With a stressful and extremely busy schedule, you can fail to show your etiquettes. However, etiquettes are very important for better experience of patients with you. Following are some etiquettes tips that you should follow;
1. Have a Professional Appearance
Someone said it right; “the first impression is the last impression”. Well, absolutely it is because if we talk about a medical practitioner particularly, a patient expects them to be in decent clothing that makes them look professional. So, maintain a neat and formal appearance that makes you look what you actually are. Also, specify a dress code for your staff so that professionalism reflects from each of the staff members.
2. Greet the Patient Warmly
As soon as the patient walks into your room, greet them warmly, introduce yourself and ask about their matter of concern. Make sure you sound friendly to the patient so that they feel comfortable talking to you. It is an important tip because you’re talking style makes an impression on the patient and also adds value to their experience with you.
3. Listen to Your Patient Calmly
Not letting your patient speak or completing their sentences as soon as they speak a few words is certainly out of etiquettes. Moreover, most of the times when physicians complete their patient’s sentence, they do it wrong. This thing makes you look extremely unprofessional in your patient’s eye. So, listen to whatever your patient has to tell you about themselves and once they are complete, start speaking. Remember, never rush the patients to finish their words as it then looks like as if you are in some kind of hurry and the patient gets awfully uncomfortable.
4. Keep Personal Problems Hidden
If there is someone from your colleagues that you have a personal grudge with, make sure you don’t make it public especially to your patients. Whatever you and the other person have in between, your patient is least bothered about it. It is an ultimate etiquette to keep such things hidden and resolve the matter personally without drumming about it amongst the entire staff and patients.
5. Maintain Eye Contact with Patients
With so many distractions such as the clock, computer screen and your cellphone around, it is very important that all your focus stays on the patient only. Because continuously looking at the clock, at the computer screen or using your cellphone while the patient is telling you something is extremely against the etiquettes and it makes the patient wonder that you are not interested in what they are telling. Hence, in order to avoid this misunderstanding, make eye contact with your patient while both listening and speaking to them.
6. Use Courtesy Words
When your patient is about to leave and thank you for your time and help, never reply them with “No problem” as it sounds impolite. Always use courtesy words like; “You’re welcome” or “My pleasure”.
Also, if you want to make medical data access better for yourself and patients, you should invest in cloud based PACS system. Even if you already use DICOM or PACS, you should move to cloud.
As cloud PACS vendors systems are upgrade over centralized PACS, you can access medical data anywhere with ease. Good luck!
