Benefits for patient experience to stay in the room with the patient
In this blog post we are going to outline how you can create the best patient experience by having a an assistant spend time in the room with the patient rather than leaving them alone in the operatory.
Focusing on the patient experience
Put yourself in the patient’s shoes. Sometimes the patients may feel stressful going to the dental office. Sometimes they may have some anxiety when they’re coming into the office.
Some patients, they may be in a hurry and they don’t want to wait a long time to see the doctor.
They’ve already waited in their waiting room, and now they don’t want to wait in the operatory.
And just being alone in that operatory feeds their anxiousness and creates more frustration.
Wouldn’t it be better if someone was there in the room with them to share updates with them and to help them feel more comfortable or to know what their needs are?
Some patients may have questions on their mind and they just want some answers.
Some patients may need some help explaining to the doctor their concerns, and they might feel more comfortable talking to an assistant rather than to the doctor.
They may need a little bit more time to open-up and express their concerns.
For these reasons and more, it’s great if the assistant can stay in the dental operatory with the patient while the patient’s waiting on the doctor.
Benefits of staying in the room with the patient
The benefits for the patient experience is that patients won’t feel alone and more anxious.
They’re able to ask questions about their treatment and get answers.
Patients can ask questions to the assistant that they may not feel comfortable asking the doctor. And the assistants can ask or answer questions as well as talk about the dental services the office offers.This helps give the patient more information about what’s possible before the doctor arrives in the room.
What assistants say about this approach
Assistants who have done this for years have given the following comments.
One assistant said: “if the assistant can create a bond with the patient, the patient’s going to feel more at home. If I have time, I always try to get a grasp of their interests outside of the dental office in order to create a keystone of communication.”
Another assistant said: “we’ve been doing this for years, and I definitely think it’s important to show the patient you’re interested in them and that their concerns come first as a patient. Then the other stuff comes next. It’s good to talk to them and get their minds off of the treatment if they are nervous.”
I think most of our assistants do a great job creating a bond with the patients based on the reviews that we’ve seen.
Another assistant said that she “totally agrees with doing this with all of our patients, and I truly do enjoy talking with the patients.”
I want to say thank you to all the assistants who help create bonds with the patients every day, who help them feel more comfortable and help answer the patient questions.
And I do want to say a special thanks to Jason Kimmy and Marty for their help and sharing ideas with this blog.