subject: Physicians Answering Service: Essential Qualities To Look For [print this page] If you are looking to engage a physicians answering service for catering to your patients and patrons better, you are certainly on the right track. If you wish to attend to your patients round the clock and assure them of your presence in times of distress, a doctors answering service is the only answer. If it happens to be the first time you are looking to engage an answering service; there would be some specific qualities to look into. Some of them have been discussed here.
Physicians Answering Service: Essential Service Quality Aspects
Short Waiting Time: Callers who dial in for a medical emergency or are in quest of a solution to their nagging health problems are certain to be put off by unusually long waiting times. Your answering service should be able to deliver within short waiting times. Keeping it limited to about five minutes would be ideal. Anything above that could put off the caller. So, make sure the staff has been adequately trained to channelize the calls to the right person, without much confusion.
A Warm Greeting: Always remember, a person who is calling in to a medical answering service is most likely to be distressed. And more so, if he is calling in at odd hours! He might even be suffering from mental trauma on account of his health condition. The ideal way to soothe him would be with a warm greeting. A personal touch is always welcome.
Empathy and Sympathy: A patient expects empathy from care givers. And, a medical answering service needs to do just that! You must train your officials to be sensitive and empathetic towards the needs of your patients. Ideally, your staff should be provided with enough information on the specific health conditions you are catering to. Once they understand the implications of the disease, it would be easier for them to appreciate the problems encountered by the patient. A sensitive and sensible approach would take most of the anxiety away.
Round the Clock Availability: Keep in mind that patients expect medical professionals to be around 24/7. And this is especially so when you have a physicians answering service in place. It is important to have doctors on board to cater to emergencies and medical queries. Although engaging specialists round the clock may not always be possible, make sure you arrange for preliminary care, at the very least.
Medical answering services are to be chosen with precision. Make sure you evaluate your options suitably for the same.
