Gem #49

"A Bird’s-Eye View from Your Practice Perch"

We often hear how we should put ourselves in our patients’ shoes.  But how about taking a seat in their chair?  A rewarding and potentially eye-opening experience can be realized by sitting in your reception area with a critical eye and notebook in hand.  Take this glimpse from different chairs to allow an opportunity to see every perspective through your patients’ eyes.  Have each staff member and doctor do this over a one-month period, taking notes about their observations and suggestions for changes and improvements.  Then have an office meeting dedicated to this subject with action plans to help implement the changes.  Repeat the process one more time to access the changes; this may lead to additional things that need to be changed.

To further fine-tune this process, create a simple form with a short statement on the top which reads:

"The needs and comfort of our patients are a priority in our practice.  With this in mind, we would like to hear how you feel our reception area can be improved.  Please share your ideas below.  Attached is a small token of our appreciation for your efforts."

Attach this form to a clipboard with numbers one through ten on an 8 1/2" x 11” piece of paper.  On the bottom note that “additional comments can be written on the back of this page”.  Over the one-month period of this process, hand these forms randomly to patients.  The small token of your appreciation can be a $1.00 scratch off lottery ticket attached to the clipboard.

We would appreciate any interesting ideas from this process be shared with the FootZine readers.