BUSINESS

  personnel pointers

Measuring Patient Satisfaction

Why and how to improve care quality

TRUDI CHAREST, RO, ABO

When holding training sessions, I am always astounded to learn that most optometric practices don’t measure their patient satisfaction regularly. Not only is it a valuable tool to see where you can improve, it also shows your patients that you truly care about the quality of the service they receive.

Here, I list the top benefits of measuring patient satisfaction and how to collect and use the data.

Why measure

The six reasons to measure:

1. It provides a communication vehicle for your patients. It’s a consumer’s world, and if they are not happy, they will find a way to communicate it to the world, usually online. It is far better to have an open communication channel in which they can immediately voice their satisfaction or displeasure to you directly. Having a system for collecting patient satisfaction — or dissatisfaction — will uncover patients who maybe would not return or complain in another fashion, thereby giving you a chance to fix the problem and turn a negative experience into a positive one.

2. It identifies what is and isn’t working well. Ask your patients to tell you what they like and dislike about their experiences in order to streamline your process and make it more consumer friendly.

3. It keeps staff motivated. When employees know they are being evaluated, behaviors improve. Offer team bonuses for great surveys. The higher the rating, the bigger the bonus — that will motivate your team!

4. It enables you to collect important data. To grow a viable business, you need to know what is going on. That means collecting data on everything, including service, product selection, patient experience, office flow, eye exam education and first impressions.

5. It provides an opportunity to thank patients for their ongoing business. At the very least, a follow-up patient satisfaction survey allows you to thank patients for choosing your office. They have many options, so let them know you value their business.

6. Your competitor is doing it. Retail optical chains are famous for using customer satisfaction surveys to connect with and “wow” their customers. Then, they use the information to ensure ongoing training on sales and service quality. They also build their database of email contacts for future communication.

How to measure

The easiest way to measure patient satisfaction is through a survey. If you subscribe, most practice management systems offer survey or other feedback services; if not, build one yourself quickly and easily online through platforms, such as SurveyMonkey.com, and email the survey link to your customers, or post it on your website and your social media pages, such as Twitter and Facebook.

To encourage participation — and thank your patients for their time — offer discounts on additional services or products, such as savings on multiple-pair sales and invitations to special events, such as upcoming trunk shows.

Interpreting the results

Survey results should be shared with the team on a regular basis, such as at regular meetings, and action plans should be developed based on the findings. The ultimate goal is to improve practice quality of service. Patient surveys can refine your process and enable you to deliver top-notch care. OM

TRUDI CHAREST IS THE PRESIDENT AND TRAINER FOR TOTAL FOCUS TRAINING & CONSULTING, AS WELL AS PRESIDENT AND FOUNDER OF JOBS4ECPS, AN ONLINE EYECARE JOB SITE. VISIT TINYURL.COM/OMCOMMENT TO COMMENT.