Here are the top 5 ways doctors’ offices can unintentionally convey they don’t have patient communication skills.
We realize that doctors’ offices strive to provide top-notch patient care when communicating one-on-one with patients, especially in person and when a staff member is on the phone with a patient. Technology however can stand in the way of quality patient care when the user experience is unwittingly overlooked for the person calling for a high priority reason – most of the time to gain relief from discomfort or treatment for a medical issue.
Here are the top 5 ways doctors’ offices can unintentionally convey they don’t care about patients calling by phone (which is still the top way most patients communicate with their healthcare providers):
1. A patient calls and cannot get a warm, friendly voice, or any voice of a live person on the phone easily.
2. A patient has to sit through 9 menu options before finding the one they need to push to address their need quickly.
3. When put on hold, patients’ blood pressure goes up due to annoyance or offense taken when listening to the choice of hold music.
4. When patients call, the line is crackling or connection is poor.
5. Patients calling to give information or leave messages and are not aware their data could actually be at risk if the communications system is not HIPAA compliant.
We know doctors and their staff want to make every possible effort to convey to patients that they care about the experience when trying to reach their office – so we’ve prepared this article with 10 tips to address the best practices to set up a modern doctor’s office phone system.
Then when your patients call – Show your patient communication skills! They’ll feel taken care of and like their needs are being addressed when they interact with the team and the doctor’s office selected technologies!
