COVER STORY / YOUR PATIENTS' EXPERIENCE
Staff
Most chiropractors in Ontario employ
clinic staff to welcome patients, show them
to their treatment room, document their
patient files appropriately, process payment
transactions and schedule follow up
appointments. The role these staff members
play in your patients’ experience cannot be
overstated. Maximizing the value they add
to your business is essential. You can do
this by:
• Finding and hiring great staff: Recruiting great people is always a challenge.
Here is a way to think about recruitment
that may make things easier. Disney,
which was ranked recently as having the
fifth best customer experience in the
world, has a saying: “Hire attitude, not
aptitude.”
We tend to focus on whether or not an
employee can complete the tasks associated with their role, as opposed to how they
conduct themselves while completing
those tasks. The concept Disney understands is that training a person to perform
a task is far easier than training a person
to be courteous, friendly and helpful.
• Training your staff: Once you have
found a staff member with a great at-
titude, take ample time to ensure that
they have the information necessary to
do their job quickly and efficiently. Then
follow up with ongoing coaching.
• Empowering your staff: PWC found
that 80% of consumers are willing to
return to a retailer that has apologized
following a bad experience. In health
care, 66% became satisfied with their
patient experience when their frustration
was acknowledged.
The trick is that the window of opportunity for this type of action is quite small.
In fact, once the patient has left the
clinic the moment has likely passed. So
empower your staff to ask patients about
their experience and to respond to any
frustrations they may share. This can be
as simple as offering an apology. Protect
yourself by ensuring your staff knows
when to involve you and when to take
action of their own volition.
It is critical, according to Upfold, to
explicitly connect the tasks you are asking
your team to perform to the benefits those
actions have in the experience of your
customers. This allows managers to paint
a clear picture of what good service looks
like. Upfold believes that there are a lot
Above: A patient reading educational materials in the waiting area of Totem Lifescience in Toronto
12
FALL 2013
of employees who want to excel. What
those employees lack is clear guidance and
coaching. Clear and consistent coaching
from you is a necessary ingredient to your
team's success.
Experience
The conveniences you offer your patients
matter too. There are a variety of things
you can do to enhance the experience
of your patients, by offering simple
conveniences:
• Entertainment: We already know that
waiting is a major challenge for patients
and providers alike. If you do have to
ask your patients to wait, provide an
environment that is welcoming and allows them to make use of the time they
are waiting:
ºº Provide a WiFi connection so your
patients can get caught up with emails
and social media connections while
they wait,
ºº Provide refreshments, especially at
mealtimes, and,
ºº Provide sources of information, such
as literature or a video screen displaying chiropractic information.
• Education: 60% of patients reported
to PWC that they were actively seeking
out educational resources and treatment
options while in their provider's office.
This holds true in the treatment room
as well. Today’s health care consumer is
increasingly curious. They expect to be
well informed about the examination
and treatment techniques you intend to
use. They also want to fully understand
your diagnosis and what it means to
their experience as your patient and to
their overall health.