4 Customer Service Tips for Doctors

1. Show Patients That You Actually Care

Of course, you care. You wouldn’t be a doctor if you didn’t care, right? It’s not always clear to patients that doctors actually care. Remember that most patients don’t want to be in your office. They are often feeling bad or scared or both, so they are in a particularly vulnerable situation. Listen, empathize, and treat patients the way you would want to be treated.

2. Give Patients a Say in their Treatment

Lay out the options. Tell them what you would do if it was your loved one.  And, then ask how they want to proceed. If they choose a course that you don’t agree with, have a conversation about why you think it’s a bad idea and document it. Ultimately though, be their advocate and supporter, not a dictator. 

3. Educate Yourself on Non-traditional Treatments and Keep a Straight Face

Your patients are taking over the counter supplements, using essential oils, and Googling for treatments…. whether you want them to or not. If you give them the stink eye about these things, they will just lie to you. Would you rather know what your patient was taking or not?? 

Choose to educate yourself on the non-traditional treatments so you can speak openly with your patients about them. It’s okay to say that you aren’t a fan of them and that there is a huge lack of research on the efficacy and dangers. It’s okay to say that we don’t know the long-term effects of these things. It’s okay to say that taking them in lieu of real medicine can be dangerous. 

They key is to have an open, informed conversation. 

4. Read the Paperwork You Have Patients Fill Out

It’s not okay to have patients fill out 10 minutes of paperwork and not look at it. It is okay to read it in front of the patient. You are human.  You aren’t expected to know everything about every patient. Want the patient to feel like you spent more time with them? Scan their paperwork in front of them. Walk in, greet them, and say “Give me just a minute to read through your paperwork” or “Give me a second to refresh my memory on your medical history/prescriptions.” 

About the Author

Amanda Brummitt has extensive healthcare customer service experience in hospitals, medical practices, and as a consultant. She’s a customer service snob that thinks asking people to be nice isn’t asking too much. She believes that the vast majority of doctors are good people that care about their patients and that sometimes they just need a little help conveying that. 

5 Front Office Customer Service Tips to Implement in Your Practice This Week

1. Signs

Walk into your lobby like a patient.  See it from their view. 

Do you have any signs that sound mean? 
Do you have any signs that sound rude? 
Do you have a sign that says, “Don’t tap on the window,” “Payment expected at time of service,” or “If you are more than X minutes late….”? 
Do you have more than two signs in your lobby?  

If you answered yes to any of these questions, take those signs down.  Have you ever seen a sign at a MedSpa that says payment is expected up front?  Nope.  Let’s treat your patients at least as good as a MedSpa.  Your office should be a safe place for patients; not one where they feel unwelcome.  Signage should be friendly and welcoming or not exist at all.  Promote new services, new providers, social media, or survey tools in your signage…not policies.  Patients are customers.  Treat them that way.  Don’t treat your patients like an inconvenience before they even get the opportunity to talk to your staff. 

2. Eye Contact, Smile, Greet

When a customer walks in the front door, the front desk person should make eye contact and smile.  When the customer gets about three feet from the front desk, they should greet them warmly.  “Hello, how are you?” is a great start.  If they are on the phone, they can still smile and mouth “I’ll be right with you” or make a hand gesture to indicate it.  Essentially, make sure the customer knows they’ve been seen and acknowledged. 

3. The Window

Oh, how I loathe the window.  If your practice is in a dangerous area and you see patients at night, okay, you can have a window.  And, thank you for loving humanity enough to practice somewhere that needs healthcare so desperately. 

Outside of actual dangerous situations, what is the deal with the window?  Are we hiding from patients or what?  And please don’t say it’s because of HIPAA.  You can absolutely be HIPAA compliant without being closed off to the lobby. 

I prefer no window.  If you have a window, keep it open all the time.  If the window is frosted, shame on you.  If it’s an overlay remove it.  If it’s built into the glass, keep it open all the time. 

Don’t build barriers between you and your patients.  Remove them.  And start with that window. 

4. Name Tags

Did you know it is a patient’s right to know the name of the person caring for them and what their credentials are?  Every member of your team should wear a name tag every single day, including doctors and administrators. 

Also, people behave better when they know someone knows their name…because patients can tell on them.  Using names also starts to build familiarity. 

If 100% of your office isn’t wearing name tags now, order them today.  High turnover? Fine.  Use a label maker for the name/credentials on blank name tags with your logo.  If you need help finding a vendor for name tags, we’re happy to share who we use.

5. Addressing Patients

When checking in a patient, script your staff’s language.  My preferred language is, “Hi, how are you? (Pause for answer.) What’s your name?”  Say hi before asking for name.  And, it’s “your” name, not “the” name.  I hate it when someone says, “What’s the name?”  Seems so impersonal to me. 

Want to step it up a notch?  Try to remember patient names.  Include a pic (even if is the driver’s license picture) in a patient’s medical record.  When it’s a repeat patient, look at the schedule and see if you can figure out their name.  How much better is it when staff can say, “Hi Mrs. Smith.  Welcome back.  I’ve got you checked in.”  Bam.  Service.  Or, even say, “Hi! Welcome back.  Can you remind me what your name is?”  Acknowledging that the person is recognized is HUGE!!

About the Author

Amanda Brummitt has worked in healthcare since 2001 in administration of both hospitals and medical practices.  She’s a customer service snob that thinks asking people to be nice isn’t asking too much.  She loves secret shopping physician practices, customer service training for clinical and non-clinical staff, and using customer service to improve the patient experience. 


Patient Testimonials to Showcase Your Medical Practice

Patient testimonials can be a great way to showcase your services and give prospective patients a flavor for your practice.  Use them on your social media and website.


Here are some questions to get the praise flowing:

  1. Why did you pick our practice/facility?
  2.  How did we improve your life?
  3. How did our staff and doctors show that we cared about you?
  4. What would you say to other patients that are considering the same procedure?


Testimonials are always better with pictures.  It can be a simple picture of the patient or a before/after picture. Or even a picture of the doctor.  Better yet, a picture of the patient with the doctor!


Always use a release – for name, for picture, for anything that identifies them.  I recommend keeping this in the patient’s electronic health record for easy access.  Don’t expect your marketing company or website company to keep up with it.  They won’t be the ones hit with a HIPAA violation – you will. If you don’t have a release, holler at us and we’ll share our template with you.


Here’s an example of a great way to collect stories from patients from BMI of Texas. You might also consider working a release into this same tool.

You can also have patients fill out a comment card or pull positive reviews from online.  Create a custom graphic out of it and you have a great social media post!!  Here’s an example.

Video testimonials are ideal.  It’s best to hire a professional videographer that can film and edit the videos.  It is typically well worth the time and investment for the quality of videos.  Hire them for a block of time and you’ll save a lot.

If you go with the patient-made videos, a few items to consider:

  • Set up a drop box or some other online way for them to submit. The BMI way would likely work. The videos will likely be large enough that email won’t be effective.
  • Ask them to answer the three questions, plus anything else they want to share.
  • Consider having them break the questions up into three separate videos. This would require less editing, potentially.
  • Suggest they use a quiet place with a solid background that contrasts with their hair/skin color. For instance, don’t put a blonde/pale person on a tan background. Put them on a dark background.
  • Recommend they use the smartphone horizontally/landscape and balance the phone on something, maybe even a tripod to keep it still.
  • Tell them they need plentiful light. Take a test video to ensure the light is ample.
  • Here are some posts with specific info from people way smarter than us: How to Shoot Better Mobile Video, 7 Ways to Get Professional Quality Video on a Smartphone, and 9 Tips for Recording Better Video with Your Smartphone.

Good luck with your testimonials!  We look forward to reading them.