Is "Patient Parking" a problem in your office?
- posted: Jun. 20, 2012
How long will your patient patiently wait before being called into the treatment room? Consider this little factoid. The division of motor vehicles is #1 on the list of places where people get irritated waiting. Guess who is #2?
Sadly, we (doctor's offices) have a reputation of making patients wait and for the most part, we’ve earned it. A patient might expect (and be willing) to wait a “reasonable” time (anywhere from 15-20 minutes); however, lengthy wait times will decrease patient satisfaction and may discourage other patients from coming to your practice. Let’s face it…no one wants to wait 1-1½ hours before seeing the doctor regardless of the reason. And they shouldn’t HAVE to! Patients who are subject to such treatment on a regular basis will eventually lose their patience and you will lose their respect. They will leave before even having the chance to meet the doctor. Those that stay may speak highly of the services they received, but will also counter that with negative comments about their waiting experience.
And if you’re not on time…what’s the biggest reason? We welcome your comments...
“Success is the sum of small efforts REPEATED...Day in and Day out!"
- Robert Collier
Change is never easy, but face it - if your practice is not moving forward, it’s either sitting still or… yikes, in reverse! A simplified “SWOT” analysis examination of your workflow allows you to reorganize those systems.
Manage Profitably (Feature Reprinted from Podiatry Management Magazine, Jan. 2018 issue)
"Managing my pratice is exhausting! I just want to practice podiatry and take care of my patients!" Learn how to do it with fewer headaches, less stress and more time for patient care.
Putting out "fires" in Your Practice
This was definitely not the kind of day you expected when getting out of bed this morning. You planned to treat patients and improve lives, not dowse fires all day. It is no surprise to have occasional problems
throughout the day. That’s Murphy’s Law. However, when 80% of your day is spent putting out office fires, leaving only 20% to focus on productivity, you need to do something – quickly – before those flames burn out
of control.