Systems, systems and more systems. If you’ve had any exposure to the business coaching industry no doubt you have heard a business expert talk about how important systems are for your business.
I definitely agree with this statement.
But what systems do you actually need in your practice? And what do these look like?
I would argue there is one very, very fundamental system that is vital to the success of your physio clinic, that you and your physio employees have not been taught. This particular system is what our patients look for the most, is something that has taken me 15 years so far to build into my practice (and is not finished yet), and could leave you one very, very unhappy clinic owner, with a couple of week long waiting list, while your physios, whom you are paying a good wage, have as many holes in their appointment books as swiss cheese.
So which “system” am I referring to?
The most obvious but often overlooked of all – how to structure a physio consultation.
If you have watched physios like Brian Mulligan, Shirley Sahrmann, David Butler, Michael Ridgway and Peter O’Sullivan treat a mock patient, you will know what I mean.
And little old me – I have worked out in my career I have done more than 70,000 individual consultations – no wonder I have developed a system for them, otherwise my brain would be friend by now!
My old lecturers at UQ would have scolded me for using “pattern recognition” to systematise my consultations, but I am fairly sure many experts in their field worldwide learn to recognise patterns to further hone their expertise.
So how about your clinic, and your young (especially new graduate) physios?
The outcome you want of a consultation system is this:
Mary, who has been seeing you for 10 years, calls for an appointment. Reception tells her it takes 10 days to get in to see you, but your brilliant new grad has an appointment today. Mary takes the appointment as she is in so much pain she can’t wait 10 days to get seen by her preferred physio.
So what happens next?
The rest is up to how well you have instilled a consultation structure in your clinic.
I have put together this simple video series called “the perfect consultation system”.
This simple video series will teach your younger (and perhaps your more mature but still open minded) physios how a physio who has performed more than 70,000 consultations structures the vital time between when we meet the patient, and when they leave our building thinking all manner of thoughts we can’t even imagine.
Please share this video with your therapists. Perhaps as an inservice, or for no other reason than to reinforce some of the messages you are trying to teach them, especially about what to say at the end of a consultation! (hint hint)
…Or maybe it can even help you. Access my Perfect Consultation System video here.
Nick Schuster
Ultimate Physio
