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Think Twitter, communicate better
Converse with your patients more strategically with concise messages.
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I have no doubt that using Twitter has made me a better communicator. Communication is key to any type of human interaction, and there is nothing better than delivering your message concisely and in a clear and elegant manner.
If you are using Twitter, you might have noticed that you have to stop and think to make your Tweets more readable and to the point. If you are not interacting on Twitter, you should look into it. Forget the social media aspect for a minute and let us think of Twitter as a great platform for becoming a better communicator.
Look at it this way: When using Twitter, you have to think strategically before choosing your words and building a sentence. You have limited space and must convey your message in 140 characters or less. This forces you to think of the message as short, concise and meaningful. I agree, 140 characters can be intimidating to those of us who like to talk, but talking and communicating are two different things.
In our offices, good communication with patients is important, yet often these skills are not something we think about. When the doctor-patient interaction lacks quality or clarity, you have failed to be a good communicator from the patient’s perspective.
Many optometrists have seen this communication breakdown in our offices and how our office staff comes to save the day. We hear about the patient who was not told by the doctor about the amount of drops to use, how to replace their contacts or when the next appointment is. Clearly we cannot all be crazy, and clearly not all our patients are hard of hearing, but perhaps our clinical communication skills do not transfer well to how our patients want us to communicate.
Apply the concept of Twitter to patents. I do not mean to send your patients a tweet, I mean use a “Twitter mentality” and start to communicate more effectively by using a short and concise message.
We all have busy schedules and limited time and, as such, developing short, concise, clear and effective communication skills is important not only to maintain our brand but to improve patient care. Good communication skills help you and your office and provide better outcomes to our patients.
So, take a moment and start to think in 140 characters or less. I promise you, the next time you are asked, it will help you explain astigmatism better, and you will become a better communicator.
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- Agustin L. Gonzalez, OD, FAAO, is in private practice in Dallas, serves as adjunct faculty at InterAmerican University and is a member of the Primary Care Optometry News Editorial Board. He can be reached at AG@TXEyeDr.com.
Disclosure: Gonzalez reports no relevant financial disclosures.