What It Means To Be a Professional

Having problems with your medical staff acting in a professional manner? Working with medical practices, PMSA has developed training resources for the staff. These are excerpts from PMSA’s Front Desk Training Manual #1.

What It Means To Be a Professional

Many people work in the medical field and are true professionals, but unfortunately there are many that consider this just a job until they can get something better, hit the lottery, or retire. A true professional is the person that exhibits certain traits and skills in their profession and has a continued sense of learning. They are considered to be an expert in their field. Often this comes with education, but not always formal education. It can come from personal experiences, continued education by seminars, classes, networking, and studying books and other material on the topics related to their work.

People judge the office by the way the staff presents themselves. If they appear knowledgeable and look neat, the patient will feel better about the entire office. If the staff comes across rude, uncaring, or messy, the patient will have a lower opinion of the office and these patients are usually the ones that report malpractice issues. Even when the care goes wrong, patients who have been treated well are less likely to seek legal action and are more likely to become regular customers and refer their friends. How you treat the patient and the way that you dress can have a financial impact on you and the office.

Staff that comes to work in dirty or wrinkled clothes is less likely to get a promotion or raise then neatly dressed “professional” staff. Personal appearance can detract from your professional accomplishments and cause others to not recognize your value to the team. It pays to in the long run to be a professional-it can be monetary or just the feeling that you get when you know you look good and are presenting your “professional image.”

The attitude that you give off gives a person an impression of you. It is said that you have less than 6 seconds to make an impression on a person. The impression that you make can have lasting consequences, often financial consequences. Well liked and well thought of employees are more likely to get noticed and possibly even receive pay increases. The bottom line is that your attitude could affect your bottom-line. A bad attitude can send you out the door for good.

Sometimes the image that we think we are presenting is not the image the world is seeing. Perception is everything. For that reason it is important to project a professional image. It is important to have a positive outlook this will allow you to have the ability to let many problems roll off without bothering you. Nothing improves relationships with others more than a consistently positive attitude on your part. As the frontline of communications for the practice, your attitude often sets the pace and the tone for the patient’s care and visit. A pleasant verbal exchange during or after a long wait in the waiting room can often turn an unhappy patient around. While it can be difficult to listen to complaints about issues you did not cause, your words of understanding and assurance that staff will address an issue as soon as possible can turn complaints into praise.

If show up to the office in wrinkled clothes or are always late it sends out the message to your employer’s that you do not care about the job. Whether you do or not, keep in mind that things can come back to haunt you. The medical community can be a small one. Many employees have thought that the job they were doing for one place wouldn’t really matter. Then they apply at another office for a job opening, but do not realize that the manager there is familiar with the type of care that they had given at the other office and has seen the way that they dressed. Put yourself in the manager’s position and ask yourself what would you do if the person comes to work in messy clothes or all of the paperwork that they sent my office is incorrect, why should I hire you? What keeps me from thinking you will do the same at my office?

Your attitude can directly affect your own productivity. When you are happy or upbeat, it can help to make the hours go faster. When you act positive, others will respond positively to you. The phrase “do unto others as you would have done unto you,” can work to your advantage. When you are cross or unhappy, it rolls down hill and out to the patient waiting room. You can change your mood to a more pleasant one by smiling and thinking pleasant thoughts. Studies have proven that if you pray or mediate you can relax and improve your attitude-try it yourself! Make sure that on a daily basis the office sees you smiling and being pleasant to others. You need to project a professional image that the other staff can follow, be a positive trend-setter. Being pleasant and polite is a great way to start.

We have all heard the saying “If you can’t say something nice, then don’t say anything at all.” In business this applies when the other employees and patients are listening. Don’t let them catch you saying something bad about your boss, a co-worker, or worse a patient. Most people have made that mistake at some point and it often comes back at a price to the person. Many offices and employees have found themselves in court defending an idle comment that had little meaning to them at the time, it was a carelesss comment made without thinking. The littlest comments can often be the biggest problem! Always watch what you say and do! Think positive and if you need to get it off your chest talk to your manager in private.

You express your attitude before you ever say a word by how you look, stand, walks, and talk. If you look groomed, stand tall, walk confidently, and are cheerful and upbeat, your attitude acts like a magnet. You not only attract others, but they are friendlier towards you because they sense in advance that you already like them. People appreciate a positive attitude for several reasons. Most people would rather be doing something other than work or seeing their doctor. Being with fun positive people makes the time go by faster. Many people have difficult home lives and in some cases going to work or to the doctor’s visit is the highlight of their day. Both positive and negative attitudes travel fast. Everyone wants to be around positive people, being around unhappy individuals can make the day very long and make it difficult to go in day after day.

Having a positive attitude can increase the work being done and decrease the number of errors. When there is a problem, patients are less likely to become upset if they see an office with a positive attitude. How you treat the other staff and your patients will come back to you. Remind yourself to smile and have a good time.

Additional Resources:

http://www.careerbuilder.com/Article/CB-956-The-Workplace-Has-Your-Office-Become-Too-Casual/
http://www.careerbuilder.com/Article/CB-913-The-Workplace-10-Tips-for-Proper-Etiquette/
http://www.careerbuilder.com/Article/CB-964-The-Workplace-Social-Networking-Dos-and-Donts/http://www.careerbuilder.com/Article/CB-891-The-Workplace-7-Signs-of-Poor-Productivity/