What goes through your patients’ heads? Wouldn’t you like to know? If you were able to understand what they expect, what matters to them, how they make decisions and other aspects of how they think, wouldn’t you be in a better position to help them? Of course.

I often hear our workshop and consultation clients wondering out loud about a patient’s thought process. In our workshops, we help clients learn how to unzip their patients’ heads, so to speak, look inside and learn what is there.

At our recent Australian Co-Discovery program, a participant presented her analysis of a patient relationship and how it had gone astray. In summary, she said, “I think we moved too fast for him; we gave him more information than he wanted and overwhelmed him. The shame is that had we known he wasn’t interested in a lot of details we could

Patients enter your practice, each with a unique set of expectations. These expectations are not tattooed on their arms; they’re internal. They’re formed over a lifetime of experience with various dentists and secondhand experiences of others. How do you learn what they are? The obvious but not so easy answer is: you ask.

Those expectations will determine
whether a patient remains in your practice or recycles to another dentist. Wouldn’t you want to meet a patient’s expectations if you could? Wouldn’t you rather tell him you can’t meet his expectations than have him find out through disappointment? Why risk the latter outcome if you can avoid it? People leave a practice when they don’t get what they want. They rarely leave when they are happy and feeling well served. You want most patients to both stay in your practice and take advantage

People will tell you their expectations if
they believe you will be responsive. If you present yourself as being seriously interested in knowing and understanding your patients, they are more likely to give you information and feedback which will help you do so. “We want to understand how you hope we can help you and what matters to you, Mrs. Jones — particularly because you have just left a practice which failed to do so. We don’t want that to happen again.”

Guessing, supposing or making it up are ineffective strategies. When faced with important questions about patient behavior, many people simply fail to ask. They too often presume, assume or simply make it up. These strategies rarely work as well as asking patients reasonable questions like the ones contained on the questionnaire above. The mere fact that you take the time to ask, then listen intently to their answers, positions you miles ahead of most other dental practices. How might one use such a questionnaire? There are several options. New patients might be sent the form along with a letter which welcomes them to the practice and confirms the plans for the initial appointment. That letter would

Alternately, a new patient might be given the questionnaire upon entering the practice for an initial appointment. Although we don’t recommend handing people a medical history form (we encourage facilitators to review those questions orally), this expectations questionnaire might require a few moments of private, thoughtful contemplation.

Existing patients might receive the questionnaire at their annual examination. You might preface it like this: “Joan, because you have been coming to our practice for six years, we think we know a lot about you and understand you pretty well. But, we want to make certain and not make any assumptions.”

If you and your team can take every opportunity to unzip your patients’ heads and peer inside, you would know how to meet (and, yes, exceed) their expectations. Since brain surgery is messy, tools like the one included in this issue should be in your kit. This communications tool, like many others we offer, will always result in greater openness to patients letting you help them. The key is a sincere sense of commitment to understanding your patients, what they want, and how they can best be served.