How to Make Your Waiting Room More Slick

When a patient enters your practice, their first impression of your practice comes from the waiting room. If it’s not perfectly clean and tidy you’re already starting out on the wrong foot and it’s more likely that patients won’t be happy with your service.

By clearing out the clutter, you will make your waiting room appear cleaner and make the wait more pleasant for your patients. The top things to think about when looking to decrease the clutter in your waiting room are:

Trash - this is the worst possible type of clutter in a medical environment, giving the impression that cleanliness isn’t your top priority. Paper cups from water dispensers, snack wrappers and tissues are all likely to make their way into your waiting room and need to be disposed of immediately. Make sure there are trash cans readily available and that they are emptied on a regular basis, including throughout the day if necessary - having an overflowing trash can is just as bad as not having one at all.

Magazines - gone are the days of people wanting to flip through a 6 month old gossip magazine in a waiting room. Magazines can get tatty and dirty very quickly, and make your waiting room look untidy. Most people prefer to use their phone for entertainment, or a physician can provide a TV screen with relevant content to keep patients engaged while they’re waiting.

Brochures and Educational Posters - with a very limited life before they start looking old, it's time to remove paper brochures and posters from your practice. You can easily replace these with digital signage and educational content, making your waiting room look cleaner, slicker and more modern.

Kids Toys - it’s great to provide a play area for kids, but it needs to be kept tidy and contained to avoid making the whole room look like a mess. Choose toys and games that can be fixed in place, or have limited pieces (avoiding small blocks, markers, etc.) to make sure the childrens’ area doesn’t make your adult patients feel crowded.

Reception desk - no one wants to check in at a desk that’s cluttered with pens, loose papers, clipboards and other office supplies. Consider switching to an electronic kiosk check in, or make sure everything is kept in a tidy place behind the reception to avoid cluttering the check in point. Also ensure that any reception or office space behind the desk is tidy - if your patients can see it, it needs to be spotless.

Even with no budget at all, you can start the process of decluttering and elevate your waiting room experience. Your patients will see the difference, and you’ll see their happiness increase right away!