Effective communication is key to being successful in any profession. This is especially true for doctors because, as healthcare professionals, they offer one of the most people-centric services. Here are some other benefits of utilizing a medical answering service.
Filter, Forward or Re-direct Calls 24/7
Medical answering services serve to provide a buffer between the caller and the medical professional, filtering out and redirecting non-urgent and administrative calls to medical support staff and business administrators. This leaves the doctor free to attend to the core healthcare services they deliver without unnecessary distraction.
Answering services also allow important messages to be redirected to predetermined medical colleagues to address patient need at times when the doctor is in surgery, undertaking medical consultations or is off duty.
From the doctor’s perspective the answering service can offer a separation of professional and private life whilst still ensuring patient care is maintained by channelling crucial communication to a trusted colleague in a reliable and timely manner. Professional phone answering service staff are trained to take those calls and process them according to the doctor’s instructions and the seriousness of the situation, providing an invaluable bridge between medical professionals and patients.
Message Delivery
Messages can be delivered by traditional pager which is an ideal way of simply differentiating between professional business messages and general messages. This explains why traditional pagers are still popular amongst the medical profession, particularly those who are on-call or require effective communication after hours.
They can carry their mobile phone for family and general communication and the small pager which will only alert for important medical circumstances. Some doctors prefer SMS as their preferred mode of message delivery whilst some use combinations of pager, SMS, e-mail or the answering service operator ringing the doctor to pass on the message personally.
These call processing procedures are configurable by the professional medical answering service to suit the doctor’s varying needs. Daily or periodical call/message summary reports can be provided, usually via e-mail, for verification and record keeping purposes.
Medical answering services are an integral link in the communication chain of healthcare services. They serve to provide clear advantages and valuable services to medical professionals and patients alike.
