Hospital and medical center waiting rooms should arguably be the gateway to receiving proper medical treatment. But, they can also cause the transmission of COVID-19. While you probably already knew that, what a lot of people don’t realize is that waiting rooms have always been somewhat of a petri dish for the spread of diseases and viruses. Just think about all of the time you’ve spent in waiting rooms at medical centers or offices waiting to see someone. Depending on the number of people in the room with you and the length of time you and they were there, the chances of spreading a virus are very high.
Viruses don’t just settle on surfaces. They can also become airborne, which means anyone who breathes them in can get sick or spread the virus to other people, even if they don’t feel sick themselves. As a result, hospitals, dental clinics, and medical offices are taking special precautions by closing down their waiting rooms. Using a patient scheduling service instead to help manage appointments is a much smarter and safer idea.
Benefits of Patient Scheduling for Coronavirus
It’s important for every organization to do their part in slowing or preventing the spread of COVID-19. An effective way to do this is to close down waiting rooms where patients with various medical conditions (some that may be contagious) are forced to wait in an enclosed space as they wait to receive treatment or medical advice.
Here are a few ways in which patient appointment scheduling services can help mitigate and minimize the spread of COVID-19.
Reduce Contact Between Patients
As mentioned, forcing patients with varying health and medical conditions to intermingle in a single waiting room for long periods of time is just a health disaster waiting to happen. It’s a wonder that medical facilities have been able to do it for as long as they have. Appointment scheduling services reduce the risk of patient-to-patient contact wherein some patients may be immunocompromised. Rather than sitting in a waiting room with other people, patients can be notified when your office is ready to see them and will only enter the office when it’s their turn.
Send Patients Appointment Reminders
Keeping track of patient information and appointment backlog is extremely challenging, especially during a pandemic when many people have probably been putting off going to the doctor for a while. Professional appointment services send out appointment reminders to you and your patients so that you’re all on the same page at all times. Patient reminders can be received via phone call, email, text, digital notification on your calendar, or any other method that you and your patients prefer.
Space Out Appointments
Another advantage of scheduling appointments this way is that it gives you the ability to space out your appointments more. Rather than being bombarded with back to back appointments, you’ll have more time in between seeing each patient to properly prepare and clean your facility.
Professional Patient Appointment Scheduling Services in Canada
3C Contact Services offers a wide array of customer support services, including professional appointment scheduling for you and your patients. In addition to making appointments, we’ll also verify patient information for accuracy and make sure everything is up to date. Contact us to learn more about our appointment scheduling services.
