412- How to Streamline Your Patient Visits Using the AIDET Framework

Welcome to the Evidence Based Chiropractor where each week we deliver the latest chiropractic research and marketing strategies all in the time it takes to get to your office. Now here's your host, Dr. Jeff Langmaid.

Hello and welcome to the Evidence Based Chiropractor. I AM your host, Dr. Jeff Langmaid. On today's episode, we're talking all about patient experience and specifically the aid IT framework. If you have not heard this, I've talked about it once or twice on the show. It's always a good time to revisit this time of year. This is a framework on how to have knee to knee communications, super actionable. And it is something that I learned in one of the orthopedic groups that I practiced in. They spent hundreds of thousands of dollars bringing in consultants to basically implement what we're going to talk about on today's episode. It is high impact content that you can put into action again immediately to drive better patient satisfaction, improved patient experience, and it just sort of frames your patient visits, which I think is really, really important if you notice yourself as being somebody who may be taking a little longer than they need to with many patients. Get utilizing an A D IT framework really sets the tone from the get go so that you set yourself and the patient up for success. Now before we get started, I wanna say a few words about the Smart Chiropractor. If you would like to have the names of your patients ready to reschedule in your practice each and every morning delivered to your inbox, you gotta get hooked up with Patient Pilot by the Smart Chiropractor. We send weekly email newsletters that generate cloud clicks of big buttons. Call to schedule, click to schedule. We then deliver you daily reports showing you the names of those people. And you might be saying, well, how many people are going to click? That depends upon two factors. I can tell you. We send campaigns every single week. We've never sent a campaign that everybody receives zeros. So every campaign works. How well it will work for you depends upon the size of your list and quite frankly, how much your patients like you and want to come back into the practice. The bigger the list, the more opportunity, the better patient experience that people have had in the past, the more likely they are to come back in the future. We can't control those, but what we can control is we set you up for success. If you'd like to learn more, head over to the SmartChiroPractor.com, schedule a call with our team. Again, that is TheSmartChiroPractor.com, schedule a call with our team. And if you'd like to talk about patient experience, you're in the right place on today's episode. So we're gonna talk about the ADIT framework. What does that stand for? Well, it stands for A, I, D, E, T. And this is a really, really important framework to communicate with your patients and the people that they're with, especially on, like, a first visit. And it's an acronym that spells out the most important aspects of the visit. So let's take it right from the top and dive right in. Number one is A. That is for acknowledge. This is about stepping into a room and acknowledging the person. It sounds almost, almost silly, but I can guarantee you if you audit what you're doing, you're going to find a couple things here that you're gonna be able to pick up on. So greeting people with a smile and using their names, that is the acknowledgement. Now, I wanna go one step farther. It's also acknowledging, especially on a first visit and really for every subsequent visit as well, the people that are with them. So this is the opportunity to say, good morning, Ms. Jones, we've been expecting you and we're glad you're here. And Jack, you know, Mr. Jones, great to see you as well. This is about acknowledging that patient by name. And this is a key component. The details matter with this stuff. So greeting immediately by name, them and the person that is with them or people that are with them. The attitude of that acknowledgement is absolutely critical and it rolls right in to the second letter. So A is acknowledge. That's acknowledging the person by name. Second is introduction. This is especially relevant on the first visit or the first couple visits when somebody's getting acquainted with your practice. This is introducing yourself to them. You might say, well, they probably saw me on social media, they probably visited the website. They are meeting a ton of people. You probably have a front desk person. And even if you are a lone wolf out there, introducing yourself by name is really, really important. Tell them who you are and also let them know how you're going to help them. This is a really, really important component as well. So letting somebody know, hey, hey, Jan, great to see you today. And you know, John, great to see you as well. My, My name is Dr. Jeff Langmaid. I'm the head doc here at Langmeid Family Carp, whatever it might be. And today we're going to go through X, Y and Z. That introduction component is really, really critical because you do not want to assume that Everybody knows who you are. And here's the real ninja move on this. This is really, really important for your team as well. So if you are somebody that's not a lone wolf and you have some team members in your practice, you. Yes, most people that come into your practice are gonna know who you are. As the doc, it's still a really good idea to introduce yourself by name. But your team. This is where you'll see these things fall apart really big time. Especially you're like, oh, I think they're doing it. They're not doing it. I can assure you that. So introduce, you know, greeting the other person by name, acknowledgement, introducing themself by name and what they're gonna do today, I can guarantee you most of them aren't doing it or not consistently. So this is really important team training. Acknowledge and introduce. Introduce means yourself and what you're going to do. D of the ADIT model is duration. This is really, really important as well. And duration is all around setting the expectation of time. So here we go. For those docs out there, you listeners out there, I know there are a few that are like, well, my appointments are five or 15 minutes and usually I go about 25 or 30 minutes. That's a big, big challenge. Number one, it's a really big detriment to the unit economics of your business just aren't gonna work if you're taking too much time. The second aspect is, quite frankly, you might think you're doing that and patients like it. I can assure you that most of the time, most don't. People are busy and they want to understand what's going on and get in and out. They don't wanna hang out. Yes, there's always the exception. The one guy or gal that just wants to stay in two hours and talk your ear off. That's. That's the exception, not the rule. Please do not make the exception the rule. So duration gives you the opportunity to set the exact duration of the exchange. Over the next 15 minutes, five minutes, we are going to blank. That's a really, really important component because, number one, it set the stage on what they can expect. That is really important for a new patient because it lets their guard down. Going into a new practice is super hairy. Like you don't know what you're dealing with. You don't know how long anything takes. And everybody's been to doctors where they waited for hours and it's horrible. Nobody likes that. So this is also an opportunity to differentiate yourself. Not that shorter is always better, but Honesty is always better. So in terms of letting people know, okay, over the course of the next 15 minutes, over the course of the next 30 minutes, over the course of the Next 60 minutes, whatever it is for you, letting people know, now, they're not looking at the clock, guessing they are like, okay, great. Mentally, I can now say, I know I'm going to be here. The other thing that allows you on the back end is now you've set an anchor so the person knows that that's how long the appointment is. It's not as long as it takes. Maybe in some cases, the exceptions it is. But don't make the exceptions the rule. Really focus on how long should that interaction be. This is how you set yourself up for success, is by putting it out there and setting those expectations. Duration is a really important component of that. The third, and at the conclusion, I'll go through a couple examples of how I've kind of modified and used this in practice. So the fourth one here is the explanation. So we got acknowledge, introduce duration. Now, explanation. This is about explaining what you're going to do. So you've said how long it's going to take. Now you're going to let that individual know what you're going to do. So this might be. Today we're going to go through a movement assessment. I'm going to have you do blank, blank and blank so that I can update your chart and record for a reevaluation, whatever it might be. If it's a traditional visit. Today we are going to check your spine, see if you need an adjustment. We are going to go through some rehab exercises so that you're able to build strength and flexibility. Insert your language there. And by the way, I love the. So that we're going to do this. That's the explanation. So that blank tied to benefit. Doing this, that's what you're doing. Basically, that's you. So that they can get this, which is the benefit. That's the explanation. And that, again, sets people at ease. So it's not like, I don't really know how long this is going to take, what I'm doing here. And if you think, well, they came in a couple times, they kind of get the gist of it. No, they don't. Like you do it all day, every day, 20 times, 30 times, 40 times a day. They're in your practice. Maybe they've been in three times. Maybe they come once a week, maybe they come once a month. They have nowhere near the skill, the experience, the context that you do and by setting the context for them, you're only helping them and you. It's all upside. So that's the explanation. So we talked acknowledge, introduce, duration, explanation. And then the T, the last T on the edit is thank you, transition. So you could go either way with that, which is thanking them for coming in and transitioning them to the next step. Great. Now that we've finished that, you know, thank you so much. Now that we finished, I'm going to bring over insert team member here so that blank what can happen? And maybe that's even just a transition out the door. Hey, thanks. Thanks for coming in today. It was great to see you. I'm going to bring you up or I'll ask you to walk up to the front desk and check out with name. Right. That gives the person the direction to transition to the next person, especially if it's a rehab person or something like that. You know, this is absolutely. This is the handoff. And guess what? Then it starts over again because then that person walks up and guess what. Now your team members starting back with acknowledge. Hey, John, great to see you. My name is, you know, my name is Jeff. I'm here at the front desk. Over the next five minutes, we're gonna ensure that we get you checked out as well as ensuring that you have your next appointment scheduled so you have the opportunity to pick the best time and date for you. Right. So you can see this just goes in loops and loops and loops. And what it enables your team to do is a couple different things. One, better time management. When you're setting durations, you absolutely have better time management. Number two, it sets a better patient experience. People do not remember other people's names, by and large. So introducing is really, really important. Acknowledging them always feels good. It's that they're not just a number in a mill walking through, but they're actually a human being. The acknowledgement is critical, and if you want to take it next level, what we would coach and train on, acknowledgement is always meeting the patient where they're at. And quite frankly, I mean this literally. So if a patient was seated, we'd either want to be seated when we acknowledged and introduced or we would want to wait until they stood. So we're always, as we would say, knee to knee or heart to heart. We were never in a awkward, weird power position of we're standing over them or approaching them when they're seated. These are super subtle psychological components, but they're really, really important. Especially when you think about this over the course of A career, and the thousands of people that you interact with, these little things really, really add up. So better time management, it certainly gives you the opportunity to improve your patient experience. The other thing that it helps is operational flow. So when you have better time management, you're able to have better operational patient flow through your practice, because everybody is setting the expectation appropriately with every interaction. So here's how that would look in an MRI review session that I would do at one of the orthopedic groups I used to practice at. I would walk in and say, hi, John, great to see you. My name is Dr. Jeff Langmaid, and over the next 15 minutes, I'm going to sit with you and we're gonna do three things. One is I'm gonna get a feel for what's been going on and what drove you in here today. Number two is I want to ensure that we take a look at your images and I'm gonna explain everything I see on those images so you have a crystal clear understanding of what's not perfect and what's your problem. And number three, based upon those things, I'm gonna give you my best direction for next steps on how, whether it's here or whether it's elsewhere. And that is how I would just piece that together super quick. And guess what? At the end, that would be the transition. So that was everything but the transition. And thank you. And at the end, I would say thank you so much for coming after I described everything and went through that process. Thank you so much for coming in. You know, Matt is going to come in and talk to you about the next steps. You know, whatever was appropriate. Right. So that would give the patient the understanding and expectation of what's happening next. And as you can imagine, then Matt would come in and do the exact same thing. And this does not get. If you think it sounds a little samesy, I'm being repetitive on this podcast because I want you to clearly understand the AD IT framework, acknowledge, introduce duration, explanation, and transition. But in practice, this is absolutely critical to how large scale patient centric organizations take things to the next level. And that is by having systems and processes where nobody's a cowboy or a cowgirl, but we're focusing on the systems and the processes necessary to drive the result that we want. What's the result that we want? Patients being super happy, patients getting great results, and us being able to run a successful, profitable business that is predictable and not all over the place. So I found the AdIT framework to be exceptionally powerful in my career. It's what we do in the practice that I own now here in Tampa, Florida, we also do the same exact thing. The doc that we have in their treating does exactly the same thing and it is absolutely critical to the entire process. So if you have any questions about this, of course, feel free to hit me up. But before we wrap, I wanna say a few words about some really, really important things. One, I met a doc a couple weeks ago from Utah. He came down in sat in studio here. I'm gonna have a video about it soon. He has by far the best pillow I have ever seen in my life. Not even close. My wife's using it. She loves it. It's called Align Asleep. He sells exclusively to chiropractors and this thing is awesome. I'm gonna have a breakdown video coming up soon, but I'm gonna drop a link down below. If you have pillows in your practice, check out Align Sleep. It's just absolutely fantastic. Alignasleep.com, that's again, that's alignasleep.com I'm gonna drop that link down in the show notes. Please head over and check it out as additionally I mentioned my practice. If you've been interested in Shockwave, I'm gonna say go with Stemwave devices. They're literally. We built a practice on this and Stemwave is happy to do a discovery call with you and see if it's right for you. Go stemwave.com the evidencebasedchiropractor that'll hook you up with all the bells and the whistles. Again, that's go stemwave.com the evidence based chiropractor These are literally pieces of technology. Every time I'm highlighting things on the podcast here, it's literally items that I use day in and day out. The pillow is in my bed all every single night. My wife's using it. She absolutely loves it. Stem Wave is the best shockwave tool that I have seen out there. We built an entire practice on it over the last few months which is multiple podcast episodes maybe to come. Ghostemwave.com the evidence based chiropractor I'm going to drop both of those links down below. In addition to maybe I'll try to scrap up a link here on 8it so you can check it out. But if you have any questions, hit me up. Jeff the evidencebasedchiropractor.com Otherwise I hope you have a fantastic week in practice and I will talk to you soon.

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