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Make the whole family feel comfortable and you’ve instantly added new patients to your practice.
Whether you see a lot of kids at your practice now or are looking to draw in some younger clientele, making your office more kid-friendly will keep them coming back. And when you attract the interest of the entire family, you instantly bump up the number of patients your practice sees. After all, mom, dad and their children all have their own eyecare needs.
Making families feel more welcome at your practice starts with the waiting room. Leading pediatric eyecare expert and optician Katheryn Dabbs Schramm, president and CEO of A Child’s View with four Southern California locations, and author of Will My Child Actually Wear These Glasses, says that a sterile environment is an automatic turnoff for families. If everything looks very clinical or even breakable, it makes parents feel uncomfortable about bringing their children with them. It’s important to remember that even if the child isn’t a patient, many parents need to bring their young children with them to their own appointments. Making your waiting room an environment where the whole family is happy will keep them all coming back again and again.
While it’s important to make young ones feel comfortable, you don’t have to go crazy with making everything in the waiting room kid-friendly. You still need to cater to your adult clientele too. Even just some bright colors on the walls or some posters with characters that children will recognize would do the trick. This instantly tells families that yours is a place where kids are welcome to come along. “It doesn’t even have to be specific eyewear P.O.P.,” says Dabbs Schramm. “If you have a poster of Mickey, that’s going to be something that children recognize and feel comfortable with—even if you don’t carry those frames.”
A Space for the Little Ones
One thing that is vital is having an area in the waiting room that’s designated for children. Even if it’s just a small section of the room that has a basket of toys available, it gives them a space to play (and stay put rather than running around the dispensary!). When selecting toys for the waiting room, make sure they are safe for multiple ages, advises Dabbs Schramm. “You may be treating a seven-year-old patient but the three-year-old brother is with them for the appointment,” she says. “Remember that the three-year-old is your future patient, so it’s important to make them safe and welcome too. Provide a variety of toys that different ages would enjoy and can play with safely. Avoid toys with small parts or other small objects.”
It’s also important to be able to designate an area of your exam room where kids can play. Be up front and point out the area where a young patient can go play with a toy when he or she is done in the chair. Doing so gives you a chance to talk to the parents. “This is also important if siblings are coming into the exam room as well,” says Dabbs Schramm. “They need a safe and comfortable place to sit and play during the exam so that Mom or Dad can pay attention.”
Dabbs Schramm, who has also consulted with many eyecare professionals wanting to re-do their dispensaries, says that one thing she does not believe in is putting counters and displays at the child’s level. This is often something that many eyecare professionals believe they should do to make their practice more kid-friendly, but Dabbs Schramm says that it can be a mistake. “With this set-up the glasses are treated like a toy right from the very beginning,” she says. “When you put frames at the child’s level for them to touch you are inviting them to play with the glasses. It’s then very hard to explain that frames are expensive and need to be treated with respect when they have a pair of their own.”
As far as displaying the eyewear, Dabbs Schramm says that placing a kid frame right next to the adult version invites parents to inquire about them as they’re browsing for themselves. Of course if you’re heavily focused on pediatric eyecare, it’s nice to have an entire “kids section,” though this isn’t feasible for some smaller practices. And it never hurts to put a small sign at your front desk saying something like “Kids Welcome” or “We Cater to Children,” especially if you’re just starting out with this younger market.
Working with Kids
Of course if you’re going to be seeing more kids at your practice it’s important to feel comfortable working with them. This will put the patient and the parents at ease. Dabbs Schramm says that working with the child at eye level is important. Kids may be frightened by a trip to the doctor and standing over them while speaking down to them may make the experience even more unsettling. Make a point to kneel down and speak to the child eye-to-eye as you would with an adult.
It’s also important never to touch a child unless invited, says Dabbs Schramm. What you may view as being personable may seem aggressive to a child. For instance, many eyecare professionals would walk into the room with their arm extended to shake hands with their patient. But this is something that may scare a child. Even being bold with your introduction - using a loud and firm tone - can be scary to a young child. Dabbs Schramm advises: “Don’t reach out to shake the child’s hand as you would an adult. Definitely introduce yourself, and give your name, perhaps kneeling down and giving a welcoming hello. Be conscious of whether the child seems shy or frightened.”
Working with kids requires time and patience, but the pay off can be well worth it. If you put the effort into welcoming an entire family you can gain lifelong, loyal clientele. And working with children can be both a rewarding and enjoyable experience.
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