SHADOW COACHING FOR LOW-SCORING PHYSICIANS
Providers don’t begin their office hours with the intention of annoying patients. Usually low-scoring physicians have no clear understanding of why patients rate them poorly, and they are curious regarding how to improve. An effective technique for providing helpful feedback to a low-scoring provider is to “shadow” him or her for a day. Shadow coaching is an effective, one-on-one process that gives providers immediate feedback during a typical workday, in a natural setting, with their actual patients.
The shadowing process includes:
- Introductory meeting
The coach calls the participating physician prior to arrival at his/her office for an introduction and to establish credentials - “Shadow” activity
The coach accompanies the provider for a full day, with the approval of the patient gained at the outset of each encounter. The coach gives feedback regarding the doctor’s positive communication techniques, and offers suggestions for enhancing less effective techniques. - Written report
At the close of the “shadow” day, the coach provides verbal recommendations of proven techniques for ensuring patient satisfaction. Within 24 hours, the coach emails a written report to the provider. - Follow-up survey
To help with physician accountability, we provide 100 patient satisfaction surveys to be distributed over the counter during the next six weeks (when the physician is establishing his/her new patient-pleasing practice habits). We report the results after receiving 30 responses.
Following a “shadow” engagement, providers see immediate improvement in their patient survey scores, and better coordination with their clinical team.