The idea that a patient in a paid clinic acts in two ways is already trivial as he is a recipient of medical care and a consumer of services. It is clear to everyone that the successful commerce and competitive ability of a clinic, company, or private consultation strongly depends on how much the medical staff has mastered the psychology of interaction with the patient. To attract patients, retain, pleasantly surprise, and make them permanent are goals that become companions of commercial success.
1. Do Not Save on Treatment or Service
At all stages of service, your actions shouldn’t resemble in the patient’s mind with a bad and unpleasant experience from the practice of budget medicine. This applies to all aspects of the clinic’s activities. This means informing about services, adhering to security measures, the interaction of medical and service personnel with patients, providing illustrations at the reception, booklets, and forms.
The patient’s consciousness should fix the reasonableness, even the smallest details and the conclusion should show that you do not save either on treatment or on service.
2. Demonstrate Hospitality
At all stages of interaction with the patient, demonstrate cordiality, attention, and willingness to cooperate with any patient, including a not very kind and well-mannered. The patient must feel that your clinic is at the epicenter of sincere attention and guardianship. From the first to the last second in your clinic, the patient should feel cordiality addressed to them personally and the staff’s willingness to cooperate. But it is not so easy to do.
It may take years for employees to learn good manners. Start with an elementary one and learn how to properly meet a new patient who has entered the office.
3. Positive First Impression
Make all efforts to form a positive first impression of your personality. As you know, the first impression of a person leaves a deep and long-lasting mark. It may not be very objective but psychologically significant and information-rich. Instantly and largely unconsciously, a holistic assessment of the partner’s image takes place.
At the first moments of communication with patients, any untruthfulness is very noticeable as well as attempt to pretend to be who you are not. Most people at first contact quickly notice when a person plays someone else’s role.
4. Drop All Prejudices
Do not allow yourself to be guided by negative attitudes towards patients. Our observations show that the prejudices and images of “bad patients” are often ahead of the doctor’s contacts with a particular patient. As a result of such prejudices, the doctor has some form of protective behavior as closeness in communication which is not attractive for the patient.
The patient catches this and here two outcomes exist. If the patient is decent and restrained, they will keep silent but a bad impression will remain with them for a long time. If they are less cultured or emotionally instable it may turn in accusations, indignation, and rudeness.
5. Compulsory Professional Communication
The doctor is not limited by physical tasks but also has a psychological effect on the patient. The visitor should see and positively assess the professionalism of the doctor, attentive attitude to health and efforts. The doctor works in dialogue mode and on the principle of “feedback”, giving adequate information to the client. The doctor must see, hear and pay attention to everything.
The doctor must use various “feedback” techniques so that the patient already at the stage of communication concludes that they came to a responsible, attentive, and highly professional specialist.
6. Let the Patient Be Actively Involved
Provide the patient with all the necessary information in such a way that they feel actively involved at different stages of interaction as familiarization with the problem, developing a recommended treatment plan, choosing a solution, discussing the cost, and guarantees. A medical marijuana pain treatment, for example, may contradict the life principles of some patients. You must continue to carry out mandatory professional communication legibly and clearly.
Make sure that the patient understands you correctly and give them an opportunity to make changes. A typical mistake of doctors is that they are carried away with monologues, give lectures to patients, and oversaturate the information with special terms. In this form, they compensate for the lack of dialogue skills and persuasion.
7. Be Our Regular Patient
All interaction with the patient is carried out under the motto “Be our regular patient”. This motto should unite and direct towards the achievement of a single goal and the efforts of the entire staff of the clinic. Each appointment of the patient is a performance (in the good sense of the word), which is played with the participation of medical personnel to gain the trust of the patient and make them choose your clinic in the future.
The doctor is the director and chief performer of the action. It determines the moral context of the reception, its information content, and the energy of dialogues. On him depends the mindset of an assistant who must work clearly, responsibly, and gracefully.
