The Top 4 Ways to Relax Your Patients

1. Listen to Your Patients

One of the most stressful things for your patients is the uncertainty of their condition. Since you’re the expert, and they aren’t, they might be nervous that you won’t explain everything properly or that their concerns won’t be addressed.

Take extra care to actively listen to your patients. While they may not know exactly what they’re talking about, you can still address those concerns and help them feel better about being there in your office.

2. Reduce wait times 

The longer someone sits, the more anxious and stressed they get. Consider the different ways you can decrease your office’s wait times.

Some ways you can reduce your office’s wait time include:

• Get patient information before their appointment
• Use technology like remote check-in tools and mobile queues to prevent tardiness and no shows
• Survey patients to identify where they get bottlenecked during the process, and then work to eliminate that bottleneck
• Assign documentation to specialized documentation staff so your receptionists aren’t backed up with paperwork

3. Provide distractions for your patients

If your patients have nothing to do but sit in your waiting room or examination room staring at the blank walls, then you’ll most likely only add to their stress and anxiety.

Find ways to provide distractions for your patients so it gets their mind off of the upcoming appointment or procedure. Things like books, magazines, pictures on the wall or even TVs can be extremely helpful for distracting your patients and helping them relax.

You may also want to consider painting the walls of your office with soothing colors and installing speakers that play relaxing music. All these things can create a psychologically pleasant environment for your patients.

4. Install a fountain in your waiting room

Did you know that a study performed by China’s Peking University demonstrated how the noise fountains create—also called pink noise—calms human brain waves? It’s true!

Installing a calming fountain with running water in your waiting room can be one of the best things you can do to calm the anxieties of your patients. The soothing sounds of running water provide a calming environment that patients might not consciously notice, making it even better for relaxing them.