Secretaries, as well as receptionists, are usually the people with whom the patient makes the first contact, either by phone or in person. On some occasions, this first contact is the crucial moment for the patient to decide whether he will carry out the consultation at the clinic, or whether he will go in search of a second option.
Besides being responsible for several tasks at the clinic, the secretary also has the role of providing more information to the patient, especially before scheduling, clearing up doubts, and preparing them for the appointment. Thus, it is important that, in some situations, she maintains a posture that will bring a differential to the clinic, thus avoiding some frequent errors that we will address below.
Before we start, here's a tip: the Ninsaúde Apolo medical software can help you with the clinic's tasks, streamlining some common daily tasks and bringing convenience not only to secretaries and receptionists but also to the entire medical team and administrator of health clinics. Learn more on our apolo.app website.
Accept the first 'no' as a final answer
When the patient contacts the clinic for the first time, he usually looks for information about the value of the consultation, agreements, available hours, etc. In some situations, the patient does not schedule the appointment and ends up giving some excuses, such as "I'll check my available hours" or "I was just researching, it wasn't for now", among others.
In these cases, accepting this first no as an answer can lead to a drop in the number of appointments. The tip is to try to make later contact with this patient, and thus try to reverse the situation. Write down his name and phone number, and if you use software, create a reminder to get in touch with the patient in the future.
In Ninsaúde Apolo for example, right on the start screen, there is a task card, which makes it possible to create reminders and mark a user. In this case, the idea is to enter a task to remember to call this patient, and right there, enter his name and telephone number. After performing this action, you can mark the task as completed or even delete it.
Lack of proactivity
As mentioned at the beginning of this article, the secretary is responsible for several tasks within the clinic, and to carry out many of these tasks it is necessary to be a proactive person. This means that when there is a task to be done, don't expect someone to ask you to do it, just do it. This is also related to having the ability to notice a problem before it happens, concentrate on solving this problem and plan the necessary actions.
A proactive person must also know how to manage their time very well so that there will be no accumulation of tasks. When the time comes to carry them out, prioritizing the ones that matter most is critical, and a proactive person will know how to choose.
Lack of professional posture
Many people confuse professional posture with standards of beauty imposed by society or with the fact of dressing in an x or y way. Perhaps for this reason, when we think of secretaries, young women come to mind, well made up and wearing high heels, when in fact heels are often not practical and makeup the more basic the better.
But the point is that it's no use being well dressed, and wearing high heels and makeup if you lack the professional posture that an office or clinic requires. The secretary will deal with patients, that is, people who have a health problem or some dissatisfaction with their bodies. In this sense, it is necessary to know the right time to be more relaxed or more serious.
Taking personal life and leisure time to work can also be a problem. Imagine the patient arriving at the reception to be seen, and the secretary laughing with her cell phone in her hand? This is not synonymous with a professional attitude.
Maintain a laconic posture
When we talk about a laconic posture, we are referring to those people with few words, also called monosyllabic. A good secretary needs to be communicative and provide answers and arguments that go well beyond a "yes" or "no".
In addition to the fact that this type of attitude can be seen as ill will or even rudeness (especially if the service is over the phone), the patient may also feel uncomfortable and unsure to schedule any procedure or a simple clinic appointment. Although the health professional is the main part of the clinic, it is the secretary who will guide things so that the consultations take place, hence the importance of providing a more dynamic service.
Did you like the post? Keep following the blog for more tips like this one, and if you don't use a management software, get to know Ninsaúde Apolo.