BLOG: Making your patients feel comfortable in an unsure environment

Regardless of the medical field you happen to be in, one of the biggest questions many medical professionals find themselves asking is how to make their patients feel comfortable.

In many cases, it can be easy; some accept doctors’ visits as normal and as a sometimes unfortunate fact of life. Sadly, however, there is quite a large subset of people out there who are terrified of visiting their doctor and will be completely out of sorts during their appointment or – worse yet – will skip or postpone their visits, even if they happen to be truly crucial to their health. It is these patients that often require a hard look at one’s bedside manner to determine whether or not you’re doing all you can to make sure they feel at home at the clinic.

Fortunately, during my time as an optometrist, I have picked up a few tips along the way that truly have made a difference in these special types of cases, though their fears don’t often truly go away.

Be personal on your patient form. Obviously, patient forms are an extremely important part of running a practice. However, what many do not know is the patient form is a crucial way of connecting to your patient on not just a professional level, but a personal level as well. As such, I try to get as much medical knowledge about the patient as I can – such as age and how healthy they are, what you absolutely need to know for their safety – but, I also try to ask them some personal questions, too.

This can include what work they do, what special interests they may have and maybe even their favorite TV shows. This gives patients something else to think about the moment they walk into the office, which is especially important because waiting is often the worst part. Additionally, all of this is information you can use in the next step toward creating a safe-feeling environment in your clinic.

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Be warm and interactive. Although it may not seem like it, the first 5 minutes of the visit is the most important part of the entire time you will be spending with your patient. This is when you can build trust with them, cut through the tension caused by their fears and hopefully get their mind away from the scary atmosphere enough to where they are no longer uncomfortable. Thus, if you want to not have a distressed patient on your hands, you really need to make sure to be warm and interactive the moment they walk in the door.

The first thing I do when I greet the patient is make sure I have a big smile on my face, as well as a vibrant attitude. From there, I try to make immediate small talk with them to make them feel comfortable. That means asking about hobbies, interests, work, how long they’ve lived in the area, how many kids they have and whatever other information I gleaned from the patient form.

Most importantly of all, I try to find one thing we have in common and talk about that. Once more, this helps the patient think about something – anything else – than the task at hand, while letting their mind ignore their fears as much as possible.

On top of this, making that personal connection helps put you on a similar level to the patient, which is truly one of the most important aspects of the client-doctor relationship. With that, you not only will be able to help those nervous patients get back in the office for their next check-up or exam, they also might refer you to their friends. This could result in new patients and much fewer issues in the office with the patients you already have.

Casual communication is key. Just remember: as a doctor, you can’t just stick to the nuts and bolts of the task at hand when talking to your patient. You need to give them something else they can focus on, so they can feel as comfortable as possible with you as a doctor and with the situation as a whole. This is the secret to making even the most unsure patient feel just a little better about where they happen to be.