If we are asked to name a few healthcare entities, walk-in clinics would definitely be near the top of the list. There are many reasons for people to visit walk-in clinics that can range from non-emergency medical services to emergency medical attention. No matter what the reason is, walk-in clinics play a vital role in the modern-day healthcare system.
However, due to the COVID-19 health and safety protocols imposed by many jurisdictions, walk-in clinics are now operating with many precautions. For instance, they now ask visitors to check in for contact tracing purposes alongside following all other protocols like washing hands. One of the most prominent rules they follow these days is limiting the number of visitors in the waiting room. It is only natural to do so because the risk of spreading COVID-19 is higher when too many people gather in a closed space. Therefore, clinics now ask visitors to wait outside until spots are open for them.
Now, this system works when there are only a couple of visitors coming in every hour. But if there is an influx of visitors in the clinic, managing a waitlist manually can be a difficult job to do. For instance, if the clinic front desk staff is writing visitors’ names in a ledger book and calling them one by one every time a spot opens up, that’s a lot of work. Plus, it also bears the risk of spreading COVID-19 because they have to enter the clinic to register, which contradicts the whole purpose of keeping only a set number of visitors in the clinic.
To resolve this issue and many other challenges associated with a manual walk-in-clinic waitlist management process, there are two ways:
- Hire extra staff and resources. However, even if you get extra staff, there is always a risk of communication hazard because the waitlist is not being managed synchronously. So that leaves us with the other solution!
- Automate the entire walk-in-clinic waitlist management process!
Let’s explain how the automated waitlist management process works.
First, it’s not as difficult as it may sound. The automated walk-in-clinic waitlist management solution simply takes away all manual tasks associated with the waitlist management process, making the whole thing more efficient. It also reduces the workload from clinic staff so they can focus on more important things.
All you need is a strategy to manage the waitlist effectively, find the right digital tools, and streamline those tools to execute your clinic’s waitlist management strategy.
Here, in this blog, we are going to show you the four steps to set up a waitlist management solution for a walk-in clinic.
Step 1: Allow your visitors to sign up
You can eliminate the process of visitors coming in, talking to staff, and registering their names in a hardcopy ledger book. How? You just need a digital form that is connected to a central database. Visitors can fill out and submit the form to sign in. Once they submit the form with their information such as name, number of patients, phone number, etc., all details will be recorded in the central database that is accessible by the clinic staff 24/7. Patients do not have to enter the clinic to submit the form. The form can be embedded into a QR code and posted at the entrance of the clinic with instructions to sign up for the waitlist.
Step 2: Confirm waitlist signup
Once a patient signs up, they will receive an automated, personalized confirmation message. This message will confirm that they are placed in the waitlist and as soon as a spot opens up, they will be notified. This confirmation message can be sent via text message or email so they can show the message to the staff at the reception when they go in.
Step 3: Send notification
A patient submits the form; the staff is notified about waitlist signup; and the patient gets a waitlist placement confirmation message. What’s next? Well, in this step, it is up to the clinic staff. The staff has a timestamped list of visitors who signed up. So, as soon as a spot is free, they can simply click a button and a personalized “spot open” notification will be sent to the patient with further instructions like confirming the spot, sanitizing their hands, leaving any hazardous things outside, etc. If the patient decides to claim the spot, they can respond to the message. If a patient is notified but does not respond within a set period (say 10 minutes), the staff can simply notify the next person in line.
Step 4: Come in!
Once a patient gets the notification and confirms the spot, they will receive another confirmation message. That visitor can now go inside, show the confirmation to the staff and wait in the waiting room.
Yes, it’s that easy! Clinic staff do not even have to manually call or text anyone. The solution takes care of the whole process. The only thing the staff needs to do is to click a button whenever a spot opens up!
“Okay, this sounds interesting! But how do I do it?”
Now, that’s the tricky part. In order to execute the solution, you need to have multiple tools such as a CRM, SMS marketing, digital forms, etc. Having these tools alone does not build the solution though. The key idea here is to synchronize these tools and set instructions so they execute all these steps one by one and sometimes, take multiple actions at once, automatically.
Fortunately, you do not have to get these digital tools individually or streamline them at all yourself!
SimplyCast anticipated the growing demand of an automated waitlist management solution for walk-in-clinics and came up with a 100 percent ready-to-go solution. Using this solution, you can automate your whole waitlist management process without any technical knowledge. Furthermore, this solution is fully customizable, secure, and scalable that leaves no room for you to get worried!
Sound good to you? Well, don’t wait! We are here to explain the whole solution to you.
Simply request your one-on-one demo by clicking the button below.
