Healthcare Technology Featured Article

November 27, 2012

Scottsdale Plastic Surgeon Improves Practice through Patient Surveys


Have you ever wanted to tell your doctor something but felt like they weren’t interested? Not the important stuff about your health, but the little things, like “your office phone always goes directly to voicemail” or “no one ever returns my messages”. Scottsdale plastic surgeon Dr. Patti Flint cared enough about how patients felt about their experiences that she created a survey and has made changes in her practice based on the results of that survey.

Dr. Flint has her patients fill out one survey after their initial consultation and another after their surgery. Some of the statements patients were asked to answer “yes” or “no” to on the survey included “Staff listened and were responsive to me”, “Dr. Flint seemed to care about my feelings”, “I know whom to call if I have questions”, and “I was satisfied with the way the staff prepared me for the experience of surgery and recovery”.

Dr. Flint stated how her patients’ feedback is very important to her, saying, “I want to understand how the experience felt from their viewpoint so my staff and I continue to improve on the process start to finish.” 

She does more than just say she cares about feedback; she used the results of these surveys to make a few changes around her office to improve the patient experience. After finding that many patients did not know who to direct their questions to, Dr. Flint developed a patient concierge position. She also changed her consultation approach to offer time for questions throughout the consultation after the survey revealed that patients felt uncomfortable interrupting to ask questions, even when encouraged to do so, and many of them forgot their questions by the time that there was a pause in conversation.

For highlights from the survey, please visit http://www.pattiflintmd.com/dr-flint/patient-survey/.

As doctors start taking a real concern in how their patients feel about their experience, patients will become more comfortable with the whole process and will be more satisfied with their overall experience.




Edited by Brooke Neuman
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