How are you, as a healthcare provider, meeting the needs of your patients? If this isn’t something you are asking yourself regularly, the chances are you are unaware of their needs, or you are failing massively at meeting them.
As a patient-orientated dental practice, the thing that drives everything you do is the patient’s needs. Not meeting the standards patients have for you will be a surefire way for them to move on to a provider who will know what they want and be ready to fulfill this easily.
Resting on your laurels isn’t something you should be doing when it comes to running your dental practice, and always focusing on the patient experience will enable you to do what you do but better and also boost your satisfaction scores.
Read on for some suggestions on how to do that.
Improve Efficiency
You need to address a lapse in inefficient treatment plans, your booking system, and so on. Is everyone working together like a well-oiled machine to provide the level of service expected? If not, what isn’t working, and where is it going wrong? It could be that your front-of-house team needs software and technology to help them streamline the appointment booking process, accept new registrations, or sign people in.
Using technology to allow customers to book their own appointments and fill in the paperwork can reduce the need for staff intervention and will enable them to spend time doing other tasks.
Improve Standards
Be it staff standards, the standards of the products you use, or your standards of care when engaging with customers. Look at where things aren’t as good and improve them.
For some areas, it might mean you need to commit to a heavier financial outlay, such as updating equipment or investing in new suppliers such as Tokuyama Dental Care products for a higher level of customer satisfaction with treatments.
Or it could be that you overhaul our training plan to ensure that all staff is offering the same level of care and attention across the board so everyone is satisfied.
Patient Feedback
You should always be asking for feedback from every patient who walks through your doors. This includes current and former patients, too.
You need to know how they feel about their experience with you, where you can do better, and where you excelled. If you don’t know this, you will be scrambling to make changes that might not even be necessary. This is an important factor in improving your dental practice.
Send customer satisfaction surveys post appointments and have forms to fill in when they leave your practice. Talk to them during their appointment to delve into how they feel when they come to you for treatment and what you can do better or change to make the visit a more positive experience.
The more feedback you collect, the more informed you will be. From here, you can use this feedback to make changes that will work for everyone and meet patient needs with ease.
Improving your dental practice will take time and effort. From collecting feedback and getting an overall picture of your performance from a patient point of view to investing in new technology equipment and training, there is much to consider to make the right improvements and be the best provider possible.
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