Last week we presented the first part of a multi-part series on the benefits of holding daily morning meetings in your office. You can access Part 1 at this Silkin Management Group blog site http://bit.ly/uBBlBh. Over the next week or so we will continue this series through posting articles on our various Silkin Management blog sites.
The consultants at Silkin Management Group have found that when their clients follow their advice to hold morning meetings, greater efficiency and productivity occurs and the stress level goes down.
To repeat what we said in Part 1, “The morning meeting is a very effective tool to increase efficiency and reduce stress in an office. The meeting shouldn’t last more than about 10 minutes, but is intended to produce four overall products: a) eliminate surprises, b) identifying and planning for potential scheduling problems, c) enhancing communication and teamwork in the office and d) improving patient service and care.”
Below are the second three reasons and benefits to holding morning meetings.
4. Identifying the Day’s New Patients: The scheduling coordinator should highlight all new patients on each day’s schedule. Whether this is done on a hard copy or clearly noted in the computer schedule, the proper “highlighting” should clearly show who are the new patients coming in that day. This ensures that the team will work together to make the patient’s initial visit to the practice a good one. Often staff can become a bit “blasé” about the routine of working with patients or clients. Anything the team can do to be mentally and physically prepared to provide each new patient and/or client with a special initial visit goes a long way to increasing treatment acceptance and building a referral practice.
5. Medical Alerts: The time to find out if a patient is allergic to certain drugs is not when the patient is about to be treated. All medical alerts should be captured in the computer records on every relevant screen and by placing a red sticker on the outside of the patient’s chart. This is confidential information and shouldn’t be visible to other patients.
6. Confirming Lab Cases are Available for the Day’s Delivery: This will be most relevant for a dental office, but can also be applied to many medical offices. The responsibility for monitoring lab case delivery does not fall within the doctor’s job description. When the office uses a correct lab monitoring system, this responsibility is turned over to the scheduling coordinator. The morning meeting enables the scheduling coordinator to confirm the day’s lab cases are safely in the lab. When a lab case is to be delivered on the morning of an appointment, the scheduling coordinator lets the appropriate staff know.
As noted above, future Silkin Management Group blogs will continue the list of the benefits of morning meetings.
Dave McKevitt
Silkin Management Group Consultant
If you would like more information about how Silkin Management Group can help increase the efficiency and productivity of your office, visit our website at www.silkinmanagementgroup.com or call us at 800-695-0257.
