How to Make Your Dental Practice A Welcoming And Pleasant Space
Tip #1: Polite And Friendly Dental Staff
For some people, being inside a dental clinic can be nerve-racking due to past negative dental experiences or sensory issues to anticipatory pain. You have to be considerate to patients coming in your door with these histories. With a seemingly unapproachable staff, this could increase the patient’s anxiety and discourage them from visiting your practice.
Armed with this knowledge, training your in-clinic personnel to be approachable and easy to talk to is important. Having a brief conversation about their treatment and listening to their concerns can have an overall positive effect on their dental experience. As the first point of contact for a patient, your staff sets a welcoming atmosphere and pleasant tone in every patient interaction. In addition, make sure your staff is informed about accommodations they could offer to patients with disabilities, such as a wheelchair ramp, accessible restroom, or sign language interpreter.
Tip #2: Open And Welcoming Space
The first thing patients notice is your dental clinic’s environment – from the floors and furniture to the colors and immediate smell. You want to make sure that they stray away from the dull and stale hospital-like appearance. Instead, you can utilize a soothing color palette that is easy on the eyes, making them feel comfortable to approach your staff. Adding comfortable seats in your waiting area is also a good addition to ease your patient’s anxiety.
If you’re willing to go the extra mile, they can read dental magazines and relax while waiting for their names to be called. Finally, neutralize the sterilizers’ scent with coffee grounds to absorb the order or use an essential oil diffuser.
Tip #3: Easy and Well-Organized Patient Flow
A bustling waiting room where incoming patients and outgoing patients bump into one another can increase anxiety and confusion. Where patients need to go should be clear and organized with labels, facilitating an easy patient workflow. To maintain peace in the clinic, make sure to check where there tends to be a lot of noise and movement. Perhaps revisiting your floor plan and placing your stations or desks somewhere people can come up to without traffic can help lower your patient’s anxiety. It’s best to ask for your patient’s feedback so you can implement changes based on your patient’s needs and you can pinpoint your areas for improvement.
Learn What We Can Do For You With Synapse
What your dental practice needs is exceptional patient experience for guaranteed patient satisfaction, which equates to patients returning for future appointments. By designing your practice’s environment to be comfortable, friendly, and welcoming, you are saving a lot of time from dealing with patient concerns and negative feedback. If your patients are at ease, you will naturally help them feel relaxed during their appointment.
To get started, Synapse is the right partner to carry on the weight of dental billing and encoding and more. By contacting us, you can implement these strategies in your dental practice without breaking a sweat. You may consult with one of our experts today at dentalsales@synhs.com.