Dental appointment or experience?

Have you ever left a doctor or dentist’s office and thought, “That was such a wonderful experience?”  On the flip side, have you ever left a doctor or dentist’s office and felt let down or upset about the appointment?

Have you ever wondered about what made you feel the way you felt?

Here are the TOP 5 REASONS WHY (in my opinion) patients feel positive or disappointed:

1. WAIT TIME WAS BETTER THAN EXPECTED/ WORSE THAN EXPECTED
2. OFFICE WAS/ WAS NOT ORGANIZED or CLEAN
3. THE DOCTOR/ TEAM DID/ DID NOT LISTEN TO MY CONCERNS
4. I FELT LIKE THINGS WERE/ WERE NOT EXPLAINED TO ME WELL
5. I FELT THAT MY FINACIAL EXPECTIONS WERE WELL COMMUNICATED TO ME/ I FELT LIKE THERE WERE MISCOMMUNICATIONS ABOUT WHAT I WAS EXPECTED TO PAY

Any of these sounds familiar???

Appointments are more than just “appointments”. They are EXPERIENCES. ALL patients want to feel taken care of, heard, safe, educated and respected. While all interactions cannot be perfect 100% of the time, medical and dental visits CAN and SHOULD be POSITIVE. Health care visits may sometimes offer negative news, but with genuine and sincere communication, even those can be positive experiences. It may take extra effort for the office team to share the goals and philosophies.  It may take extra effort for the office team to be positive and organized, educated and efficient. It may take extra effort to make changes when changes need to be made.  These extra efforts make huge differences when it comes to how patients perceive their overall care. The truth is that none of the things listed above affect the actual care provided by the doctor or dentist, but all of them affect how patients feel about their treatment!

As both a patient and a health care provider, I feel that spending extra time to CARE ABOUT PATIENT EXPERIENCES should be PART OF PATIENT CARE! After all, we all prefer positive experiences over just “appointments.”