Waiting rooms aren’t exactly the place most people want to spend their time.

The check-in experience can be slow, frustrating, and confusing. However, it doesn’t have to be – and it shouldn’t be!

Patient check-in plays a key role in creating the first impression that’s formed in the mind of patients. An efficient experience can drastically increase the overall level of satisfaction patients have for your healthcare organization. Here are 10 things you can do to improve.

 

1. Streamline Your Scheduling

Overscheduling is one of the biggest culprits when it comes to long wait times. A good patient check-in experience should be quick and streamlining your scheduling process can speed things up and will likely lead to happier patients. It doesn’t have to be difficult. Creating a simple, easy to follow set of guidelines based on projected waiting times can do wonders to preventing overscheduling.

The CheckIns.app management system allows your center to check in a new walk-in app user. The patient check-in app will keep track of a user’s place in line and the patient can be moved into a room if other patients have not yet arrived. Furthermore, the system supports intelligent queueing for patients that have both arrived and not arrived.

 

2. Make Submitting Feedback Easy

Providing patients with an easy method for leaving feedback is a great way to make improvements to your patient check-in experience. Patients can provide insights for which you may not have been aware. Who better to ask about potential improvements than the people who have gone through your check-in process?

 

3. Support Your Intake Staff

Take time to ensure you’re addressing the needs of the intake staff. Listening to what they have to say about what works and what needs improving is imperative to keep the operation running smoothly. Supporting intake staff and ensuring they have the resources they need to effectively manage patient flow is sure to make for a more pleasant patient check-in experience for everyone involved.

 

4. Be Willing to Listen

Addressing the concerns and questions that your patients have can help to reduce any worries they may have about checking in for treatment. Some concerns may seem redundant or silly, but it’s important that patients feel listened to and respected. Listening to any questions that come up during check-in assures patients they’ll also have their concerns addressed during treatment.

 

5. Create a Comfortable Atmosphere

Waiting rooms tend to be stressful places. To improve your patient check-in experience it’s important to take steps toward providing patients with a comfortable environment. Simple touches like plants, reading material, and soothing colors can make a world of difference in the quality of atmosphere you’re providing during check-in. Would you be more likely to return and recommend the services to others if you were comfortable?

 

6. Reduce the Redundancy

One thing that irks patients more than anything else during the check-in process is redundancy in the paperwork that must be completed, sometimes with the same information filled out repeatedly. Paperwork redundancy is time-consuming and can easily be avoided. One way to accomplish this is to collect information from clients in advance of the scheduled appointment to save time at check-in.

CheckIns.app allows patients to save their demographic information so that they can check-in quickly, saving time and allowing your center to pre-check in the patient before they arrive.

 

7. Give Time Estimates

Providing patients with reasonable time estimates is a great way to ensure they know what to expect and how long they’ll need to wait. As a patient, it can be incredibly frustrating to show up for check-in to find out that there’s a longer wait time than expected. To improve the patient check-in experience, be sure to call your patients to inform them of any major delays. For mutual respect between you and your patients, give them the information they need to adequately prepare for their experience.

 

8. Be Authentic

Patients are more likely to trust practitioners that have been honest and upfront with them from the start. Ensuring that you’re clear with patients about what they can expect during the check-in process is a great way to build a solid, long-term professional relationship. To maintain the trust of your patients, don’t cut any corners when it comes to providing them with any information that they could need prior to and during check-in. Knowing what to expect can put minds at ease and improve the patient check-in experience.

 

9. Automate When Possible

Technology has made it possible to automate parts of the patient check-in process that once needed to be done by hand. Taking advantage of modern healthcare technology can free up time and help the entire check-in process become more efficient. An example of this would be giving patients the option to do things like cancel and reschedule their appointments online through a website or app like CheckIns.app. This would lead to less time spent on the phone and more time directly assisting patients in the waiting room.

 

10. Be Accommodating

Your check-in area should reflect the rest of your practice. Going above and beyond to accommodate patients during the check-in process will show them you care about their well-being. Simple but thoughtful gestures such as snacks or coffee, water, and tea in the waiting area demonstrate empathy, and this is especially helpful for improving patient check-in if you typically have long wait times.

 

You Know Your Check-In Process Best

These 10 tips are a great starting point to improving your patient check-in experience, but no two medical practices are the same. The single most important step you can take to improve the patient check-in at your practice is to stay mindful. Spend some time in your waiting area and put yourself in the shoes of the patient. Take note of the little things like temperature and background noise. Simple gestures such as trickling water, soft music, and adjusting the temperature by a few degrees can be overlooked in the waiting area. 

The CheckIns.app management system for both Apple and Android is a custom branded mobile patient check-in app for your center that allows for full customization to increase business efficiency. Schedule a demo and see how we can help streamline your patient flow process and improve your patient check-in experience.