right people for the job will give your establishment five stars in customer satisfaction.
2. System Integration
System integration mainly means you must utilize the advances of technology. This can come from the bill payments down to the receiving of test results. A more efficient and accessible system is providing your patients’ customer care. Mostly, this reduces waiting time and sometimes even reducing your own operational cost. This shows you care about the patient’s time and don’t want to waste it.
Here are some places where you can include system integration:
- Billing: Clients want to know how much a treatment or a night in the hospital costs. This ensures transparency and eliminates the need to talk to someone when your patients had just experienced something traumatic. A little breathing space can be healthy.
- Scheduling: Numerous online scheduling solutions can be integrated into your establishment’s system. This is convenient because patients can simply look at a chart that shows the attending doctor’s availability, thus reducing time-consuming conversations between a scheduling agent and the patient.
3. Clear Communication
Some patients tend to veer off and skip some scheduled check-ups. A healthcare professional needs to check up on these patients. These patients could’ve simply forgotten or had feared the impending reality brought on by the results.
It’s your job to email, message, or call your patients. Sometimes it’s a simple message to remind an individual of an upcoming scheduled check-up. You can also send a confirmation text for their next visit.
In some cases, you should also be ready to receive some inquiries as well as comments. This may range from the status of a test or the confirmation of the visitation schedule. The best motion you can establish is to invest in a help or information desk.
However, you must never forget when you send or receive information, a service-oriented medical professional must be clear. This doesn’t only refer to the clarity of your voice or the enunciation of a word. You must remember that the patients you have aren’t experts in the medical field. Hence, they may have difficulty understanding the information you’re sharing. Keep this as simple as possible. A patient that understands the situation better will be thankful to you.
4. Properly Train the Staff
It won’t be enough to hire individuals that can be an asset to your establishment. However, you should also consider providing your professionals the tools to be the best. This isn’t only limited to the staff but must include the doctors as well.
An ill-mannered doctor can only hurt more patients who are experiencing or affected by negative medical news. You must train doctors on how they should talk and speak to the patients. There are some seminars available specifically targeted towards doctors. Helping your professionals in the proper ways to communicate with patients will be very beneficial.
Conclusion:
Your people and systems are ready to handle your patients. You’ve given your professionals sufficient training and hired the best people for the job. All you need to do now is to provide the care. Do what you can to ensure your patient is left happy and satisfied. This may be a long process, but so long as your heart is determined to prove your patients with the high level of care they deserve, customer services won’t be far behind.
