Doctor Patient Relations

How to Make Me (Your Patient) Feel Appreciated

Amir Khoshnevis, OD

Experts continuously remind us of the importance of creating an exceptional customer (patient) experience in order to build loyalty and generate referrals. Anticipating the needs of your patients, at every step of the process, is the best way to make them feel important. Feeling significant is an innate human need. Each of us wants to think our presence is appreciated and brings value to the world around us. During our lifetime we strive to be loved, and when we die, we want to be missed. It is critically important that we keep these needs in mind as we attempt to understand our patient’s behavior prior, during and after the patient care experience.

Top Five Rules for making me (your patient) feel significant:

Rule #1: Make it personal.

Ask for my name early and address me in an age-appropriate manner. Respect never hurts. After introducing yourself (practice name and the person talking), ask, “May I please have your name?” instead of, “How may I help you?”
You: “Thank you for calling Eyecare Experts! This is Ashley. May I please have your name?”
Me: “Hi. Sure, it’s Amir Khoshnevis”
You: “Hello Mr. Khoshnevis! We’re glad you called. How may I help you with your eyecare needs today?”
Me: “How much is an eye exam, Ashley?” [Our least favorite question. But you have already differentiated yourself from the competition by making a connection. Price is far less important if I feel like you care.]

Rule #2: Examine appearance.

Examine the look of your office appearance, including parking lots, entrances, reception areas, restrooms, optical, and especially all patient care rooms, to ensure your space is clean and clutter-free.
See your office through your patient’s eyes instead of your own. Treat your office as you would your home when you have important guests visiting. In fact, you do! Your patients are your most important guests and they pay you! Can you imagine having guests over to your house who take time off work, respect you for your knowledge, and pay you for seeing them? Wouldn’t you make them feel special?

Rule #3: Work on your manners!
Think about your language, appearance, hand gestures, posted signs, and most importantly, how you address and treat each other in the office. Nothing makes me feel less significant than when I walk into a facility that ignores me at check in, and the nurse yells out my first name (mispronounced) while staring down at her chart and walking 10 feet in front of me saying nothing more than “follow me.” I see signs that read “Absolutely NO cell phones allowed!” but I see staff texting at the nurses station. I then have preliminary testing done by a person whose attire has not been exposed to an invention called an iron, and then wait for the doctor as I overhear conversations about what staff had to drink last night and how tired they are of working for the doctor. To borrow a phrase, I often catch you “making sausage!” Sausage may be delicious, but I don’t want to see it being made. My point is, be genuine when you say you respect your guests by keeping anything not related to my care away from my eyes and ears.

Rule #4: Anticipate my questions and concerns.
This is easy! Patients ask the same questions all the time, and yes, you get tired of hearing them. So, you start rolling your eyes and giving us sarcastic responses. You know the most common one: “Is this the air puff?” which can come after any sighting of a chin rest in the office, and you answer, “NO, Mr. Khoshnevis” (but your face says “If I have to answer that question ONE MORE TIME!). Instead, wouldn’t it be nice if you addressed all of my dumb-to-you questions as you presented each instrument? Try this: “Mr. Khoshnevis, this instrument is going to measure the approximate prescription of your eyes. It is not the air-puff instrument, just in case you were wondering” (comforting smile). Now we can all live a little longer without all that anxiety in the room!

Rule #5: Remember the little luxuries.

What little things can make me feel special and come at a small price to you? Let me give you a few ideas:
1. Since you must know my date of birth, if it’s on or near my birthday, consider surprising me with something small the moment I check in. Maybe a $5 gift card or a small savings offer for the optical department.

2. Hand me a bottle of water when I check in. Don’t ask me if I would like one. Asking makes me say “no thanks” because I don’t want to burden you. If you really want to wow me, just present me with the bottle and if I’m not interested, then I’ll say “no thanks!” but I would still be impressed.

3. When I’m forced to wait for the doctor in the exam room, think about my needs. Make sure I have appropriate lighting for reading, dim the lights if I’m fully dilated, and if you’re really into exceptional care, have Pandora (or similar) software ready to play music of MY favorite genre…just ask me, click the genre, and wow me. (Thanks to Ted McElroy, OD, of Tifton, Ga., for this great tip!)

There are so many good examples of this type of service. Just be creative and think about your patient’s needs and desires. You’ll be surprised by how many compliments you’ll receive.

How do you make patients feel special? What office environment innovations have you rolled out over the last year that have wowed your patients?

Amir Khoshnevis, OD, founded Carolina Family Eye Care in 2003. He is a graduate of the Pennsylvania College of Optometry and is a Vision Source Administrator. Dr. Khoshnevis serves as a Professional Development Consultant for Alcon and lectures nationally on practice management topics. He also serves as a national committee member for Optometry Giving Sight, an organization he wishes to promote in his bio (humor never hurts). To contact him: drk@carolinafamilyeyecare.com.

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