The series we have been working on together is all about the conversations that you have with your patients but it began in a place that you might not have originally thought: inside of your mind as part of your belief system around your relationship and service for your patients.
I cannot overstate the importance because anything short of focusing on this true origin of your patient conversations will result in shallow statements with little meaning and most of all they will have little influence on your patients. You’ll be left with stagnant case acceptance and plateaued practice growth.
From there we talked about you structuring your schedule, systems, processes, and protocols to prioritize your conversations with patients and not letting them become the “oh by the way” as you rush through the visit.
So often doctors and teams are frustrated with not breaking through to the next level but they are focusing on the wrong problems. They ask questions about acquiring better patients instead of figuring out how to have better conversations with your existing patients – which is the more demanding of the two (but also the more effective) since it requires increased time, deliberate execution, and intentional strategies.
Now that we’ve recapped those core principles, we are finally moving into the mind of your patients and I want to emphasize that this transition is made way too complicated by trying to convince patients instead of just focusing on being truthful and transparent.
Make every conversation about telling your patients three things…
What you can do to help them, why it matters, and why it matters now.
Your conversations with your patients must relate all three of these things: the truth, the importance, and the urgency of what is in the patients’ best interest.
Of course, you know that there are many tools and resources available to use. None the less, not a single tactic will trump your own belief about the value of your recommendations towards the patient’s pathway to health.
I will go into some of the tools and resources (including powerful patient engaging questions) over the next couple weeks.
For this week, I want you to have an open and honest conversation with each other about where you can improve when it comes your own conviction about treatment (the truth), conversation with your patients where it come across as optional (the importance), and compelling patients to invest in their health today (the urgency).
It’s very simple, even if things are optional, elective, or non-urgent, understand that if your patients don’t need to make a decision about their health today, then why would they.
You don’t have to scare people in order for them to make their own informed and educated decisions. Yet, you do need to be intentional about your conversations so that patients fully understand the decision at hand.
Here’s the good news: the better you are at telling your patients the truth about how you can help them, why it matters, and conveying urgency around their timely decision, the less you need to resort to selling, convincing, or shaming your patients into treatment.
All of this is how your patient conversations go from your mind into the minds of your patients. This transition requires focus, time, and practice. If you work together now, you will master the art of case acceptance with ease. Spend time on these three components and make sure every team member understands their role in supporting case acceptance.
I’ll be back next week with some more ways to help you help them. Always remember that you are only as good as your last and your next conversation because every patient matters so you must make every conversation count. That imparts a lot of responsibility, but rest assured you are capable of meeting the challenge!
