Being in the healthcare industry is already a significant challenge. Whether you’re a physician, nurse, medical assistant, or part of the administrative staff running a healthcare facility, you know it’s a profession that demands almost everything you can offer, especially your time and energy. That’s why it can be difficult to juggle all the responsibilities that come with your job. From learning the craft to maintaining good relationships with patients and coworkers, it’s a never-ending process of keeping up with your tasks.
Thankfully, you can utilize several innovations and technological advancements to help you manage everything on your plate. Among these innovations are texting or text messaging that allows for faster and easier communication with patients. If you’re not using these avenues for connection in your practice yet, it might be time to reconsider these platforms.
The following benefits may convince you to take advantage of texting in healthcare:
1. Real-Time Communication
Emails may be efficient in relaying messages, but they’re not the best option for relaying urgent matters. People are more likely to check their text messages than their emails, which is why texting in healthcare is more reliable if you want to contact patients immediately for any reason.
For instance, if you want to inform patients about changes in their appointments or delays in scheduling, sending them a text message is an excellent way to do so. In case of a power outage or loss of internet connection, you can rely on text messaging to still be effective as long as there’s a signal or service in the area.
2. Promotes Preventive Care
With the help of secure messaging channels and platforms, you can send text messages that can remind customers to take better care of their health and wellness. For example, you can set up mass messaging that notifies patients to take their medicine on time or do fasting before surgery. You can also send them reminders of their appointments so they won’t forget to make time or file a leave at work.
Texting in healthcare may help encourage a sense of responsibility among patients. As they prioritize their health, the treatment process also becomes more effective. This way, customers are happier and your worries as a healthcare provider will be significantly lessened.
3. Simplified Connection
Not everyone is a fan of emails and voice calls. As such, reaching out to patients through text messaging may be something they’ll appreciate more. Texting is simpler and less complicated. As such, you can expect feedback and replies to also be simple—just what you need considering your hectic scheduling and endless procedures.
Moreover, if patients need to go back to your messages, they can easily read the text on their phones. On the other hand, calls might make it difficult for receivers to remember all the details you’ve provided, especially if they involve medical terms that aren’t common to most people.
4. Ensures Proper Aftercare
With an efficient text messaging system in place, you can ensure proper aftercare for patients who have undergone surgeries and other similar procedures. You can text them frequent reminders on how to care for their surgical wounds, what to eat to facilitate faster healing, and even simple exercise suggestions so they can stay fit while on recovery.
Proper aftercare won’t only promote faster recovery but also help prevent unnecessary doctor trips and consultations. If patients have questions, they can easily send you an SMS and you can reply to answer their inquiries. You can follow up on their recovery without having to see them at the clinic. In the same way, customers are updated on when to make time for their next checkup.
5. Cost-Efficient
Short message service (SMS) is more cost-efficient than phone calls. In the past, you probably had to call your patients for updates or changes in their schedules. This approach could add up to your operational costs, depending on the number of calls you make per day. Moreover, you can save on the administrative labor required for you or your staff to make those manual phone calls.
With text messaging, you can send multiple messages to all your patients using automation and software with these features. Comparatively, texting in healthcare isn’t only more convenient but budget-friendly, too.
6. Decreases No-Shows
Patients often view SMS as a more personal form of communication; hence, they’ll feel more motivated to attend their health appointments. Of course, this decreases the number of no-shows in your facility or clinic. Aside from ensuring better healthcare for your customers, you’ll also increase your revenue when people show up for their checkups and other medical procedures.
Your message recipients can also opt to reply to your appointment reminders. When they do so, you can be informed right away if they won’t make it on time. Thus, you won’t have to waste time and resources waiting for patients that won’t come. Rescheduling is also made more accessible through text messaging.
7. Allows For Easier Satisfaction Measurement
Because text messaging is an instant process, you can quickly gauge the satisfaction of your patients. They can send feedback when they want to, and you’ll receive it right away. Moreover, you can tell if they’re happy with the procedure or medical service they received. You can reach out to clients any time to ask them if there’s anything they want you to improve in the way you conduct your business.
Supervisors and others in management positions can also send out surveys when they need to. After all, patients are more likely to respond through text rather than via email. As you may already know, phone calls don’t get easily answered because of many reasons. For instance, they may be busy when they received the call or just aren’t fund of answering the phone.
Conclusion: One Text Message Away
Texting in healthcare is something worth considering given the various benefits it offers. It provides real-time communication, ensures proper aftercare, decreases no-shows, and promotes preventive care. Moreover, text messaging allows healthcare practitioners to measure customer satisfaction more quickly. These are just some of the advantages you can enjoy should you decide to utilize this method of connecting with your patients.
