April 2006

The team's the key

by Dr. Robert Schiffman

I've been in practice for a long time, and have seen the best try and fail. Here are a few pointers that will help your practice increase the work flow and patient longevity.

One of the most important procedures you can have in your office, and an excellent way of increasing patient longevity, is to have a working team. A working team is group of people who work and communicate with each other almost seamlessly. Your team would consist of you, the doctor, and your staff members. Your CAs need to have interaction with you, and training in order to produce good teamwork.

There are those programs that build a good camaraderie between the DC and the CA, but what's needed is to introduce a program that will build a good team. Let me suggest some things to help you to start building that good team, and producing excellent teamwork.

While you're building a good team some of the benefits will usually be on the group level.

One key to building a good team is in making sure you communicate well with your staff. Another point is to like each other. If someone has a problem with another person, you'll never have an effective team. One of the major points is to respect each other. You, the DC, have been through training and will continue to train, and your staff must value you as the doctor. Yet, staff members are the ones who see patients first, so remember they are there to help you in your practice, and they deserve respect also. A point to remember is that you all are (or should be) working toward a common goal ‑‑ seeing people healed through the vehicle of chiropractic.

When a team works together and uses the points I've listed, their work is productive and better than those who don't try.

The absolute best way to train a good team is to train individual staff members in a way that helps them communicate better, helps them deal with co‑workers better, helps them like and respect each other better. This helps the whole group line up individual goals with your practices goals. If the training is fun and interactive, the participants tend to learn much faster and the training tends to be more valuable.

You should design a productive atmosphere that will benefit your practice and produce results. Another thing that it will do is to dramatically reduce employee turnover, lessen the duplication of work and re‑work, improve morale, create greater efficiencies in processes, lessen office miscommunication and increase greater profitability and patient longevity. This is considered the "team culture,"so try and open the lines of communication and identify the characteristics of your team and individual actions and how they affect the group. This can improve the efficiency of your team.

As a team, there are things to remember when it comes to your patients. These points will also help you maintain a patient increase and produce patient longevity. Your office staff and you must make a favorable first impression on the patient. Patients almost always notice appearance and attitude first. Then they will look to see how efficient you are and how well you're able to service them. The first list mentioned respect. The staff must always introduce the doctor correctly and with respect because that validates the respect the staff has for the doctor and helps build that in patients.

Here are a few things that can be done at a patient's first visit that will instill a safe and friendly atmosphere so that he or she will be at ease and not fearful. As a team you want to work together to produce this type of atmosphere for patients. So remember to always be ready and understand the patient's needs, address the patient with a smile, and pronounce the patient's name correctly (be interested, and don't be afraid to ask for the spelling). Be friendly and shake hands firmly and with sincerity. Always remember to look at who referred the patient to your office and acknowledge them.

Be empathetic with patients. Let them know and feel that you are sincere and do care about them and their condition. Be a good listener. Patients know when they're being sold, or influenced. The patient, as I mentioned earlier, looks at the appearance of things, so first impressions are vital. How does your office look or smell? How does the staff look and behave? How is the patient being approached? What type of treatment is he or she receiving? As a team member, the CA must always back up the doctor. A good team works well together, communicates and respects each other.

(Studying under CS Gonstead ignited Dr. Robert Schiffman's passion for chiropractic. The Life University graduate's career accomplishments have won him much recognition, and he is one of the most sought‑after speakers in chiropractic today. Dr. Schiffman ‑‑ founder of the Get the Big Idea Seminars and Coaching Programs ‑‑ continues to maintain one of the world's largest volume practices. Contact him by calling 877‑251‑0181, or visit online at www.getthebigidea.com.)