Your medical practice is perfect and will continue to run just fine without you and your staff ever having to consider potential deficiencies, right? Of course not. No organization can rest on its laurels and hope to continue to meet the high standards it initially established, as conditions continue to change over the years.
In order to deliver the best possible service, savvy managers of medical practices will make an effort to keep evaluating how they do things and to make sure existing protocols are up to modern challenges. With this in mind, here are three ways to improve your patient care.
1. Practice Active Listening Skills
It’s important to treat each patient with the dignity and respect they deserve. Part of demonstrating respect is to practice active listening skills. Medical professionals, especially when they feel overworked and stressed, may fail to listen as carefully as they should to the patients under their care.
Paying attention to what patients say as well as what they do not say will most assuredly improve your patient care. Patients who don’t feel rushed and realize that nurses and doctors are focusing on what they say will get better treatment because they will be disclosing more important details that might otherwise fall through the cracks.
2. Computerize Your Records
Many medical organizations find it beneficial to install an electronic health record application. Your staffers can improve patient care with an EHR solution in a number of ways. They can quickly check on a patient’s insurance status online via the EHR, for example, which will minimize waiting time for the patient as well as conserve your staff resources so they can focus on delivering care.
With a patient portal, your EHR will let patients easily set up appointments from the comfort of their home as well as check on pressing concerns, such as the results from their latest lab tests.
3. Ask for Suggestions
Do you regularly solicit opinions and suggestions from your patients? It’s prudent to mount a suggestion box in the waiting room with a friendly sign asking people to weigh in on how the organization could be improved.
Don’t let the box get stuffed with ideas, though. Make sure you follow up on the comments on a regular basis. For example, assign a staff member to review all suggestions every Wednesday. Sort the ideas in order of importance and novelty, and then determine which items you can and should address first.
Remember that the very fact that you have the courage to solicit anonymous suggestions should instill greater respect among your patients.
It might seem patently obvious that you need to actively listen to your patients to give them the best care, but this is an important ability to cultivate in your medical organization. Practicing your listening skills, implementing an electronic health records software solution, and soliciting suggestions from patients help ensure that you have the information and tools you need to continue improving the level of patient care you and your team deliver.
Key Takeaway
- The most successful medical organizations are not content to rest on their laurels and will constantly ask themselves what they can do to improve patient care.
- It’s crucial to develop listening skills and practice them so that your patients can express what they need in the exam room.
- Implementing an electronic health record software solution will go a long way toward helping you improve how you care for each patient.
- Ask for suggestions, and let patients offer them anonymously to help your organization continue to improve.
