Patients not listening or complying is a typical issue among healthcare professionals. However, individuals remark that physicians criticize, reprimand, and attempt to sell treatments they don’t feel they want, need, or comprehend. Sharing information and effectively communicating with your patients are two different things. Communication is a two-way conversation that impacts your patient as opposed to delivering information, which is someone telling them something. Our dental office coaches at Bryant Consultants share on the blog today four secrets to improving your communication with patients to help you establish quality patient relationships to boost treatment compliance and results.
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Request Permission
A simple tip for gaining trust and establishing a solid relationship with your patient is to request permission to conduct activities during their office visit. For example, ask your patients the following questions before conducting the activity or beginning to speak. Working with your patient and getting their approval throughout their treatment process can lead to radical change in patient relationships. Not only do your patients appreciate you asking, but it also boosts their involvement in their oral care treatment process.
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Avoid Bombarding Patients with Information
Your dental practice offers information to help patients make informed decisions relating to their oral health. Unfortunately, many dentists require patients to listen to too much information, which could overload and overwhelm the patient’s decision process. According to a study, patients forget between 40% and 80% of the material that medical professionals communicate. Our dental practice consultants explain that the percentage rises with higher information volumes. Additionally, approximately 50% of the remembered information is accurate, and patients recall fewer details when the presentation is complex. Although your staff has the desire to make sure they share every detail, sometimes, it’s best to be general and offer additional resources for more information.
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Start Patient-Centric Conversations
The traditional dental paradigm is authoritarian and paternalistic and educates patients, usually during a treatment when the patient is unable to focus or reply. If the patient is not prepared for what you suggest, it might result in a divided approach because you’re the expert and the treatment centers around your recommendations. However, patients are often assumed to share our desire for the highest possible degree of oral health. The patient-centered paradigm, on the other hand, is a method that calls for open communication, curiosity, avoiding generalizations, and withholding judgment in a conversational style. Our dental office coaches advise dentists to ask open-ended questions to find out more about patient concerns and desires. In contrast to receiving instructions, questioning patients might help them reach their own decisions.
Below are four sample questions you can ask your patients during their next visit:
- What are your plans from now until your next visit?
- Which of these situations do you want to change right now?
- May I share with you some of the factors that are causing your condition?
- Which of the following services do you believe you’d have the most success with?
Practice Active Listening
Complete hearing, comprehension, and memory retention are all characteristics of active listening. You must pay close attention to what another person says, hold your judgment, abstain from interjecting, and then summarize and explain what you heard. For example, when a patient objects to getting X-rays, listen to their reasons and repeat back to them what you understand. After you communicate their problem, express your desire to protect their oral health and finances with the recommended treatments. Then, ask the patient how they feel about the situation because humans naturally desire to be heard. It can help a patient arrive at the optimal choice when they consider their options. Creating a patient environment where they feel valued can help close gaps in communication and improve your relationship.
Bryant Consultants – Coaches for Dentists
Our dental practice coaches at Bryant Consultants advise dentists to start with one approach, then introduce more over time. You may encounter more patients who commit to making excellent oral health choices because they recognize the importance of their oral care decisions. When you effectively communicate with patients, you can build a dentist-patient relationship full of trust that will last a lifetime. If you struggle with patient communication and need guidance, please contact our consultants at (877) 768-4799 or online to schedule a discussion about what your practice needs today.
