With very little encouragement, a professional colleague of ours will enthusiastically explain why her personal physician is an outstanding provider. As it happens, her hero-physician is highly skilled, credentialed and experienced. But one of the top reasons that she will recommend her physician is that the practice actively uses text messages and patient-physician email to […]
Of course, everyone in healthcare has a command of “communications skills.” Doctors, nurses, medical staff, administrators and office employees…everyone “communicates” with patients and co-workers. The trouble is…sometimes ya ain’t so good at it. Good or bad, interpersonal communications can be verbal or non-verbal, express subtle or obvious ideas, and/or be filled with medical jargon. Although […]
[Series Article] Studies reveal hard science data behind why the sometimes fanciful, sometimes fictional art of storytelling is highly effective as a communications tool. In healthcare marketing, storytelling is growing in popularity from doctor-patient conversations to branding messages. Of all the stories in the world, there’s one—The Story of Storytelling—where “Once upon a time…” doesn’t […]
Be forewarned, this is an “elephant in the room” post about dealing with difficult patients. It’s a common situation and a sensitive topic. And if you’re uncomfortable confronting the problem, or dealing with challenging, dependent, manipulative, noncompliant, upset and/or time-sucking patients…then read no further.
While making a professional call on a doctor’s office the other day, a colleague of ours watched $5,000 walk out the door. The small-but-painful drama that unfolded in the reception area is worth retelling if our experience can save other medical practices from losing patients and revenue. It was a real-world lesson in physician and […]
Have you noticed the recent wave of TV commercials for one-to-one video calling (Apple Facetime), or multiple participation (GoToMeeting) video collaboration, or one-to-many webcasting? In business, it’s all as close, convenient and immediate as your smart phone, tablet or laptop. For personal and small business uses the service is free or low cost and it's […]
For hospitals, health systems and practitioners, “patient experience” has gone from trendy buzzwords to strategic imperative. In fact, the totality of patient experience and satisfaction is a top-tier issue for individual providers, hospitals, group medical practices and executive decision-makers. With these folks in mind--just about everyone--the following are 10 Top Patient Experience articles, including best […]
There’s an amusing but instructive doctor and physician marketing lesson to be found in listening to television interviews and discussions. The idea is to take note of a media pundit’s careful choice of words. The lesson is not so much in WHAT they say as in HOW they say it. In politics they call it […]
Editor’s Note: Most physicians are completely comfortable with digital technology. Several studies confirm that they often look online for medical or professional information, and they frequently use email to communicate with colleagues. But when it comes to patient communications, as few as 20 percent are emailing patients. Not only do patients want email, text and […]
By Neil Baum, MD Most of us like to think of ourselves as good to excellent communicators. However, if we were to survey our patients about our communication skills, we would find, to our dismay, that we are deficient in our ability to receive and transmit information to our patients. A study that monitored provider-patient […]
It seems that our recent post, If We Trust Doctors with Sharp Instruments, We Can Trust Them with Social Media, ignited some lively discussions among healthcare marketing professionals on LinkedIn. As a bit of background, the big idea behind our “If We Trust Doctors” post is that social media has taken a leadership role in […]
Understandably, interpersonal and communications skill is one of the vital core competencies for physicians. But communications is also one of the biggest gaps in physician competency, according to the American Hospital Association’s Physician Leadership Forum. Some of the obvious applications for good communications include working effectively with provider team members, professional colleagues and doctor-patient interaction. […]
