Difficult situations, positive solutions
By Susan Hoy

Sometimes patients get angry. And their anger might not be caused by anyone in the office. They might come in irritated or angry and take it out on you or your chiropractor.

When this happens, how you deal with the situation is important. Here are some things you can do to deal with those situations.

1. Tell the doctor. If a patient walks out angry or frustrated (possibly because he had to wait), advise the doctor. But don't do it while she is treating other patients.

Save the problems and patient issues for the end of the day. (You don't want the doctor to get frustrated and irritated while working with other patients.)

2. Contact the patient. Sometimes the doctor will want to call the patient personally to apologize, or he may ask you to do this.

Let the patient calm down before you contact her (possibly wait until the next day). With a cool-down period, the patient has time to think about the situation and may offer her own apology, saying she was having a bad day or she had to go to a meeting.

Regardless of the patient's excuse, give your apology, such as: "I am so sorry that we kept you waiting yesterday! We try not to let this happen, but sometimes we just can't help it. Let's reschedule your appointment and I promise to get you right in. Can you come in at _____ today?"

If that time is not convenient, ask when it would be convenient.

3. Code the appointment. When you reschedule the angry patient, code the appointment so that the staff knows not to keep him waiting.

4. Send a personal note from the doctor. If you are unsuccessful in rescheduling the patient, a personal note from the doctor is very effective. In most cases, the patient will call back to reschedule very soon, because you let him know you care.

PERSISTENT PROBLEM PATIENTS

A fine line exists between solving occasional problems and rewarding bad behavior. So, if a particular patient demonstrates the same behavior more than once or twice, the underlying problem needs to be solved.

Some patients think waiting five minutes is too long. (It isn't.)

Others think that if they get angry, they will get their way. When you give in to that behavior, they begin to control you, and scheduling becomes a practice nightmare.

No one should make a serious confrontation without the doctor's knowledge. When a patient becomes a persistent scheduling problem, it is time for the office manager with a direct confrontation.

"Mr. Smith, my staff mentioned that it is often difficult to schedule your appointments and that you feel we keep you waiting too long. Let's find a solution and eliminate your stress and ours."

Most patients, when confronted, back off and help find a solution.

There are, however, times when the doctor must get involved. Usually, when the doctor confronts the patient, the patient is more compliant. Patients must be made aware that our goal is to make sure every patient has a good experience in our office and therefore, we have to create policies that serve everyone, not just certain individuals.

SIDEBAR:
Dealing with 'the wait'

Susan Hoy is an award-winning team trainer and consultant. She presents training seminars for teams throughout the country and is the author of two team training manuals. The newest is entitled, Systemize Organize Simplify. Susan can be reached at 215-674-0130, suzzhoy@aol.com, or through her Web site at www.beefitup.net.