Get More Patients

In the private healthcare sector, in order to survive, the main aim of practices and doctors in order to warrant working privately is to get more patients. This ongoing struggle, as opposed to government health institutions where patients are always in abundance due to subsidized fees, relies primarily on marketing tactics to get more patients, as opposed to relying on the qualifications and clinical ability of a medical practitioner.

A few of the simplest ways to get more patients are to cover the basic aspect of human aesthetics. Doctor’s rooms should always be cool, clean and tidy, comfortable and basically put patients at ease. The receptionist should also appear professional, neat and have a polite, patient and empathetic nature which welcomes patients and helps to quell possible fears involved in seeing a new physician. Practices could do more than their patients expect, make them feel important, for example phone them to find out how they are feeling, or send a card from the practice- none of these gestures cost much in time, effort or money and are highly effective. In just about all other professions, marketing and blogging play a normal and imperative role in selling a product or service, previously, marketing, in order to get more patients, in the medical profession was seen as unethical and in many countries the board of medicine bans advertising of healthcare and medical practices.

Promoting one’s practice is a far more ethical and accepted method to get more patients to make use of their services. Word of mouth remains the strongest form of promotion and if patients have a good experience they will without a doubt refer friends and family to your practice. Doctors who have a particular, specialized field have more of a chance to get more patients, purely because of their expertise, location and demand in the healthcare market.

A method used to get more patients into your practice is to put yourself, as a doctor out there in order to become better known. Working part time at a state institution or being on a medical advisory board helps to expose doctors to the media who play a pivotal role in creating respect and awareness of the profession. In order to become well known as a doctor, one must be prepared to give up time, knowledge and medical services within the community. The public and therefore possible new patients are attracted to the media which acts as an irreplaceable public relations medium, thus creating news which can be published. Blogging- a euphemism for blowing one’s own trumpet, in the form of individual doctors or practices achieving awards, making discoveries or purchasing recently developed equipment and medicines for the best possible treatment globally available are certainly good tools used to get more patients. To all of us, healthcare is something that we don’t compromise on, regarding ourselves and loved ones and thus doctors that market themselves and offer the best healthcare will certainly get more patients, gone are the days where one remains with the same physician who delivered you, your children and grandchildren, we now have a choice- the choice to change doctors in order to receive the best possible care.

Other parts of public relations include building relationships with branches within the same industry in order to get more patients. For instance having a relationship with other doctors, hospitals, specialists and chemists increases the chance of referrals to your practice. Brochures, educating and informing people of services that exist as well as events like promotions and demonstrations like CPR for instance help to create a positive image and even forge a brand name which is evident all over the world where hospitals and clinics have become well known for example the Cleveland Clinic in the U.S and Apollo Hospital in India. In order to get more patients practices also have to ensure that they implement consistency and professionalism within the brand identity.

By implementing general ethics, by placing yourself in a patients shoes, by making use of marketing and public relations tools one should as a medical practitioner create a following of loyal patients as well as being successful in the ability to attract and securely get more patients into the practice.