Medical Practice in the modern era

Coronavirus has an impact on all industries. The healthcare industry is also affected by this virus. Patients are unable to or not wanted to visit the doctor’s clinic due to fear of infection. Thus, medical professionals need to welcome digital healthcare and incorporate technologies into their practice.

STRATEGIES TO KEEP RUNNING YOUR PRACTICE

To maintain the practice running smoothly, the doctors and healthcare professionals have to work on various strategies. These strategies would be a combination of conventional tools as well as advanced technologies. Following are some of the strategies that may help the medical professionals, especially the consultants, to prepare and smoothly run their practice:

Communicate with your patients: Always maintain continuous communication with your patients. They are dependent on you for the authentic information related to COVID-19. You will provide detailed information about the status of COVID-19 cases in your region. If there is any change in your consultation timings, you should inform your patients through various means of communication.

The means of communication for current patients is through email and messages. For new patients that are searching for you on the internet update your timings and place of operation on your website as well as maintain a well-informed Google business profile. You may also ask your web expert to make a pop-up box that provides specific information about your schedule.

Always take your staff in confidence before working on any strategy. You should explain in detail the changes you are going to make so that every employee in your hospital or clinic provides the same information to the patients. This will improve your credibility among patients and will avoid any confusion. The changes are communicated with your employees through messages and daily meetings, which may be in-person or on a virtual platform.

You may also collaborate with the local newspapers or magazines that may publish your profile along with your interview. In the interview, you may provide information about the COVID-19 or related to your expertise or a combination of both. This will allow the patients to know more about you and your expertise.

Whenever you do not know the answer to any question which is being asked by either a reporter, employee, or the patients, never try to give an incorrect or irrelevant answer. There is nothing wrong with saying, “I don’t know”. You note that question and revert afterward through a suitable channel of communication.

Offer telehealth consultation: During the current pandemic, the patients hesitate to move out of their house, leave alone visiting the clinic. This is especially true for patients who are looking for a routine check. Teleconsultation is essential during this pandemic. All the healthcare services, such as telehealth services, are delivered virtually.

Patients, at the beginning of these services, were not very comfortable. But as more and more people are connected with doctors through online consultation portal and with companies investing in these portals to make it more patient-friendly, there is a sharp rise in teleconsultation.

Market your online presence in the best possible way. You should proceed with a robust marketing strategy along with SEO content and website update.

Always mention what types of healthcare services are virtually available on your platform. Through these platforms, the patients may book an appointment and online consult with you. You may also tie-up with various online consultation platforms that may allow free listing.

Automating your daily tasks

You should use technology to the fullest extent to make your practice smooth and quick. As you may face a shortage of staff and change in timing due to the COVID-19 pandemic, you may lag in completing your manual tasks. Thus, it is important to automate your daily tasks through various products and services available. You may opt for digital patient registration and an electronic data management system. Using technology will increase your productivity. You may also generate an e-prescription that avoids the use of paper. To save important resources, you may also have an e-OPD session.

DoctoriDuniya provides various products and services that may help in automating your practice. These are NAINI, which manages the patient medical account, and COMO, which is an online practice management tool. COMO comes in COMO Pro and COMO free packages.