Three Ways To Improve Your Healthcare Practice
If you're a healthcare practice in AUS, particularly one that supports participants of the National Disability Insurance Scheme, you're going to have a real focus on looking after your patients. There is a fair bit of responsibility that comes with your practice and therefore you want to ensure you do it right. While you could already have a great practice, there are always ways it can be improved and the level of care and efficiency can be improved. In this article, we explore some top ways you can make the way you run even better and have even more happy patients in no time. Keep on reading to get inspired.
Enhance your patient experiences
There are a myriad of things that can be done to improve the experience of the patients that come in your doors. The first of these is to streamline the appointment making process. You should utilise booking systems to make scheduling as convenient as can be. Software such as NDIS software can help with making appointments and scheduling reminders for patients to reduce the number of no-shows. You should also consider adding in more than one method of communication for your patients. This could be phone, WhatsApp, email and secure patient portals that they can log onto. This way everyone can get in touch with a method that feels the most comfortable to them.
Improve the interiors
The inside of your practice is the first thing that people will see when they walk in and you want to leave a good impression. People who are feeling ill or have a long-term condition are already probably anxious about coming in, so making the environment nice for them can make a real difference. Invest in comfortable seating where they can relax, ensure it is clean and pleasant and add things such as plants and artwork on the walls, as well as magazines to read while they wait for their appointments. Fish tanks also always go down really well! Paint the walls in a neutral, calming colour and try to have as much natural light in the room as possible.
Utilise technology to your advantage
We live in a time when the technology available to us is more useful than ever and it’s time you utilised it! There are many ways it can help make your healthcare practice better, including the way you keep and use health records. By using Electronic Health Records to organise data, streamline workflows and more, it means you can communicate better both with patients and your team. It can also automate a lot of processes and leave your staff with more time to interact with patients or get other tasks done.
You could invest in telemedicine services whereby patients can get access to care virtually, so they don’t need to come in for an appointment if it’s something small. This can reduce wait times and help keep everyone happy. Another way you can utilise technology is by looking into your data analytics to identify trends and monitor patient outcomes. This can show where you can improve and what needs to be done where.
Invest in the development of your staff
Your staff are the backbone of your business and if you want to improve your healthcare practice, you need to ensure they’re up to scratch. Provide regular training sessions for your team so they will stay updated on the latest technology, patient care techniques and medical practices. Offer them regular feedback on how they’re doing as well as encouraging them to give feedback to you on the practice and if there is anything they think can be done better. You should also foster a good team environment by taking them on team building days and encouraging collaboration between departments. The better the team works together, the more they’ll help each other out and be more motivated to get work done during the day too.
These are just a few things you can do that can help to improve your healthcare practice in no time at all. As mentioned above, being a healthcare professional you have a big responsibility to take the best care of your patients as possible. The above tips are sure to help you do this and keep on improving both now and in the long term. Do you own a healthcare practice? If so, what do you do to ensure it’s of the best quality it can be? Let us know in the comments below, we’d love to hear from you.
