I am amazed at how unsafe
physicians’ offices can be for patients who are unsteady and using a
wheelchair, walker, knee scooter, crutches or a cane.
It is difficult for them to enter
the office, maneuver from the reception area to the exam rooms and get on or
off an exam table.
Getting through a door, if you
are in a wheelchair is practically impossible without an automatic door
opener. Often the button to activate the
opener is difficult to reach or in a place where the door will hit the patient
when it opens.
The solutions are simple, comprised
of common courtesy and compassion and will prevent an indefensible malpractice
lawsuit.
If the main door to your office
cannot safely open electronically, have a staff member greet the patient and
open the door.
Leave space next to a regular
chair in your reception area for a wheelchair.
Have some wide, large chairs with
arms in your reception area for patients with a walker, crutches or a
cane. The patient can sit down or stand
up balancing on the arms. The crutches
or cane can rest between the seat and the arm of the chair. Otherwise they fall on the floor where the
patient cannot reach them and other people cannot pass by without tripping.
If there is no space in front of your
receptionist for a wheelchair or walker, have your receptionist come around to
the patient and hand him or her or the caregiver the clipboard with the forms that
need to be completed. Better, having your
nurse or medical assistant take the patient into an exam room and either fill
in the form for the patient or ask the questions on the form and enter the
information directly into the computer, can be an enormous timesaver. This gets accurate information in the
patient’s chart and bonds the patient and caregiver with your staff.
There should be space in your
exam rooms for a wheelchair.
One of your staff should stay
until the patient is safely on the exam table.
If your patient needs help undressing, your medical assistant should
offer to do that and reassure the patient that he or she will aid the patient
in getting dressed.
Having a member of your staff
stay with these patients as they leave, facilitates making the next appointments
easily and correctly. It also gives the patients
time to ask questions that may not have occurred to them when instructions or
treatment plans were first discussed.
This obviates many phone calls to your office after the patient gets
home. It also allows the caregiver to
get the car and bring it to the front door of the building.
If your employee stays with your patient
until he or she is safely in the car, it shows an understanding of the
difficulty of the logistics. Basically,
it is polite. Don’t you walk your able
bodied guests to the door when they leave your home?
LESSON: Caring about your patients’
comfort and safety is as important as providing good medical care. As well as protecting you from an
indefensible malpractice lawsuit, patients are appreciative, more compliant and
will refer others to you.
