Medical Practices And Learning About Patient Satisfaction

Medics provide their patients with life-saving and life-affirming interventions. It is no wonder, then, that they occupy a different place in the social consciousness than, say, a mechanic. Their work is the difference between life and death. 

Physicians are people who focus on health first and business second. But that doesn’t mean that they should exclude the financial side of their operations entirely. Providing the correct medical treatment is essential, but customer service matters too. There’s a lot that medical establishments can learn in this regard. 

In this post, we’re going to take a look at some lessons that physicians can learn from the business sector on the matter of patient satisfaction. 

Read All Of The Paperwork You Have On A Patient Before Meeting Them

If you have access to patient records before your initial meeting, be sure to read through all of it. By bringing yourself up to speed on the patient’s condition, you’re in a much better position to offer a quality service. 

• First, the patient will feel reassured that you’ve taken the time to assess their case. In today’s health sector, where doctors are rushed off their feet all the time, that’s a rare thing to do.
• Second, it makes it easier for you to find links between their present health status and conditions that they had in the past. Finally, it gives you something to talk about the moment you greet them—first impressions matter. 

Offer Medications On-Site

Traditionally, doctors and pharmacists worked in separate buildings. You would go to the doctor, get a diagnosis, and then receive a prescription. Patients would then take that piece of paper, hand it to the pharmacist, and receive the drugs. 

That might be the way that people have always done it, but it doesn’t mean that it is the best option for the patient. Many don’t want to spend their time traveling from the doctor’s office to the pharmacy to pick up a prescription. It seems like a waste of time. 

Doctors, however, can now offer physician dispensing.

The idea here is to give patients the option to collect the drugs that they need on-site without having to travel anywhere else.

Thus, surgeries can offer both diagnosis and treatment in one location – great for those with mobility issues. 

Ask Patients How They Would Like To Be Treated

A lot of doctors will wade into a patient case and prescribe a regimen from the top down. They will instruct the patient on what they need to do next, without giving them the option to reply. 

This approach, however, isn’t the best. Typically, patients feel like they don’t have any control over the situation and that they are at the mercy of other people. It is not a pleasant experience. What patients usually want is somebody who is there to support them through their treatment. They don’t want a dictator barking orders from on high. 

Customer service, therefore, comes in the form of creating partnerships with patients, not just telling them what to do. 

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