In the classroom, teachers are always looking for teachable moments. The same thing is true for medical professionals performing patient education. When presented with an opportunity in which patients are ready to learn, whether it’s in a hospital bed or an exam room, your practice should be ready to educate. By getting the right educational materials to the right patient at the right time, both the patient experience and patient outcome will be improved.
Get Creative
Patient education can take a variety of forms, and the most successful mediums are those that are well-matched to individual patients and preferences. Do you have many young adult patients? Instead of providing them with bland brochures detailing what constitutes a healthy lifestyle, try directing them to a podcast or YouTube video series. Since there is so much quality content available online, your practice does not necessarily need to invest anything other than time into uncovering excellent patient education resources.
Responsive Patient Education
On-demand patient education that is accessible via an online portal is another popular solution for improving the patient experience while also increasing the likelihood of positive health outcomes. In many cases, patients want to feel like someone is paying attention to them. If a patient visits your practice concerned about a cholesterol level on a recent bloodwork panel, offering them access to a series of heart-healthy cooking videos via a follow-up email lets them know that you heard and understood the concern and that you care about helping the patient to achieve optimal health.
Keep It Simple
Unfortunately, many practices still rely on outdated and overwhelming packets of information to educate patients at the conclusion of a visit. While you should still offer patients the 6-page packet explaining potential side effects of a new medication, you should also take the time to clearly explain what they should expect. What will the medication make them feel like? What are the most common side effects? What should a patient do if a side effect occurs? Communication is key to a positive patient experience.
Make Expectations Clear with Next In Line
Next In Line is an innovative scheduling service that fills no-show appointments in seconds. Next In Line’s easy to use system integrates with your existing scheduling software and notifies patients who have signed up for your wait list the second that appointments are available. Our technology can also automate your scheduling process so that when patients want to make an appointment, even if it’s after hours or your receptionist is busy, they can do so in an instant. We specialize in helping practices recover time and revenue while improving the patient experience.
To learn more about our offerings and see how we can assist your practice with efficient scheduling, get in touch by calling 443-846-0135.
