What do would like in a medical clinic?

Question

I'm going to open my own family practice/urgent care clinic and would like some pointers on how to attract and keep patients...
Please let me know what you would like in a doctor and medical clinic..such as hours, appointments, personality traits in the doctor, assistants, office decor, etc...

Thanks!!

Answer 1

The personality traits of the healthcare providers is generally not an option. Most are at least slightly narcisistic or they would not have gotten to where they are. In hiring your office staff, do not try to bend the staff to meet the patients. You want the staff to be accomodating, but able to control patients who are unruly at times also. The most important quality is competence. Patients want to feel the staff is capable of taking care of them, if they are nice, that is a plus, but get quality, competent people, before you start adjusting personalities.

As far as hours, understand that students and employed workers do not always have the option of coming in during "routine" office hours. This usually means one or two late evenings and one weekend per month in a single provider clinic. If you have multiple providers, you can rotate, so one provider works the late evening, but gets off early on the Friday on their weekend off. And the weekends rotate. A new concept called concierge medicine is being used, which includes, making house calls, seeing busy people at their offices and adjusting schedules to meet patient needs.

No patient wants to wait for and appointment. And they always end up waiting, because there is no way to estimate how sick any one given patient will be. Don't make all appointments the same length. This will always backlog your schedule. Allow longer for new patients, well woman exams, annual pysicals, and procedures always require setup and takedown time, so put it in the schedule. I always had my clerks schedule the patients 15 minutes before I planned to see them. This allows them to fill out insurance forms, and get vitals taken, if you plan your time and theirs together, one of you will be frustrated.

In your waiting room, have 2 TVs, one on the Headline News with closed captions for adults and one on cartoon ntwork with the sound low for kids. It is a good idea to have a separate waiting area for kids who are likely to be contagious, as they will play with the same toys as the other kids and infect the rest of your schedule. An aquarium can be a nice touch, but requires a lot a maintainence which you may want to avoid.

Don't try to get too cute with your waiting room. It will look nice, and be very attractive to patients, but is hard to clean up after the first kid vomits on the oriental carpet...trust me (experience speaking) Save the nice furnishings for your office/consultation room impress the patients there.

Make the exam rooms as pleasant as possible. Don't give in to the norm of putting, the drug company charts of diseases on the walls as a cheap way of decorating them. The patients spend a lot of time sitting in these rooms waiting, often very concerned. Give them someting nice to look at.

Most important, make everything as convienent as possible. Have maps and consults ready for patients. Have someone ready to help with insurance issues. These are the areas that will pay off in the long run, the patients will be happy, and you will be successful.

Answer 2

Not keep the patients waiting for 3 hours when you are there on time for the appointment.
For the doctor to read the chart and check for allergies and even if seeing none ask the patient if they have any known allergies. I almost walked out of an urgent care clinic with a script that was for an antibiotic I was allergic to. Since I can read prescriptions, I had to tell the nurse to have the doctor to change it. I would have been upset if I had to stand in line at Walmart waiting for the prescription only to find out the medication I was prescribed was for something I am allergic to.

A doctor that will talk in layman's terms to patients because a lot of times I see questions on here from people who have been to a doctor and been told a diagnosis and not explaining anything in depth. The person will come on here and ask what does it mean. What will happen if. Patients are too embarrassed to tell the doctor they do not understand what they are talking about. Doctors forget patients in general are not health care professionals.

All office and medical personell should be courteous to patients at all times. I have actually encountered some very unpleasant people who are running the front desk who are in fact intimidating to patients. You should have a sign posted that reads: Any problems encountered on the premises should contact this number to discuss. Patients will actually never step foot back into a doctor's office because of the way they were treated by office personell.

As for decor? Please make the chairs comfy in the event we do have a long wait. A television in the room makes the time go by faster with several different magazines to read. Paint the room a pale blue as this is supposed to be a restful color.

Hours of operation for the ones in our area are seven days a week, with the help of residents from the University, and hours are 9am to 8pm.

There is also a program called the "Neighborhood Doc" program. Patients pay $32 a month per person, and a $25 co-pay when you come to the doctor. The cost of the office visit and any blood, pap testing, x-rays, medications, breathing treatments, are covered through the program. This really helps families who do not have health insurance.

Good luck with your practice. I wish you the best as it takes someone very special to be a doctor.