HEALTHCARE NAVIGATOR

Treating Exam Fatigue

Overstimulation from too much information can bury your patient

have your patients ever spent one to three hours in your practice only to end up in the eyewear boutique and say, “I simply do not have time for this today” or “I just can’t make a decision on my eyeglasses today”?

This indecision and drain is what we at Cleinman Performance Partners call exam fatigue; a sensation of complete overstimulation due to excessive time and information in the patient experience.

Exam fatigue is an important component to understand in the overall functioning of your practice because it has a direct impact on the bottom line. The number of exams you are able to complete per hour, the practice’s conversion rate (eyewear sold), and overall patient satisfaction are all directly affected by whether or not a patient leaves your lane feeling energized or overwhelmed.

There are consequences to a patient feeling overwhelmed (see sidebar, p. 45). The next time you and your team evaluate the patient experience in your office, put yourselves in the patient’s position.

Following is what we tend to see.

THE RECEPTION AREA

A patient enters your practice; they are engaged immediately through all six of their senses as they are communicated with by sight, sound, touch, smell, and yes, if they are having a delicious snack in your cyber café, by taste as well. Patients are also intellectually stimulated when the front desk validates their name, address, telephone number, date of birth, and then validates their insurance information. Patients are then are encouraged to talk about their eyewear and are ushered into browsing the boutique to see what is new and exciting while they wait to be called into pre-testing.

THE PRE-TEST

At this point, all of the patient’s senses are fully engaged and now a fresh layer of information is added to the equation. “Mrs. Jones, I am Lisa and I will be performing your pre-tests today. This piece of equipment is designed to… and I will need you to… and you will see… and you will feel… and you may hear… “, and this communication is repeated up to four times, depending on how many pieces of pre-test equipment the practice utilizes. Overwhelmed yet? No? Great, now comes the eye exam.

THE EYE EXAM

“Mrs. Jones, I am Dr. Lisa and I will be performing your eye exam today. I will be placing this phoropter in front of your face. Can you tell me, what is the lowest line you can read on the chart?”

All of the sudden, anxiety sets in on lots of levels and the questioning begins: “What is better, Mrs. Jones, one or two? One or two? One or two? One or two?” And so on. Have you ever seen the look on your patient’s face as you pull the phoropter away? It is called relief!

Until that is, the patient enters into the medical evaluation portion of the eye exam. Here come the drops and bright lights. Look up, look down, look straight ahead, and then more questions! Based on the physical exam, the patient’s medical history, and family history, deeper diagnostic testing may be required and the results of those tests again raise more anxiety from the patient. Are we overstimulated yet?

SOLUTION

So what’s the solution? Remember the patient experience is about your patient, not you or your team. Take a closer look at how you are communicating with your patients. At every touch point in your practice, be clear, be thoughtful, and be concise. Be mindful that additional ancillary testing processes take time and add layers of stimuli to the patient experience. Refrain from crossover positions. Instead, use a scribing technician so you can keep your conversation trained on the patient’s primary concerns and keep your opticians dedicated to the sale by specifically focusing on the handoff. Lastly, understand patient throughput by regularly timing yourself and your staff to make sure patients are spending no more time than necessary in the exam process (hint: two hours is too long). This way, both the exam and boutique experience that you deliver will remain far more memorable, marketable, and financially rewarding for both your practice and your patients because you and your team are communicating efficiently and are placing the patient’s wants and needs before your own.

— Lisa Dolezel

Lisa Dolezel is director of eyewear operations at Cleinman Performance Partners, a full-service business consultancy specializing in the development of high-performance practices. ©2015 Cleinman Performance Partners, Inc.