Best practices to improve patient flow in the clinic
April 6, 2022Patient flow refers to the process of how quickly patients visit the doctor’s facility or a hospital, get their issues resolved and move on. Every step of the process from the patient’s arrival and registration at the desk and departure after receiving the required treatment from the doctor is accounted for in patient flow. The patient flow increases or decreases based on their experience, the care and the treatment they receive. Hence, let us look at ways to improve the patient flow in the clinic.
Why is it necessary to improve the patient flow?
When you improve the patient flow, you directly impact the patient’s satisfaction levels too. It is necessary to improve the service provided to the patients if you wish to improve patient flow. Not only will this increase revenue for your clinic, but also make your clinic a renowned one. The best-known clinics receive plenty of patients day in and day out. When doctors optimise their services for the patients to waste minimal time, the patient flow will improve.
Best practices to improve patient flow in the clinic:
1. Digital patient portal
Manual patient registrations do not cut it anymore as this process drastically slows down the patient flow. Not only do they consume plenty of time, but they also involve human labour who need to be paid for their services.
Instead, we recommend installing clinic management software in the clinic and syncing it with your website. This way, patient registrations happen digitally and are recorded each time they book an appointment. What’s more, the history and doctor recommendations for each visit are logged as well. This way, you no longer have to hire extra team members just to facilitate check-in for the patients.
Patient details consist of sensitive information and hence, they are secured in the cloud; only authorised personnel can access that information. Moreover, having clinic management software reduces errors and helps save time.
2. Avoid direct traffic
Consider having a different entrance and exit for patients arriving and leaving. Too many patients waiting in a single room can restrict patient flow. You may also consider inviting patients on an appointment basis. This way, your team can create optimised schedules for the next day in advance and improve the patient flow.
3. Improves the way the teams collaborate
Currently, many clinics and hospitals follow this process:
- The patient visits the doctor and if required, visits other departments such as the X-ray centre.
- Next, they meet the doctor again after which they receive a written prescription.
- Then, they go to the pharmacy.
While this is a normal process, handwritten notes negatively impact patient flow. With the help of clinic software, all the departments can collaborate with each other. The respective departments receive the patient’s information before they step in. This saves a lot of time since the patient does not have to explain their issues repeatedly.
Using superior technology helps clinics optimise appointments and save time, thus, creating more time to accept more patients. As a result, the patient’s experience in the clinic improves and they save time too since they do not have to spend long hours in the clinic.
Also Read: Top 5 Electronic Health Records (EHR) Software in 2022
4. Identify and resolve logistical conflicts
Bottlenecks are issues that occur most often in the logistics department. It is imperative that the doctors have easy access to the medical supplies whether or not it is an emergency. Running around at the last moment can cause frantic and worry. It also displays how unorganised the clinic is.
Clinic management software helps count the stock of medical supplies and how often they must be reordered by keeping track of everything in a digital inventory. Consider keeping all the supplies in a storeroom or in every examination room as well.
5. Install navigation signs
Patients might get irritated if they face any inconveniences when finding their way to your clinic. What’s worse, if the location is in a central hub, they might not get any parking! This can be a harrowing experience for them as they might get late or have to skip their appointment altogether. They might even choose to find another clinic the next time.
Assuming you have the parking space sorted out, ensure that there are enough signs around the area. This way, the patients will easily be able to find your clinic. However, if you are in the process of setting up a new clinic, consider a location that has facilities for the disabled as well. This will help in boosting revenue and patient flow too.
6. Constantly monitor the services
We recommend setting up systems that can track the following:
- Patient diagnostics
- Treatments they receive
- List of physicians
- All stages of the patient flow.
- Tests done
This can be daunting for some clinics as many patients require multiple appointments over the year. However, if managed correctly, the patient flow and subsequently revenue will improve too. We recommend investing in clinic management software that can keep adequate track of all the minute details from patient registration till their last visit. Having their records handy also means no time is wasted in the waiting room when they arrive.
Conclusion
The world is moving towards digitalisation and so must all medical care services too. When new and existing clinics and hospitals invest in clinic software, they can improve patient flow by giving them an optimised service.