If you have cable TV in your waiting room, you are missing an opportunity to ease patient anxiety—and improve the patient experience.
For Dr. Martin Fogle, Chief Medical Officer of Prima CARE, P.C., the waiting room sets the tone for the entire patient visit. When patients are anxious and stressed, patient satisfaction can suffer.
Here are three reasons why Prima CARE cut the cable and partnered with PatientPoint® to create their own waiting room network—and why you should, too.
1. Health Education Helps Fight the Fear Factor
More than half of patients say the most stressful thing about going to their doctor is the wait, according to a recent survey. Dr. Fogle attributes much of that stress to patients’ fear of the unknown—specifically, not knowing what awaits them in the exam room.
Dr. Fogle and Prima CARE fight fear in a way cable TV can’t—by featuring tailored health education and reminders from the practice on Prima CARE’s network of digital waiting room screens.
Even a simple message, such as reminding patients to make a list of questions for the doctor, goes a long way toward relieving stress.
The result: A prepared patient who has a more pleasant, less frightening experience, says Dr. Fogle.
2. The Practice Controls the Message
The PatientPoint screens in Prima CARE’s waiting rooms also give the practice control over the programming patients see while they wait—another advantage over cable TV.
With their own waiting room network, Prima CARE can select the health education that’s most valuable to their general patient population, versus being stuck with whatever cable news or talk show is on at the time.
For example, the practice finds diabetes-related messages to be particularly relevant because of the high incidence of diabetes in Southwest Massachusetts, where Prima CARE is located. For Dr. Fogle, a 60-second how-to video on insulin injection provides a far more valuable, targeted health message than anything his patients would see on cable TV.
3. The Messaging Can Be Tailored
Because Prima CARE is a large, multi-specialty practice, their messaging needs change from waiting room to waiting room. For example, a patient about to see his cardiologist for testing will have different health education needs and goals than a woman waiting for an ultrasound in her OB/GYN’s office.
Dr. Fogle says he has leveraged PatientPoint content and technology to add custom content to his video playlist in every Prima CARE waiting room. He has most recently highlighted specific Prima CARE experts in men’s health and cardiac interventions and leverages PatientPoint screens to promote Prima CARE’s affiliation with its local in-network hospital.
With their PatientPoint network, Prima CARE can tailor highly engaging messages to specific patient populations within waiting rooms across multiple specialty areas. Patients see education relevant to their condition and learn about the specific providers they’re going to see—a level of patient engagement that’s impossible to get from cable TV.