If your receptionist uses phrases like
"Is this the party to whom I am speaking?" here's how to fix it

By Lilly Chang

"So the kid is burning up and puking all over the place, I'm in a panic so I call my doctor and this voice says, really rude, 'the doctor's not here now' and hangs up on me..."

? A disgruntled patient overheard talking to her friend on the bus

The telephone remains the most important tool in your practice. Without it you'd be pretty much at a loss for communicating with your patients. The only problem is that in most practices it simply won't stop ringing. Answering it ties up staff, and that costs time and money. Having a receptionist with good telephone manners goes a long way to building rapport with patients and easing them in and out of your practice.

A pleasant voice and a courteous handling of calls is a talent that a good receptionist brings to the job. Not every practice is blessed with such a staff member. The good news is that you don't have to be born with a talent for the telephone, it can be learned. Here are some guidelines that will help even the most phone-phobic staffer perform superlatively.

The greeting This sets the tone. A bored or rushed sounding voice that says merely, "Dr Smith's office," just doesn't cut it. Adding, "How can I help you?" ups the quality considerably. A top of the line greeting might go, "Thank you for calling Dr Smith's office. How can I help you?" Once the caller has identified her or himself, a good receptionist with make sure the person's name is used a few times during the call and certainly at the end as in, "Thank you, Mrs Jones, we look forward to seeing you at 3:30 on the 10th."

Knowing what to say It's not enough to assume that any intelligent person will know how to handle the wide variety of calls that come into a busy practice. The best-run practices prepare an action sheet to help those manning the phones. This is particularly important if you have more than one person answering and is essential when the regular receptionist is away from his or her desk or on vacation. Though the specifics will vary from practice to practice, here's a list of the 10 most common calls together with how some practices handle them.

• Emergency: Spell out who is to be contacted at various times under specific conditions.

•Patient who wants an appointment: List how both old and new patients are to be handled. Include procedures for setting up an appointment and criteria for accepting new patients.

• Patient calls for test results: Specify how these are to be handled. Is there a difference in how positive and negative results are handled? Is this always a call back?

• Patient calls to have a prescription refilled: Detail the practice policy.

•Pharmacy calls for refills: How is this given and by whom?

• Ex-patient who wants to speak to the doctor: List a policy. If you have specific call back times, put them here.

•New patient who wants to speak to a doctor: State policy regarding the acceptance of new patients. If physician(s) will speak to new patients and if you have specific call back times, list them.

•Calls from a patient's family: State practice policy.

•Accountant, lawyer, or a call on a business-related matter: List the names of those whose calls you'll accept and how they're to be handled. Detail how unwanted inquiries are to be deterred.

• Personal calls to the physician: List the names of those you will talk to immediately. Have the names of others taken for consideration and possible call back.

Once you've mapped out a list of the kinds of calls your practice commonly receives, give it to your current receptionist for initial completion. This will help you understand how calls are currently being handled. Make the necessary revisions and discuss them will all staff members with telephone responsibilities. Keep a copy of the guidelines close to the phone.