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O U T P A T I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E O N L I N E | A P R I L 2 0 1 5
Manning the Fort Effectively
Your front desk staff are the faces of your facility.
E
ver stop and wonder how
important your front desk
staff are to your facility?
They are the gatekeepers and the
traffic cops who greet not only
patients but also the unannounced
surveyors and the reps without
appointments. They answer phone
calls, collect co-pays and check your
patients in with a smile. They are the
face of your facility. Here's how you
can help them continue to do a great
job.
• Cross-train. If the staff member
responsible for the phones is with a
patient, have another person handle the phones. Make sure the back-
up person has a specific cue so no phone calls get missed and
patients aren't interrupted.
• Empower them to police vendors. When a vendor rep arrives at the
front desk, your staff member should first verify that the sales rep is on
the schedule and that you're available to meet with him. The rep
should sign in and out, and complete required facility paperwork.
Remind your staff not to be complacent with the "regulars," as the
rules apply to all.
• When placing name-bands on patients' wrists … have your front desk
staff ask patients to review the information before bands are placed
on their wrists. No sense using it for your "2 identifiers" checkpoint if
the information isn't correct.
S T A F F I N G
Leslie Mattson, RN, BSHM
z AMBASSADORS Your front desk
staff do a lot more than greet patients.