The Smart Way to Deal with Smart Phones

One of my client TCs had an experience that all Treatment Coordinators experience from time to time, and when it occurs, it can be a significant obstacle to starting treatment. In this case, a mother and daughter were in the middle of reviewing payment options with my TC when the mother received a text on her cell phone from her husband. The text was to let mom know that Dad had returned from whatever errands he had run in lieu of actually attending the consultation, and was now waiting for them in the practice parking lot. This caused the child’s mother to inform the TC that she could not keep him waiting and needed to wrap up the meeting immediately; it was pointless to attempt to continue the consultation at this point, as Dad had completely sabotaged it with his text, and Mom was no longer paying attention.

I see variations of this scenario on a regular basis when reviewing videotaped consults; most commonly, the phone rings and the entire meeting must then be put on hold while the visitor has a side conversation – sometimes for a long period of time – with the interrupting caller. Once the call is completed, the TC then has the challenge of refocusing the meeting.

My TC here is of the opinion that most people know to turn their cell phones off, but I would not assume that. She is a thoughtful person, but many are not. Specifically, most visitors don’t intend for these things to happen; they happen because the visitor doesn’t think to turn their phone off, and because of this oversight, the phone becomes an unexpected, and sometimes critical, obstacle to starting treatment. It causes a complete loss of control of the consultation flow, and in my opinion, that is just unacceptable.

My suggestion is that you take control of the problem, and do the thinking for them.

You can ask practice visitors to avoid using their smart phones in the waiting area, but I would expect that to be difficult to do – the problem being that in addition to phone calls, phones now are utilized for a variety of silent, non-intrusive applications, such as sending and receiving email. Plus, since your visitors are in waiting mode at that point, they will feel entitled to use their smart phones while in that part of your practice.

However, that all changes once they leave the waiting area, and in my opinion, you have every right to expect phones to be turned off once visitors enter the business and service areas of your practice.

I suggest that you prominently post a sign, ideally on its own stand, at the point of entry to the service area of your practice. The sign should say: “As a courtesy to others, please turn off your cell phone prior to entering this area.” The sign eliminates the need for your staff to verbally make this request, and it should be readily visible to those awaiting appointments.

While the benefits of eliminating phone interruptions extend well beyond initial-visit consultations, the primary objective that I have is to give your TC the ability to do their job, which is to remain, without interruption, in a leadership role with the practice visitor from beginning to end. While posting a sign will not completely eliminate the problem, it should significantly reduce the frequency with which smart phones sabotage your new-patient starts.