Improving Patient Experience with Technology

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Improving patient experience through the use of technology is a key way to develop and strengthen your practice’s brand. Patients are shopping for their healthcare providers more than ever before, and implementing technology through the more routine aspects of patient care can help you stand out.

Incorporating features and programs like notification reminders, patient portals, home exercise programs, and telemedicine can drastically improve patient experience. Let’s take a look at some of the ways these technologies can benefit your practice.

 

4 Technologies for Improving Patient Experience

 

Notification Reminders

While paper reminder cards may add a nice branding touch, they often end up lost or go through the laundry. Very few people are able to save them in a way that will be helpful when the time comes around for your appointment. Their usefulness is limited in scope, especially when the next appointment may be as much as 6 months in the future.

Automated notification reminders through text, voicemail or email have a much higher success rate. You can give patients the choice of how they want to be reached, and your reminders will become much more useful.

 

Patient Portals

When a patient calls, they expect a timely response. Nurses and doctors are busy people and it’s not always easy to return patient phone calls. When patients utilize a secure patient portal, communication is simplified.

Patients can easily have their questions answered or gain access to HIPAA-sensitive medical records. When the administrative process becomes more fluid it reflects your practice in a positive light, improving the patient experience.

 

Home Exercise Programs

Home exercises become part of balanced care for so many medical ailments. When proper exercise techniques are communicated through paper brochures or packets, they are easily lost. Computer-based home exercise programs offer patients a more dependable, easier way to learn the necessary exercises.

Home exercise programs can also reduce the number of patient phone calls, asking for a refresher on the exercises and techniques. The easier it is for patients to access their exercise program, the likelier they are to keep current.

 

Telemedicine

While there are certainly considerations to make before implementing telemedicine inside your practice, it can drastically improve patient experience. When doctors can diagnose using video conferencing technology, it eliminates the need for an in-office appointment.

The time-saving and cost-saving elements of telemedicine are evident. Several states are looking at ways they can make it easier for doctors to practice telemedicine. While it can be a way to cut down on the number of appointments for uncomplicated routine issues, there are certainly cases where in-office care will remain necessary.

 

Conclusion

Implementing technology can go a long way in modernizing your practice and improving the patient experience. In many cases it can create the differentiation point that will keep patients returning for years to come.

When you implement basic technologies throughout every aspect of your office, you are creating a unique experience and establishing a stronger bond with your patients.

Effective Social Media for Dentists

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A social media strategy offers dentists a critical way to increase their audience, build trust with current patients, and attract new patients. Social media for dentists offers similar advantages that it does in other industries.

For a long time, dentists have relied on reputation and word of mouth marketing – but times are changing, and dentists who rely too heavily on older methods may be missing out on key opportunities to strengthen their practice through social media.

 

Key Goals in Establishing Social Media for Dentists

 

Improve Existing Relationships

For many, root canals rank among the most unpleasant experiences out there. For some, there’s not enough novocaine in the world. Social media gives dentists the opportunity to share the positive patient experiences that may help put more anxious patients’ concerns at ease.

A video testimonial from a procedure like this can literally motivate the next person to get off the couch. It can even help a reluctant patient to schedule their next checkup. The dentist responding to a common treatment question on social media might help improve that trust level between the dentist and patients as well.

Finding New Clients

Consumers in the medical and dental industries are more likely to shop than ever before. They’re not committing to a frivolous inexpensive purchase, they’re looking to invest into a long-term relationship.

While the temptation may be to sell potential clients through the use of social media, the more effective approach is educational. Your potential client is not a captive audience. They are with you by choice. Instead of a hard sell, why not mention the importance of preventative dentistry, and consistent 6-month checkups?

Patients can learn to trust that you will help them look and feel their best.

Become an Industry Leader

Like any other field, dentistry evolves over time, as new treatments and technologies emerge.

Are there new treatment techniques that you are practicing? Social media may offer the perfect venue for highlighting those changes – and most importantly, what they mean for your patients.

Social media can be a place to highlight any staff recognitions within the field. It can be a place to showcase the expertise within your practice. This can help build trust.

Educate Your Patients About Oral Health (In a Fun Way)

People don’t often have a high working knowledge about their teeth. The more generalized knowledge you can pass about the importance of oral hygiene and how it can impact your general health, the better.

People will pay attention to the links between oral hygiene and cardiovascular disease, diabetes, Alzheimer’s and more. You can highlight the simple oral hygiene steps people can take to avoid these problems.

A word of caution, you don’t want to be a constant source of doom and gloom. While it’s important to convey the significance of brushing your teeth, it can be done in a way that doesn’t lead perspective patients down a path of despair.

 

How is Your Messaging?

Is your practice doing enough to market your business through social media? Social media offers dentists and doctors an excellent tool for strengthening your practice and building patient trust. You don’t have to spend hours of valuable time on Facebook to do it. Just a few minutes a day can help!

Creating a Therapeutic Environment

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For a doctor or dentist, patient care should be at the center of every decision, and that means creating a therapeutic environment. Your office is more than a simple chair and routine medical equipment. It’s a place where patients can initiate the healing process.

A patient may be anxious before or during their appointment. A therapeutic environment has a calming effect, reduces stress, and makes the patient feel comfortable with your care. In order for patients to have a positive experience, make sure you consider the details behind layout and design.

A therapeutic environment:

  • Promotes healing
  • Supports the needs of the patient and staff
  • Provides a measurable impact on patient outcomes

It’s easy to focus in on the big decisions when you are trying to create a patient-centered practice. Your philosophical approach to care, the tools, and the technology are of course important.

Below are some basic factors to consider when it comes to creating a therapeutic environment that will improve your practice’s level of care.

 

Creating a Therapeutic Environment

 

Choose the Right Colors

Your room colors and furniture should promote peace and tranquility. Various shades of blue can help you create a calming effect. White walls offer a neutral feel and leave room for some paintings or a bolder color statement with furniture. Pediatricians can use more color in their waiting room, since they are designing with kids in mind.

While the impact of your color choices may not seem overtly important, it can have a lasting subliminal impact on the patient’s frame of mind and overall experience.

Reduce Environmental Stressors

A practice’s waiting room should always be clean and uncluttered. You can offer your patients a variety of reading materials to make their wait more convenient but keep them organized and presentable. It also helps to make sure they aren’t too dated.

If you have a children’s waiting area, make sure that the books and toys are routinely picked up and put away.

Make sure that furniture is routinely dusted, and floors are routinely swept and vacuumed. Other environmental stressors may include a glare from the lights or poor air quality. When these are eliminated, the patient experience can improve. These may seem like the smaller details, but they make a significant difference in patient care.

Noise Reduction

When you are designing your practice, make sure to factor in acoustics. Noise reduction plays a significant role in creating a therapeutic environment. As a patient, you wouldn’t necessarily want to hear everything occurring in the room next to you – especially if it is playing up any anxiety or fears brought on by your medical condition or the visit.

If sound is already a factor within your office, white noise machines may help. They create a stronger sense of calm amongst your patients, and they can show that you value patient privacy.

Exposure to Nature

Whenever possible you can design your office with a view of nature. Interior or exterior gardens, aquariums and artwork with a natural theme all offer a soothing feel.

 

Conclusion

Your practice’s reputation and brand are built on creating a positive patient experience. Creating a therapeutic environment plays a significant role. This type of soothing environment can have a positive impact on your staff as well – improving the level of patient care.

If you have any questions or would like to talk about what this means for your practice, contact us today!

 

 

What Your Dentist Waiting Room Says About Your Practice

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Many patients are anxious leading up to a dental procedure. It stands to reason that your dentist waiting room should be a place where patients can rest and alleviate some of that anxiety before they enter the treatment area.

The waiting room showcases how well you pay attention to detail – and how much you value the entire patient experience. The smallest accommodations make a significant difference. You can use your office’s waiting room to strengthen your patient relationships.

5 Opportunities to Create a Dentist Waiting Room that Conveys the Right Message

Appropriate Wait Times – Your patients value their time. Long waits can lead to poor word of mouth, which can have a damaging impact to your practice in the age of Yelp, Google, and other review sites. Keeping your patients waiting for long amounts of time can negatively impact the relationship before the work even starts.

Even the patients who didn’t have any form of anxiety about their procedure may become a little nervous if given too much time to think about it beforehand.

Wall Art – Artwork is an excellent way to create a soothing environment that can take patients’ minds off their visit. There is more that can be done to take advantage of this space. Your walls can be used to help build trust, and a personal connection with your patients before they set foot into the treatment areas.

You could create a “patient of the month” board. You can use before and after smile photos and talk about the work that was done. You could display photos of your office staff in their personal hobbies. These photos may serve as an excellent conversation starter as the next patient makes their way into the treatment area.

Appropriate TV or Music – If your office specializes in children’s care, a Disney movie or age-appropriate cartoon can help calm kids before their appointment begins. If your office is focused more on adult care, it can help to have a handful of well-known movie staples on repeat.

When a patient mentally connects your office with one of their favorite movies, you win. The same thing goes for music. While elevator music may have a calming effect, a selection of oldies, classic rock, or well-known blues songs may send them out the door humming a song that they love.

Indulgences – A mini fridge stocked with water can make the wait a little more bearable. Coffee, juices, and other drinks also add an excellent touch. What about adding a super-comfortable arm chair, or even a massage chair? Those are the details people will remember upon leaving.

Interior Design – Make sure that the design details contribute to a soothing environment. Every detail involving the wall color, furniture, and artwork should contribute to a professional, relaxing environment.

For instance, blues can have a tranquil, peaceful feel. The couches, chairs, throw pillows, and wall art all offer opportunity for accent color.

Conclusion

You work hard to attract new patients and keep them happy with the experience. Make sure that your dentist waiting room isn’t killing that experience before they ever make it back to the treatment area.

 

 

 

 

Dental Office Architecture Design

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At Apex Design Build, we believe in fully integrated design and construction of dental practices for our clients. With us, you can expect efficient dental office design and innovative dental office architecture design. As a leading figure in the design-build industry, we have decades of experience working on complete dental office buildouts.

With our experience, we will deliver a dental office design to improve your patients’ happiness and your practice’s profitability. We work closely with all our clients, and with four generations of expertise to our name, we will exceed all your expectations. That’s our forte. Today we offer some insider’s advice on great architectural design for your dental office.

Tips on Architecture Design for Your Dental Office

We design and build inspiring, also award-winning, dental practices. And as a dental office architecture design leader, we can provide expert advice and services to help you achieve your goals. One of the most central aspects of any dental office design is the architecture. We never take dental office architecture design lightly. However, when you push keep pushing boundaries, your efforts tend to pay off.

Extending Your Dental Office

When thinking about extending your dental office, ensure you take care in considering all the factors involved. Designs or construction projects can quickly lose sight of their objectives without a plan to guide them. Growing your practice without a plan will lead to further problems such as poor use of space. This may not seem like a big problem, but believe us, it can be disastrous for productivity and workflow.

Once you’ve made your considerations and you’re certain of the feasibility of your project, then you can start to move forward. With Apex, you don’t have to worry, as we will be by your side throughout the entire project. You should plan extensions so that they minimize disruption to everyday work and patient care. We can help you integrate and build exciting new features into your dental office design. The most obvious benefit of an extension is the added space, with more room for operatories, a larger waiting room, reception, and so on.

Innovative Architectural Design

Architecture is as important as interior design to create a peaceful and efficient atmosphere for your dental office. For a light-filled and uncluttered dental office, angled walls with large windows will create beautiful vistas of your surroundings. If you’re in the city, this may not be necessary, but for rural practices, it can go a long way towards patient satisfaction.

We recommend high ceilings to create, or give the illusion of, a more spacious interior. Skylights are also a great feature to let in plenty of natural light. For your operatories, we find that open treatment rooms work the best, along with additional private rooms if needed. You can have your treatment rooms mirrored, which means you can have the plumbing for two rooms running through the same wall. This will help cut costs and make for a more efficient work environment.

Plastic Surgery Interior Office Design Tips

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Our forte, at Apex Design Build, is to design and build the best medical and dental offices around. In fact, we have worked on a staggering array of healthcare office buildouts and renovations across our decades-long stay on the job. We began as a small family business, based on the values and passions of our founder. Today, we are one of the most innovative and dynamic design-build companies in all of America.

We believe in fully integrated design and plastic surgeon clinic construction services for our clients. We can also offer you bespoke services, such as custom cabinetry and storage solutions. Plus, a range of plastic surgery interior office design services to suit your needs. One that will control foot traffic, promote productivity, and ensure many happy patients keep returning.

First Impressions

It’s important to take note of how quickly your practice grows and in what direction. You should always be on the lookout for opportunities to improve. With the best practice possible, you can focus on your patients and how to make them happy. Plastic surgery interior office design is as essential as construction. It plays a major role in creating ambient healthcare environments to put patients at ease. You can use decorative elements like colors and furniture to create a positive vibe. But be sure to use these elements to make it clear which spaces are private and which open and semi-private. If your plastic surgery clinic doesn’t give the best first impression possible, then patients may not return. Think about why patients visit your practice. Patients want to reinvent themselves, but, most of all, to look beautiful. Your plastic surgery clinic should do the same.

Atmosphere

There’s no reason your plastic surgery should struggle with plain design and boring colors. In fact, this can often be detrimental to your success. It also has a positive effect on your metrics, such as patient retention, flow, and growth. It shouldn’t be too flashy, of course, but should provide a calm and relaxing atmosphere for patients. Plastic surgery is a sensitive subject after all, and patients want to feel at home before they enter surgery. We believe plastic surgeon clinic construction should work with interior design to create the best environment for your patients. We recommend taking advantage of our exceptional plastic surgery interior office design services.

Waiting Room

Comfort is everything in a good waiting room. This is one of the most important aspects of plastic surgery interior office design to get right. If you don’t get this one step right, other problems could be lurking where you least expect them. Everything starts with the waiting room, the first step on a patient’s journey. With our expertise, you can count on us to deliver a waiting room that ticks all the boxes for your plastic surgery interior office design. Not only can a good waiting room improve patients’ satisfaction, but also your plastic surgery clinic’s profitability.

Call Apex to Start Your Project!

The Secret to Orthodontic Clinic Design

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Designing and orthodontic clinic can be as difficult as it is enlightening. Orthodontic clinic design should reflect the needs of the practice and the patient. Clinical spaces like orthodontic practices tend to be unique in that they deal with patients for a short amount of time. When compared to general dental offices, who deal with a wider average appointment time, it is clear the needs of the orthodontic clinic are different. It is precisely the clinic itself that should be the focus of your office. At Apex Design Build, we consider all possible angles, devising specialized design solutions to suit your needs.

Evaluating Your Flow

When thinking about your orthodontic clinic or practice design, patient traffic plus dynamic flow patterns equals success. You will have constant patient traffic from those entering and exiting the practice, which is why we recommend designing your practice with flow in mind. There will also be separate traffic for your staff alongside patients. They could be going from exam room to reception and vice versa or moving equipment to and from the sterilization room.

 

Layout

Planning the furniture layout, and architecture in such a way as to create flow ensures your practice doesn’t dissolve into chaos. Similarly, poor layout can lead to inefficient service and reduced productivity. By ensuring you maintain a constant flow of patient traffic, you can avoid delays and ensure prompt care for your patients. Orthodontist practice designs also do not require separate operatory room as in general dental offices. Instead, a more functional open bay style operatory room is best. The open arrangement, with operatory stations and chairs in rows along each side of the room, is ideal. Not only does it allow for integration of delivery systems and equipment, but also for greater efficiency of patient intake.

Situation and Allocation

Where you situate the clinical areas of your office affects the overall space. Your ancillary services, like sterilization, laboratory, radiography, and storage areas need to be easily accessible. Ideally, they should be placed close together to minimize the potential for delay. Features such as connecting doors and windows will help to further reduce the time it takes to collect or use locate equipment. When we draw up your floor plan, we always take into account your specifications. Certain rooms will have to take priority over others, but there are many ways to configure your office to great effect. Think about how it relates to the rest of the practice, and how it satisfies patient needs. Remember, orthodontist practice design should take into account the younger patients and families with which you are likely to deal. Similarly, you are likely to deal with a lot of parents and family members accompanying the patient you are to treat.

Feng Shui for Great Interior Design in Your Doctor’s Office

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At Apex Design Build, we draw on decades of architectural design and construction experience, working to deliver on your exact specifications. If you’re looking for an expert partner and advisor, we can help. We care about innovation, design, and we always strive to excel. Should you want us to, we can take the lead on the project or work with you to meet your needs.

Our years of practice mean we can offer sound advice on all manner of construction and design elements. You deserve a doctor’s office or dental clinic that will attract patients but also motivate your staff. Efficiency and productivity are core driving factors in our work. We specialize in design and construction services, but we can also offer interior design services, floor planning services, and more. Doctor Office Interior Design is important, much like dental clinic floor planning. But what are the key factors that determine great doctor’s office interior design? Here we examine the answers in detail for your benefit.

 

Feng Shui Principles

Using Feng Shui, you can identify stress points in your workplace and neutralize them to increase productivity. Doctor’s office interior design and dental clinic floor plan both rely on ergonomic and efficient use of space. If you don’t make the best use of your environment, this can lead to a lack of flow in the workplace. This will also have a negative effect on productivity, rendering your staff less efficient, which is bound to affect patient satisfaction.

Placement of Furniture

Also, think about where you place your furniture. In waiting rooms, for example, instead of having seating in the middle of the floor, where it could lead to traffic jams, place it along walls. This will improve the flow of the room and put patients at ease. It is a natural instinct to want your back to a wall, representing safety and will contribute to a calm atmosphere. Furniture is a big part of interior design, which you should always pay appropriate attention.

Lighting

Additionally, you should also avoid having too many bright lights that will dazzle your patients. This can also contribute to feelings of drowsiness, especially for staff who are working there all day. We recommend investing in layered lighting, or even a dimmer switch. Then you can adjust your lighting to suit the time of day. This will allow patients and staff to make a stress-free transition from your waiting room to your exam room. And from there to the treatment room, back to the reception, and outside again.

What We Can Do for You

With Apex, we can assure you that we will exceed your expectations. Should you need a dermatology or ophthalmology office, veterinary or plastic surgery clinic, we can help. Additionally, we also build custom cabinetry and millwork on request, to fit the contours and requirements of your workspace. We’ve already satisfied hundreds of clients and hope to serve many more. You can be one of many satisfied clients. All you have to do is call.

Moving Forward: Modern Medical Office Construction

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Medical office construction has changed a lot since we first founded Apex Design Build. As such, modern medical office construction practices are ripe with unique innovations that just wouldn’t have been possible decades ago. Current changes in labor, workflow, design, and culture have all changed the way we think about medical office construction. These new shifts in the status quo have challenged the ways in which we develop, design, and manage healthcare facilities. For example, hospitals now employ more than half of all doctors and surgeons, with numbers continuing to increase. Architects and providers, as well as developers, have had to alter their way of thinking to support the multispecialty of contemporary hospitals and medical offices. Equally, modern medical office construction reflects these changes. In this article, we look at the many innovations modern medical office construction has brought about.

Integrated Technologies for Your Medical Office

Modern medical offices have come to rely on a collaborative care system, with patient-centered medical homes, among other things. Namely, practical technological integrations, which can make patient experience better and physicians’ jobs more efficient. Technologies like desktop computer systems, electronic medical records, wireless networking, are all great examples. In fact, we believe multispecialty medical office buildings require design that optimizes technology for employees while supporting patient needs. Your medical office should have the best of both worlds, if not all of them.

When drawing up your medical office construction plans, we will take into account the features you require, while offering suggestions for additional facilities you may find useful. Similarly, materials, windows, walls, these things are all important but should be selected carefully. Like any integrated technologies, they should enhance the connectivity and functionality of your medical office, not hinder them.

Ease of Motion and Modularity

Your medical office is its own organism, each piece relying on and supporting others to function properly. If one piece fails, it can compromise the entire system. For your medical office, we at Apex Design Build always ensure that modularity and mobility are essential components for your workspace. When planning and constructing the building or office, we find that the best current medical offices have multifunctional exam rooms. Instead of limiting your workspaces to just one specific function, why not make them suitable for multiple uses? This can aid efficiency as well as patient experience in your office. Furthermore, your furnishings should also direct patient traffic with ease.

Think about how you place your furniture, how corridors flow. Is there only one path leading back to the waiting room for both in-patients and out-patients? Or do you require a one-way traffic system that guides patients back to reception while avoiding cramped hallways? Your equipment can also help with ease of motion, such as having certain pieces on wheels, which facilitates and encourages movement.

 

Green Construction for Your Medical Office

Most Contemporary Medical Office Construction involves some aspect of greenness. At Apex, we source the best materials for your needs that are also safe for the planet. Using green principles of construction, we also aim to save you time and effort, while delivering your custom medical office. Moreover, green construction practices and materials for your medical office will minimize your carbon footprint.

At Apex Design Build, we are always on the lookout for ways to break the mold. We make it our mission to innovate and improve standard medical office construction. We use cutting-edge green construction techniques in our work, with the aim of creating your perfect medical office. At Apex, we are leading the medical office construction and design revolution. Contact us now so that you can join us.

Expert Ideas for Dental Treatment Room Design

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At Apex Design Build, our decades of experience give us an added edge over our competitors. This also means we have more to offer you, our clients. We want to know: What makes you tick? How do you want your dental office design to look? What features should it have? In our experience, excellent dental clinic design relies on a collaborative relationship with clients. The more we understand your needs, the better equipped we are to meet them.

Whether you want to build your new dental clinic from the ground up, or you’re renovating existing premises, Apex can help. You may even wish to expand your practice footprint to attract new clientele or build a new dental office practice design altogether. We know that an optimal setup for dental treatment is critical to great design. Each of your operatory rooms should be fit for purpose, incorporating innovative architecture and essential equipment. In this article, we give some expert advice on dental treatment room design.

Equipment and Furniture for Dental Treatment Rooms

Equipment should provide comfort for your patients while promoting ergonomics for your staff. It’s also important to know that each piece of equipment or furniture should mesh together like individual puzzle pieces. If one piece isn’t right, the whole picture will look odd. Appearances aren’t everything, but they go a long way to satisfying patients. Apex has extensive experience building custom-tailored furniture for operatory rooms. As such, we can work to any specification. If you want to select your chair and then work outwards, we can help you design your floor plan. Or if you prefer to design space-saving storage solutions first and work inward, then we can adjust our methods to suit you. But what other features do you find in an operatory room?

1- Dental Patient Chair. The most recognizable aspect of any dental treatment room, your dental patient chair is the center of the room. We recommend starting with the chair and building around it, as everything else flows naturally from there. It should be comfortable and functional, while not overly large. There is a wide range of sizes available if you have a smaller operatory.

2- Suitable Seating for Your Clinicians. Your staff work hard, often going the extra mile for patients and the practice. As such, you should ensure they have somewhere to sit down. It’s essential to create an operatory room that is comfortable for staff as well as patients.

3- Dental Delivery System. This is your central hub, from which you control your other treatment systems. Typically, this will be integrated into the architecture of the room, like the chair, as a static feature. This may be separate from or part of your computer system.

4- Surgical Lighting. The right lighting is essential to dentistry, and your operatory room requires professional surgical lighting for your work.

5- Storage Solutions and Architecture. Maximizing space is essential for your dental treatment room due to constant foot traffic. At Apex, we always keep ease of access in mind, for staff and patients. Spaces should be designed to flow naturally, directing patients and staff to the right place. It should allow easy access in and out, guiding them to and from the exit. We can design bespoke overhead storage as well as floor-level cabinets for you. All you have to do is ask.

For us, the ideal dental office is one that serves everyone’s needs, providing a therapeutic atmosphere for dental treatment. We want to understand your ideal modern dental clinic design techniques. Not only that, we want to help design it, and build it for you. Don’t waste time. Get in touch.