What is the single most important thing a doctor can do to better their patient care? Smile at patients, have a beautiful ambiance for his clinic or provide the best treatment for his/her patients? Of course, you know the obvious answer here is number 3, providing the best treatment for patients is the core functionality of the doctor. Well, to be true, there are multiple other ways the doctors can better their patient care. Some of them are discussed below:

Service: Have a welcoming approach

Treating a patient with respect is important, and equally important is valuing their time. The doctor must ensure that his/her support staff is well versed in the ways of customer service and helps provide a positive environment for patients in the clinic. Here are some simple things you can do make the experience favorable.

• Greet the patients with a smile and enquire about their reason for the visit in a very soft manner.
• Share the duration of wait with the patient so that the patient is not left clueless as to when his turn will come to see the doctor.
• The staff must explain the procedures and bring them at ease with what they should expect when they see the doctor. Ensure the staff gives as much information to the patient as possible.
• Ensure that your staff always greets the patient when they are about the exit and wish them good health. It is equally important to say ‘Thank You for choosing the practice’ when they are exiting.

Happy employees provide better customer service

It is important to note that a happy and satisfied employee will be your best brand ambassador and will give the best service to the patients coming in the practice. This is all the more important as the support staff of the clinic/practice is the first point of contact for the patient when they walk in. Doctors must ensure employees are cared for and provided for. A simple way to do that is by introducing customer service awards for the staff and providing incentives for great service.

Customer Service is a Top-Down approach

Customer service has always been and will always be a top-down approach. The doctor of the practice has all power to set the culture of the clinic. If the doctor believes in patient service, the staff will follow his lead. If the doctor does not believe inpatient service, the staff would not care anymore about the patients. Hence, apart from being confident and providing the best treatment for patients, the doctor must follow all the steps involved in customer service to make this thing imbibed in the office environment.

It is an important saying in marketing that “cost of acquiring a new customer is 80% more than the cost of an existing customer.” Follow all the above-mentioned steps and see how good customer service can lead to more and more repeat patients to your practice.

Apart from having a great customer service, another thing that aids in bringing in repeat patients is an effective and efficient workflow of operations in your clinic. The doctors can use Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS) to help schedule patient appointments, maintaining patient records, Billing, Invoicing, Regulatory Compliance et al to run the clinic operations as smoothly as possible and leaving a positive impression on the patients.

If you are a doctor and want to implement a robust and agile LIMS in your clinic, reach out to CareData for a solution.