If you are a physician, have you thought about getting an answering service? Many other physicians choose to use this type of service because they would like to be able to assist their patients when their patients need professional help, regardless of what time it is at that moment. While you may work from a set point in the morning until a set point at night, that does not mean you do not want to answer calls and help patients who end up dialing into the office after hours, so you should use medical professionals answering support to make sure those calls are always adequately answered.
Taking Messages for the Callers
When a patient calls in, and someone from the answering service answers the phone, that person is not going to be able to provide specific medical advice about the patient. However, the professional who is answering the phone could always take messages for the clients, making sure those messages are added to the system and are available for you to view when you have the time to review them. As a result, you can see who is calling in and what they are calling for before you give those patients a callback and talk to them on your own.
Providing a Sense of Security
When patients come into your office for medical treatment, it is probably because they trust you and your medical experience, along with the opinions and recommendations you offer to them. Those same patients may need to call at a random moment because they are not feeling well, or something is going wrong, and they are not sure if they should go to the local urgent care or if they should wait until your office opens the next day. Because you want to offer that sense of security to your patients while continuing to be there for them, using the answering service for medical professionals is a great way to see that your patients feel that level of comfort when they make those calls to your office.
No one can expect your medical practice to be open all hours of the day and night because it would be just impossible for you to work both days and nights for weeks straight. Although your patients may realize that the office does close at a specific time, they may still need to call you due to a medical situation they are dealing with, even if it is in the middle of the night or on a holiday when you are not working. With that in mind, having an answering service for your medical office is the best thing you could do for your patients and yourself.
Professionals from the answering service take the calls, speak respectfully and kindly to the patients, and take messages for them while making sure any emergencies are properly handled. Just choose the service you would like to have to get started and then make arrangements to have the professionals answering calls for you when you are not in the office.