Doctor Patient Communication - how to stop "Oh, by the way ..." at the end of the visit and build patient satisfaction at the same time.

You know the visit ... 

You work hard helping your patient adjust the three meds she takes for diabetes and heart failure. You are 20 minutes into this visit, feeling like you have done a good job ... wondering when you will get the chance to write your note because now you are a full 30 minutes behind.

As you are neatly wrapping things up, your patient smiles at you and says, "Oh .. by the way doctor ..." and rummages around in her purse, eventually pulling out "THE LIST".

You sigh, your shoulders slump, it feels as if the wind has been knocked out of you. You didn't see it coming and you just fell into the Tiger Trap of "Oh .. by the way" at what should have been the end of this patient encounter. You would give anything to have been able to prevent this happening ... again.

In this post, let me show you how to fill this hole in your doctor patient communication skill set. When you learn to actually ask for the list up front, your energy and patient satisfaction ratings will go way up.

Three steps to stop , "Oh ... by the way"

Patient Communication - What to do when a patient says thank you

I have asked hundreds of doctors to tell me a story of their most recent rewarding patient encounter. That patient interaction where, at the end of the day, they look back and said to themselves, "oh yeah, that's why I became a doctor."

These stories all have one thing in common.

No matter what the details of the case, each story always ends with the patient and/or their family and caregivers saying, "thank you."

Unfortunately, that same doctor can often miss the critical importance of these brief moments.

When a patient says thank you - no matter how rare an occassion this is in your practice - it is an opportunity for you to do two fundamental things:

1) Reconnect you with your purpose and sense of fulfillment in your practice and simultaneously inject energy to all three of your energetic bank accounts. This infusion of energy is so powerful I call it the "triple whammy". This one interaction injects a bolus of energy into your physical, emotional and spiritual accounts simultaneously. The surplus can power you for weeks at a time.

2) Give the patient and their caregivers the opportunity to connect with you in a whole new way.

If you don't take advantage of these brief moments of gratitude, they are quickly swallowed up by the pile of tasks in your practice day - and the opportunity is lost.