7 Simple Steps to Train Your Staff on Patient Experience
In our corner of the healthcare industry, we know hospitality and patient experience aren’t just bonuses. They’re largely what lead patients to choose membership-based concierge and DPC practices over traditional ones.
Since that’s the case, the responsibility for ensuring excellent patient experience rests not only on the shoulders of those delivering care — physicians, nurses, MAs — but on the shoulders of every staff member in the office.
Regardless of how genial or sympathetic their physician is, a cold or impersonal reception at the front desk can taint a patient’s whole experience. It creates dissonance in the office and undermines the image of your practice in the minds of your patients.
This is why patient experience training is worthwhile. Helping staff embrace this responsibility sets your practice up to succeed in providing a consistently top-tier patient experience. And as a bonus, most staff members will find it fulfilling, enjoying their work more because it’s meaningful and because they know patients appreciate their service.
Why Well-Trained Staff Make a Difference
Patient experience training might not seem intuitive at first. Can’t we just tell staff to “be welcoming”?
The problem is, we’re all different. We have different dispositions, backgrounds, and ideas of what “welcoming” means. And no two people start their jobs with an inner knowledge of all the same best practices.
If you want to intentionally foster a consistent patient experience, training is the way to do it.
Something as simple as greeting patients is a great example. Staff members can be trained to look ahead and know who’s arriving in the next hour. Then they’ll be prepared to greet those patients by name and with a “good morning” or “good afternoon.”
You could also teach the Ten / Five Rule. When a patient is ten feet away, make eye contact and acknowledge them, either with a time-of-day greeting or a simple nod or wave if you’re on the phone. At five feet away, stop whatever you’re doing and engage with the patient, with a “How may I help you?” or “How are you today?”
Greetings may be a simple activity, but training is necessary to make them consistently effective.
These are just examples. The real question is: How do you make sure training like this sticks with your staff and gets implemented every day?
It’s not enough to hand employees a document with instructions and wish them luck. No, it’s far more nuanced. Below are seven steps to get you and your staff started with patient experience training.
Step 1: Define Your SOPs
Standard operating procedures (SOPs) related to patient experience will be different for every practice. You know what you want the tone and experience in your office to be, and you can choose and refine SOPs that work toward your goal.
One important factor in developing patient experience training that sticks is employee buy-in. One of the best ways to achieve that is by involving your staff in the SOP-development process.
When staff members join you in perfecting your practice’s SOPs, they develop a sense of ownership over those processes. And because the physician or practice manager may not be familiar with all the nuances of certain operations, they can get input from employees in those areas as to what standards make the most sense.
For example, let’s say you’re working on an SOP covering how to answer the phone. The manager might suggest the phone should be answered within two rings. But in meeting with your front-desk staff, you discover that’s impossible due to the high volume of calls they receive. They help you decide on a realistic three or four rings.
If your SOPs aren’t reasonable in context, no amount of training will make them stick. Being open to feedback and collaboration will get you best-fit SOPs that your staff will embrace.
Step 2: Document SOPs in a Training Binder or Manual
Once you establish your SOPs, they need to live somewhere physically. A training binder or manual is a handy option for day-to-day reference and for training future hires.
Instead of keeping one central manual for everyone, distribute copies to every staff member — and not just the SOPs in their area of responsibility. Having the entire SOP manual that includes everything done by everyone furthers the sense that each employee is part of a team, a piece of a puzzle that plays a vital role in operations.
Step 3: Identify Who Owns the SOPs
Having a manual on the shelf doesn’t necessarily mean anyone will be proactive about following it. That’s why it’s critical to have a designated person who champions the cause of patient experience SOPs.
In some practices, the role falls to someone in human resources. In others, it’s played by a patient experience manager, office manager, or even the physician.
Whoever it is, this person will keep your patient experience training alive by making sure SOPs remain top-of-mind for staff.
Step 4: Create a Calendar of Review
One of the ways your SOP owner can keep your processes visible is by developing an “SOP of the week” or calendar of review. By highlighting each SOP on a schedule, your patient experience training receives regular reinforcement and all procedures get covered within a predictable timeframe.
Having a calendar for highlighting SOPs sees that standards get periodically refreshed. It also creates room for ongoing employee conversations and feedback about SOPs, allowing procedures to evolve and remain relevant over time.
Step 5: Channel Patient Feedback
Verbal patient feedback is excellent, but written feedback is even more beneficial for your practice. Rather than just a quick source of encouragement for a single person at one moment in time, written patient feedback provides encouragement for your entire staff.
Consider setting up a method to collect patient feedback, with things like written surveys or feedback forms. This creates a space where you can celebrate performance and break down feedback according to your SOPs for shared learning.
Step 6: Encourage and Reward Adherence
When you witness the SOPs being followed, reward your team for adhering to their patient experience training. It’s a great team building opportunity around shared success. The patient feedback mentioned above is one great way to spot wins.
Step 7: Keep an Opportunity Log
An opportunity log is where you keep track of opportunities to improve the patient experience.
Maybe an incident occurs between a staff member and a patient. Maybe someone forgets to follow an SOP. The idea is that if SOPs are being followed, you shouldn’t have many — or any — incidents to track. If you identify that SOPs are being followed, but you still have incidents, then the log helps you see the need to refine, update, or add to your SOPs.
The log also becomes important for legal matters. It documents incidents, including date, time, who was there, what happened, and what the patient said. It includes what actions were taken by management. By keeping a log, you can provide this information to your insurance or legal team as needed.
Coming in 2023
Patient experience training helps ensure the world-class experience your patients expect. It’s consistency in the little things that really elevates a patient’s interactions with your practice and demonstrates a stark contrast with the traditional medical model they left.
To this end, we’re looking forward to offering patient experience training through ROAMD in 2023. Be on the lookout for updates!
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