First impressions count for everything. Especially in the healthcare industry where competition is sooo high. That’s why you need to create a waiting room that subtly tells every patient to walk through your doors that you care about the. That you really care about them.
If you don’t, you’re just another hospital with thinly-padded and upright chairs that feel like they are specifically designed to encourage migraines, whether that be from the person watching cat videos at full-volume or the person having a coughing fit. When you look at it like that, it’s no wonder most patients consider the time spent in the waiting room is the worst part of going to the hospital.
With that in mind, we’ve pulled together a few neat tips and tricks to help you create the kind of waiting room your patients will absolutely love:
1. Layouts Should Be Lovely
It wouldn’t matter if you were led in to a doctor’s surgery or hospital wearing a blindfold, the waiting rooms are all so alike you’ll know where you are in an instant. The row after row of antimicrobial chairs, fake walnut end tables and piles of tattered old magazines will do that. It’s not a space that welcomes people. Instead, what you do is liberate your patients by offering different seating layouts. Have a quiet zone for professionals, a cluster of chairs around a coffee table for families and a corner full of kids entertainment so they don’t get bored waiting. Patients that are happy waiting will be much better customers.
2. The Power Of Little Luxuries
The word luxury can be translated in so many different ways, but no matter what sort of luxury you offer you can guarantee it’ll not be wasted on your waiting patients. You might want to make their journey through your practice as streamline as possible, in which there are some big benefits of in office dispensing, not least of which is the time you’ll save your patients. It could be that you offer a complimentary coffee station, some free biscuits and a fridge of bottled water. Or you might just want to offer your patients somewhere to relax with a massage chair. After all, how many times a day do people actually get to put their feet up? Exactly. So why not pamper them a bit and kill two birds with one stone.
3. Take Waiting And Make It Active
Nothing makes the second hand on a clock tick slower than watching it tick, which is why you should find ways to take eyes off the clock and allow people to be active doing other things. The most obvious thing you can do on this front is setup free WiFi. But don’t stop there. Have a communal work space and charging stations so busy professionals don’t see this as wasted time. Another great thing to offer is iPads tethered to the furniture; iPads that come complete with games, magazine subscriptions, news apps and social media. Things like this will make the sometimes lengthy waits fly by in a flash.
Hernaldo Turrillo is a writer and author specialised in innovation, AI, DLT, SMEs, trading, investing and new trends in technology and business. He has been working for ztudium group since 2017. He is the editor of openbusinesscouncil.org, tradersdna.com, hedgethink.com, and writes regularly for intelligenthq.com, socialmediacouncil.eu. Hernaldo was born in Spain and finally settled in London, United Kingdom, after a few years of personal growth. Hernaldo finished his Journalism bachelor degree in the University of Seville, Spain, and began working as reporter in the newspaper, Europa Sur, writing about Politics and Society. He also worked as community manager and marketing advisor in Los Barrios, Spain. Innovation, technology, politics and economy are his main interests, with special focus on new trends and ethical projects. He enjoys finding himself getting lost in words, explaining what he understands from the world and helping others. Besides a journalist, he is also a thinker and proactive in digital transformation strategies. Knowledge and ideas have no limits.