Patient compliance is built on trust and leads to healthier, happier patients and a stronger life-long relationship with them.  Non-compliance on the other hand results in unnecessary delays in recovery, relapses and side effects.

• In what ways can you help build a solid relationship with your patients?
• What do you think prevents patients from being non-compliant? And how can you help turn that around?

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No, being organized is not always easy!  But the more organized you are, the more productive you can be!  First, we all need to ask ourselves...

• What really needs organizing? Is it our work station? Our desk? Our closet(s)? Our piles of paperwork? Our files? Our email? Our schedule?  Our thoughts?
• Now that we've identified some "problem areas" - can you suggest systems that can be put in place to help us manage them?
• What has worked for you?
• Or is there something in particular that we can help YOU better organize?   

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• Do you have a cell phone policy in your practice for staff and/or patients? What does it say?
• If yes, is this policy strictly enforced? How?
• Do you find that the policy is abused?
• Are there consequences for not following the policy?
• How does the doctor deal with a patient who is on their cell phone when he enters the treatment room?
• How do you deal with patients who present to the front desk on their cell phones?
• What is the reaction to patients who are on their cell phones in the reception room (by other patients?) Do they seem annoyed?

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Sometimes, it seems a never ending battle to keep our schedule on time and sometimes it all stems from the doctor's inability to get out of the treatment room. Please help others by sharing ways to keep the patient flow on time!

• What are some of the reasons you have experienced that allow the doctor to fall behind schedule? 
• What or who is to blame?  Faulty protocol? NO protocol? Talkative people?
• What is your "trick" "tool" "method"  to getting the doctor out of the room with the patient when he/she has been there "too long?"

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• Are you personally involved in dispensing products in your practice?
• Any successful tips you can share?
• What products does your practice offer to patients?
• How do you choose your products?
• How do you manage inventory?
• Do you have an incentive program associated with product dispensing?  

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I know there are many offices where doctors have invited their spouses to have a role in their practice. Some work; some don't. Why is that?

• Is this a situation that positively or negatively affects you?
• Can you share ways in which this type of dynamic can work and why sometimes it fails from the doctor, staff and spouse perspectives 
• What can be done to help everyone get along?

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Very often I am called into a practice because of “staff inefficiency” and I can tell you, from experience that even though “inefficiency” is the complaint, I realize immediately upon stepping foot in the office that the underlying CAUSE is a personality conflict which first needs to be dealt with.  Before a team can be efficient, they need to learn to work together and that’s not always so easy. 

It coule be a co-worker, employee, manager/employer, patient or family member....What types of behavior do you find most difficult with and how do you handle it?

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It’s funny how the word “team” is usually synonymous with the word “sports” when, in truth, teams are hardly limited to the sports world. They come in all sizes and walks of life. It is also a misconception to think that in order to be a “team” there must be a large number of participants when in fact, as little as two people are all that is needed to fill the bill. 

• What does teamwork mean to you? 
• What are the pros and cons that you have experienced working alone - and with others?
• What does your practice do to encourage a team-environment?

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• Who is responsible for training in your office? Doctor? Office Manager? Co-worker?
• If not the doctor...how much input does he/she have in the process?
• Which methods/strategies have you found to be the most successful?
• Do you cross-train staff? Have you found this beneficial?
• Do you designate a certain amount of time towards training? Is it done before, during or after office hours?
• Do you evaluate their progress after the training period is over?

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Hard Skills? Soft Skills? What's more important in the hiring process?

Technical competence is important, but that should never be the only thing to look for. If the proper training program is put in place, individuals can be skillfully trained to do what they need to. Think more about their soft skills...Does their personality and attitude fit your workplace? Are they easy to get along with? Optimistic and self motivated? Can they make decisions on their own? Do they have common sense; a sense of humor?

For many, it's the hard skills that get the interview, but it's the soft skills that are needed to get (and keep) the job.

Q: What do you look for in a new hire?

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