April 20, 2016
Katie Gilbert-Spear, OD, MPH, owner of Sight & Sun EyeWorks in Pensacola, Fla., changes processes and layout in her office frequently to keep the patient and staff experience fresh. She recommends getting staff on board with shared goals, systematic cross-training and a gradual roll-out to make change work smoothly. One recent change: A staff member now walks a patient through their entire office experience, including intake, pre-test, exam and optical.
Be Comfortable with Change
Develop a System for Change
KEEP THINGS FRESH. Keep the patient experience fresh, rather than having them see the same furnishings, layout and frames every year.
PROVIDE INDIVIDUALIZED SERVICE. Improve the patient experience by changing how they travel through your office. Assign one staff member to guide a patient throughout their office visit, from the time they check in, through pre-testing, their exam and their time in the optical shop.
ASSESS STAFF NEEDS. Go through the steps of the new process, or system, you’re trying to implement, and see if you can accomplish it with your existing staff.
DISCUSS GOALS. Discuss change, and goals for the change, with whole staff, letting them know how the change will be accomplished, and under what timeline.
TRAIN THOROUGHLY. Take one employee at a time, and cross-train, if necessary, to reach goal of spreading change throughout the staff.
ONE PATIENT AT A TIME. If implementing a process that affects patient care, start slow, with just one patient at a time, to see if the new system works efficiently.
Katie Gilbert-Spear, OD, MPH, is the owner of Sight & Sun Eyeworks, in Pensacola, Fla.
