The Patient Experience

Remembering the old adage ‘You only get one chance at making a first impression’ how does your Dental Practice measure up? Striving to offer a first class experience each and every time for both new and existing Patients, should be the overriding goal.

Here are some of the questions you may wish to consider;

Q. Does your Practice present a friendly and comfortable environment for all patients and visitors?
Q. How good are your telephony arrangements i.e. do your staff demonstrate good telephone answering skills and do they posses the knowledge to answer patient enquiries and engender confidence?
Q. Are your patients aware of what treatments and services are on offer and do these meet their expectations?
Q. Do you keep your patients fully informed throughout their course of treatment?
Q. Do you publish periodical Newsletters including feature articles and the latest Practice news?
Q. Does your Practice have a well designed and informative website with Patient interactive capabilities?
Q. Have you considered asking your patients through a well constructed survey, to critique their experience’s, you may be surprised by the responses?

As a result, you might discover that your perception in relation to performance is not the reality, which can in the first instance be de-motivating. However, a clear set of issues will emerge which will highlight significant opportunities for improvement.

Taking this one step further, it is well known that actually asking your existing Patients to refer their friends and family has the greatest impact on new patient acquisition and is a clear indication that you have made the experience “enjoyable” enough to want to return. The added bonus is that patients are then willing to recommend your services to others, resulting in valuable free advertising for the Practice.