Resource Center

by Sheryl J. Bronkesh, MBA

The telephone is a remarkable piece of technology. It can be an excellent marketing tool, or it can damage your practice in ways you'll never know because you'll never get the call or the patient.

The telephone is the first and most commonly used connection to your practice for most patients. Faceless, untouchable, and remote, the voice that comes across the line is the voice of your practice. The telephone represents the initial moment of truth for patients, their family members, and those who refer patients to you.

What is this moment of truth like? Is it courteous and friendly? Does the voice of your practice speak of a quality practice? Unfortunately, there are too many otherwise superior audiology practices that pay careful attention to every detail of their office and their care, but they forget the telephone connection.

The progress you've made in customer service improvement can be hurt by a single phone call, such as the following:

• A call that's answered immediately with "Doctor's office, please hold."
  
• A call that's answered by a "can't-be-bothered, too-busy-to-care" voice.
  
• A call that gets caught in the voice mail maze with no apparent exit.

Telephone duty in any medical practice is a tough job. The lines ring continually; each caller expects personal, immediate attention. The role and responsibility of the person answering the phone is significant, because the voice that answers the phone needs to respond with a smile, a name, and a helpful tone. A well-trained receptionist can handle calls efficiently, taking care of callers quickly while maintaining a congenial, helpful tone.

Even if you don't have control over how a call is initially answered, make sure that when a call does get to your area or department it is handled well. Consider initiating a discussion on patient expectations, first impressions, and techniques for managing multiple calls at a staff meeting or with the office manager.

Developing telephone protocols to answer common patient questions can be very helpful. This telephone triage system saves time, eases patient worries, and prevents unnecessary office visits.

The telephone can also be a useful tool to let patients know that you care about them and how their hearing treatment is going. Giving patients an unsolicited call the day after an office visit provides them with an opportunity to bring up concerns and questions they encountered since seeing you, and respond with thoughtful feedback about their treatment, you, or your practice.

The Telephone and Hearing Loss
Telephone conversations are more difficult than face-to-face interactions, especially for those with hearing loss. The sound most telephones produce is not 100% intelligible, and conversations over the phone lack the face-to-face contact that enables people with hearing loss to speechread or get information from a speaker's body language and facial expressions. The telephone poses a barrier that can impede communication. What should you do?

When speaking with family members or spouses of patients with hearing loss, encourage them to consider telephone amplification devices for their phones. Amplified replacement handsets, in-line telephone amplifiers, and portable amplifiers can help filter out distracting background noise and let people with hearing loss communicate more easily over the phone. Acoustic coupling can also improve the quality of a patient's telephone conversations.

Remind patients that many public telephones have been fitted with amplifying handsets, identified by an amplification symbol. Also, many public telephones are hearing aid compatible, identified by a blue or black grommet where the handset is connected to the cord.

In your office, be aware of the difficulties of telephone communication for people with severe hearing loss, and consider alternative communication technologies for those patients who prefer not to talk on the phone, but would like to contact you directly. You should be receptive to TTY, faxes, and electronic mail messages from patients who prefer these technologies.

But for most patients and their family members, the voice of your practice will continue to be the voice they hear over the telephone. As a primary and critical connection to you, the telephone will be the means by which most referrals, information, appointments, and advice are transmitted. The telephone can be a valuable tool to improve customer satisfaction by showing your concern for your patients, and your commitment to a high-quality experience with your practice.

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