As a woman in medicine, you possess extreme dedication to providing quality healthcare to your patients. However, the demanding nature of your profession often leads to long hours, overflowing inboxes, and open patient charts that seem impossible to close. Failing to lead the visit can contribute to these undesirable results.
Letting the patient lead the visit is like letting a toddler lead a trip through the grocery store.
Mindful Doc Mom
Think of the patient visit like going to the grocery store with a toddler. If you let the toddler take the lead, you’ll end up with lots of food in your cart, but nothing nutritious you actually want to feed your family. Not only will the grocery trip take much longer than needed, but you might even end up with items that are totally useless or even dangerous.
The same can be said of letting the patient lead the visit.
Why It Matters
Patients are typically not sure what is or isn’t important, so they want to tell the doctor everything, which is totally understandable. While you don’t want to discourage or shut down conversation, you want to make sure you don’t get caught up in all the minutia and miss what’s really important.
When a patient describes their new onset falls, for example, as a neurologist I want to make sure not to miss a dangerous or acute neurological issue such as spinal cord compression that could cause the patient harm. If the patient goes into detail about their orthopedic knee issues, I want to hear and acknowledge their concern, but lead them back to the important information I need in that moment. If I let the patient control the conversation, we may end up running out of time and risk missing an important diagnosis.
Even if there isn’t an urgent issue at hand, not leading the visit can lead to longer encounters and less time to close charts or deal with inbox messages. The visit is haphazard without a clear plan or progression and you end up skipping from one thing to another and wasting precious time.
When you lead a patient visit, you take control of the conversation, guiding it towards the essential aspects of their health concerns. This proactive approach not only improves patient satisfaction but also ensures that you gather all the necessary information during the visit. By being the leader, you reduce the chances of miscommunication, repetitive conversations, and follow-up appointments, ultimately saving time for both you and your patients.
Leading the Visit Enhances Time Management
Not leading a patient visit can lead to a fragmented workflow, resulting in working late and open patient charts. By actively leading the conversation, you can optimize your time and allocate it more efficiently. Effective time management during patient visits means addressing all the necessary concerns, asking relevant questions, and providing clear instructions for further steps or treatments. Taking the lead allows you to maintain a streamlined workflow and ensures that you stay on track throughout your day.
Patients will often come with a list of questions or start asking me questions about their condition early in the visit. I typically stop them, kindly, but firmly, and let them know that I’ll be sure to address all of their questions and concerns at the end, but first, I need to get some information from them.
Leading the visit creates safety. If you go somewhere for help and there’s nobody in charge, how comfortable and safe will you feel?
Mindful Doc Mom
This may seem abrupt or even rude to some who are reading this who are not accustomed to leading the visit. What this does, however, is create a safe setting for the patient that lets them know that there’s someone in charge who is there for them and will address their concerns. This alone can save so much time, because as the visit goes on, you’ve often already answered most of their questions before they even asked.
When you let the patient run the visit rather than the other way around, the chances of you or the patient leaving the visit forgetting something are much higher. You end up getting more messages after the visit and taking more time than if you led the visit from the start.
Leading the visit leads to improved documentation and chart closure.
Mindful Doc Mom
When you lead the visit, you also have better control over the information being discussed and the accuracy of your documentation. By actively listening and guiding the conversation, you can capture all the relevant details needed for comprehensive chart notes. This eliminates the need for extensive follow-up charting, prevents missing information, and accelerates the chart closure process. With closed charts, you can spend less time on administrative tasks and focus more on patient care.
Leading the Visit Enhances Patient Engagement and Empowerment
Leading patient visits encourages active patient participation and engagement. By taking charge, you create an environment that fosters open communication, where patients feel heard and understood. This patient-centered approach enhances their confidence, leading to better adherence to treatment plans and improved health outcomes. Empowering your patients during visits also promotes shared decision-making, ensuring they play an active role in their own healthcare journey.
Strategies for Leading Patient Visits
What you DO during the visit is less important that what you BELIEVE.
If you believe that you are there to lead the visit in a particular direction for the benefit of both you and the patient, you will approach each encounter with leader energy. This energy will drive your visits and your day to be more efficient and more effective for all involved.
You’ll be more likely to establish a welcome and safe environment that encourages open dialogue. You’ll be better equipped to understand patient concerns. You’ll ask better questions that encourage your patients to share their thoughts and feelings. You’ll be better at ensuring mutual understanding. You’ll communicate more effectively and allow patients to take ownership of their health.
By taking the lead during patient visits, you can regain control of your time and work-life balance. Creating leader energy can significantly reduce open charts and overflowing inboxes. By creating a patient-centered approach, you’ll not only improve efficiency and productivity but also enhance the overall quality of care you provide.
If you need help finding your own leader energy, take the first step by scheduling a free call with me by clicking on the calendar link below.
