Success by Improving Patient Experience: Part II

In this three-part podcast series, Bhavna Tank, MD, a family practice physician in North Carolina, discusses how to make your family practice successful by keeping the patient in mind.

The first podcast focused on changes to make in the patient’s experience before he or she even steps foot in the office or while sitting in the waiting room.

In the second podcast, Tank focuses on using your nursing staff to the best of their abilities to make the patient’s wait in the exam room profitable and efficient.

Tank has worked at or observed other practices where the nursing staff was not given the incentive or freedom to be their best.

“And using the nursing staff to the best of their ability frees up a lot of the provider’s time,” she said.

The nurses can even help out with small things. If a patient has a sore throat and the nurse has reason to believe it might be strep, then he or she can take the test before the physician enters the exam room. This can lead to a more efficient use of everyone’s time.

“The nursing staff in our office is used a lot more than some of the other offices,” Tank said. “We put a lot more responsibility on them and we reward them for it.

Tank’s practice also has a lot of ancillary services, something she recommends family practice physicians look into. The nursing staff helps promote those extra services, and Tank gives the nurses incentives to have patients fill out information related to the services or watch videos on what else is offered, such as the allergy clinic.

Family practice offices should offer ancillary services, which are not only beneficial to the patients, but bring in more income.

“You want to give the patient the best experience, and in order to do that one of the things you have to be successful in is your financial part,” Tank said. “You have to make money in order to provide those great services."

Second podcast

First podcast |