You’re finally finished with training and you have your job lined up. Now you get to organize your clinic. You have to set yourself up for success. YOU get to choose how you run your practice, how you use your time and leverage your resources. Granted, it varies greatly depending on your practice setting and location, but many things are universal.
First, figure out your team. Get to know them and start setting expectations on how you want things managed. Trust me, the front office and back office staff hate having to guess what you want to do. If you outline it for them, it will save you a lot of time and effort. The key here is to write out a workflow with clear instructions. Below I’ll detail some of the things I’ve written out in my own workflow.
I wrote out which patients need to be seen same day, within the next 24-72 hours, and within the next two weeks. Since I’m in vascular surgery, I also want certain patients to have studies before their consultation, so I also put that in there. Finally, if a patient does not fit a diagnostic category, they can always ask and edit the workflow document.
All patient calls are first screened by my medical assistant. She will write out a brief message in the chart and triage accordingly.
Make sure your staff has all the numbers they need to reach you: cell phone, pager, office extension, etc. That way if you’re not in the office, they can easily get a hold of you. As a surgeon, I’m frequently in the cath lab or in the operating room. I’ve told them to text me for non-urgent matters, but if they need to talk to me, they have the direct number to the operating room. Also write out your license number, DEA number, NPI number, because they will need this information at some point.
The workflow also delineates what to do if patients are late. For example, if a new patient is 20 mins late, they must reschedule. I do allow some flexibility for certain patients, namely those who travel over an hour to see me, and those with transportation issues. I’ve also written out which patients can be seen for a virtual visit.
You cannot plan for everything, but for those moments that you did not think about as you were creating your document, you can edit it, or better yet, let the staff edit your preferences on a document that is easily accessible. When I first wrote out the workflow, I printed out several copies and sat down with the staff and went through the entire document. They were appreciative and even gave some feedback.
Having a system that is written down will also help when someone from your staff is on vacation or takes the day off for sick leave.
Finally, at the end of the week or month, I give my staff feedback on what worked and what didn’t and give them kudos for a job well done. I always want to keep the team engaged and by allowing them to participate, feel like they have some skin in the game and that they don’t just show up to simply collect a paycheck. As corny as it may sound, at the end of the document I do write out that my goal is to have the best run clinic in the entire organization. That’s my approach and having been in several settings where things were not clearly plotted out, this has worked very well. Remember, it’s YOUR clinic. YOU get to decide how you want to organize it and the more work you do upfront, the smoother it’s going to run.