Reassuring patients about prescriptions and procedures often falls to medical staff in a physician’s office. By the time patients have thanked the doctor and arrived at the checkout desk, they’ve had plenty of time to come up with objections and fears that need to be addressed. Addressing these concerns is important, because otherwise patients can be noncompliant with the physician’s instructions, possibly complicating their situations and definitely impacting the medical practice’s revenue.

Besides the relatively short time patients have to process physician directives, they are faced with a hodgepodge of conflicting information from family, friends, print media, and the internet. Given that many have “pre-diagnosed” themselves by talking to loved ones and researching their symptoms before arriving at the doctor’s office for their appointment, the potential for confusion is high. It may be somewhat irritating, but patient confusion is real, and it must be addressed in order for the patient to get the treatment they need. The “I’m sure the doctor knows what he’s doing” attitude is, for the most part, a thing of the past.

Compassion for patients in this time of crisis helps address this confusion because it validates that patient concerns are real. The fact is that the medical practice has to be seen as a thought-leader by the patient in order to overcome the conflicting information they need to process in order to proceed with treatment recommendations. Their fears need to be assuaged by someone they see as an authority figure, but they need to see that individual, the physician, as credible before they are willing to accept her or him as an authority figure.

A medical practice that can’t quickly provide information on the prescriptions or procedures patients are being asked to take or undergo is not setting the physician(s) up as a thought-leader and are not helping to establish credibility as an authority figure. Scrambling for information when questions are raised simply establishes still more fears in the mind of the patient that are obstacles to treatment.

Once patients receive the education they need on their condition and the proposed treatment, benefits include:

Because most physicians prescribe the same types of medications and perform the same procedures repeatedly, developing patient educational materials requires a lot of work at the outset, but over time requires less effort other than updates to keep the information current. If one or two procedures provide the bulk of the revenue for the practice, more effort can be devoted to that area in order to maximize return on investment. Our next article will focus on the ways in which this can be done to fully address patient concerns while being mindful of the medical practice’s bottom line.