Optimising engagement in the changing world of dentistry
Featured Products Promotional FeaturesPosted by: Dental Design 3rd July 2023
Patient engagement is crucial for the success of any dental practice. However, in a profession that is rapidly developing and where practices are experiencing increased pressure to offer a wide range of treatments, it can be difficult to focus attention on communication with patients. Thanks to shifting patient expectations, many dental practices are feeling the need to utilise digital software to address these growing challenges. These systems aim to streamline both administrative and clinical workflows, while also improving patient engagement.[i]
Changing patient expectations
Patient preferences, when it comes to communicating with their healthcare providers, are changing in the UK. Traditional modes of communication, such as postal letters, are on the decline, with 48% of patients having a preference for digital communication, increasing to 69% if telephone calls are included. For patients over the age of 55, this number drops slightly to 39% preferring digital, but remains high (at 70%) if telephone communication is included.[ii]
In recent years, patients have become more likely to ‘shop around’ for their dental care, seeking convenience and ease when communicating with the practice. Because of this, meeting patients’ communication preferences is important as this will encourage their loyalty to your dental practice, and allow you effectively provide them with information.i
Effective communication
Commonly, dental practices may assume that patient engagement and communication start at the pre-visit stage, during the process of setting up an appointment. However, it may begin earlier than this — when patients are searching for a dental practice local to them. This highlights the importance of marketing the dental practice and building a profile among the local community. From here, it is important to engage with patients throughout the entire patient journey.i
Prior to booking an appointment, patients are likely to view the practice website, and look at any reviews. Because of this, it’s important for the dental practice to have an appealing online presence, and to have a proactive approach to gathering feedback from previous and current patients. Engaging with patients prior to their first appointment is vital. To optimise communication and access to dental care, setting up automated text reminders is a fantastic tool. By doing this, you are able to send patients helpful reminders about their upcoming appointment, ensuring they have all the information that they need, and reducing the number of patients who fail to attend. This proactive engagement prior to appointments will help to ensure a streamlined experience for your patients. Once a patient enters the dental practice, it is important that the dental team is able to create a positive impact. This will require the team to be attentive to the patient’s needs, have a positive attitude and make the patient feel welcome through friendly conversation, for instance.i
After their appointment, it is useful to stay in contact with the patient. Asking for feedback via their preferred mode of communication can be very helpful. This could help you to understand the strengths and weaknesses of your dental practice, and how you may be able to improve the patient’s future visits. Even long after the patient’s appointment, it is important to keep in touch. Running email campaigns, for example, as well as notifying them about upcoming events and engaging with the community can be valuable ways to keep your dental practice in the patient’s mind. This will also ensure that your patients remain familiar with you and your dental team and have positive experiences.i
This cycle of engagement continues after each new patient, and any follow-up appointments. This will help you to retain more patients for longer and, in turn, grow your practice.i
Digital solutions for optimised engagement
To ensure you are maximising communication opportunities with patients, and providing them with ongoing care, it can be helpful to implement a digital platform to accommodate the needs of each patient. Sensei Cloud, the practice management platform from Carestream Dental, enables you to effectively and consistently engage with patients. From automating communication to offering multi-channel messaging, building marketing campaigns, setting up appointment reminders and managing your dental practices reputation, Sensei Cloud provides the tools you need to retain your patients and grow your practice.
In the ever-changing world of dentistry, patients’ preferences are playing a more prominent role in the way dental practices function. Because of this, having a digital practice management system that automates some of the most challenging aspects of engagement can enable you to grow your practice, while focussing on clinical dentistry.
For more information on Sensei Cloud visit https://gosensei.co.uk/
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[i] Sensei. Article: Driving patient engagement: how to connect with patients at every stage. Accessed April 23. https://gosensei.com/blogs/news/article-driving-patient-engagement-how-to-connect-with-patients-at-every-stage
[ii] Healthcare Communications. Digital Transformation and the Patient Experience. Accessed April 23. https://healthcare-communications.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Digital-Transformation-the-Patient-Experience-Whitepaper.pdf
