train your child to be successful

Cognitive abilities

Leadership

Success what is

Understanding and memory

Doing our work

Resilience bouncing back

Initiative to learn and do

the steps to my life

Invest in yourself

2 ways to invest

1 knowledge - learn new ways and practice. Be consistent. Be there. Whether you like in our not

2. Money - spend money on your ideas or ideas of somebody else that you believe in. Partner.

No More No Shows

Build Relationships and Stop No Shows

One of the biggest reasons for loss of revenue in the healthcare industry is patients not showing up for appointments. Every appointment has certain cost attached to it. The prep time of the staff, the idle time of equipment, not to mention the valuable time wasted of doctors. Furthermore, other patients have to bear the inconvenience of longer wait time and inaccessibility due to scheduled appointments. The solution to this common problem is surprisingly simple and involves timely communication and response with the patients.

Are No Shows Affecting Your Business?

Do you know that many patients honestly believe that, if they don’t turn up for their appointments, their clinics may appreciate the extra free time or will adjust the appointment with another patient easily? They are clueless about the damage control you have to go through by making phone calls to other patients who may or may not oblige by preponing their appointment. It is often that even the clinics do not appreciate the cost incurred when a patient does not show up. The cost of phone calls is obvious, but there are other expenses involved.  

According to a study by a healthcare technology consultant, no shows cost each individual physician an average of $200 per unused slot and the US Healthcare System an average of $150 billion dollars per year. The cost included lab rescheduling, paperwork, labor etc. A BioMed Central Health Services study claims the average no show rate in the US is 19%. The study included community hospitals, primary care and subspecialty settings. The national average for no shows in private practice was over 20%. 

There are long term implications to a missed appointment also. According to a study those who missed even one appointment were 70% more likely not to return within 18 months. According to the BMC study 47% of physician practices risk losing over $100 billion every year because of patient no shows. There is enough evidence to explain the fact that no shows are actually bleeding clinic revenues and there is a need to plug this bleed as soon as possible. 

Why do Patients Miss Appointments?

It is not necessary that patients are deliberately not turning up for their appointments. Most patients when asked about the reason they did not turn up said that they had forgotten about their appointment completely. Patients usually get back to their busy lives and do not take their appointments seriously. Sometimes patients anticipate bad news and want to avoid such a situation. Others may even want a second opinion since they believe their conditions have worsened. So the reasons that patients do not honour appointments are usually simple and unfortunately they do not realize that they are affecting their own condition by failing to turn up at the right time. Neither do they realize that they are denying other needy patients the opportunity to receive timely care.

The most common reasons for patients no shows are :

Forgetting about appointments 

Belief they need the emergency room because their condition has gotten worse 

To escape hearing bad news

Misunderstanding appointment schedule because of language barriers

Socio Economic Factors

Not really concerned about skipping appointments

Do not understand the importance of the appointment

How Healthcare Providers Contribute to No Shows? 

Almost every reason for patient no show given earlier can be avoided with effective communication. Interviews done by Annals of Family Medicine found that patients did not fully understand the consequences of not keeping their appointments. Patients also believed the staff will have free time and are probably happy when they don’t turn up. 

Clinics and Physicians usually do not try to build relationships resulting in patients not really being concerned about skipping appointments. Though many clinics usually remind patients about their appointments and even explain the ramifications of missing an appointment, most have accepted no shows as inevitable. Clinics usually factor in the costs of no shows or compensate by overbooking. Both practices do not help the clinics in any way. Overbooking can lead to extended wait times for patients and overtime for staff. 

Clinics and Physicians do not impress upon the patient that they need to turn up for the appointment or there are consequences not only to their own health, but the health of other patients and the workings of the clinic.  A study in The Ochsner Journal found patients who feel that they have good communication with their doctor are more likely to be satisfied with their care, to follow advice, and stick to their prescribed treatment plan.

How to Reduce No Shows?

Creating a strategy to tackle no shows should be a priority since it will stop the leakage in revenue. At the same time no shows interrupt clinicians’ efforts to provide continuity of care. New processes and procedures need to be put in place to combat no shows. New technologies are easily taking the place of old processes to efficiently communicate with patients. 

Contacting patients through their preferred mode of communication to remind them about an appointment date and time and giving them an easy way to cancel and reschedule will save clinics a lot of time and money. Today’s technology includes phone calls, texts, emails and social media. 

A study by the Robert Wood Johnson University Medical Group found that no shows fell from 23% to 17% when patients were sent an automated appointment reminder. Adding empathetic messages will definitely build a relationship with the patients. 

Patients who believe their healthcare providers really care are more likely to visit according to the given plan. However, doing 400 to 500 surgeries per year makes it difficult to follow up on each patient efficiently. Sending a reminder message or a phone call to ask about the patients’ well being increases the recall chances of your patients. It will also increase the chances of an appointment for patients who have cancelled but have not rescheduled. 

Automation helps Clinicians do their Job Efficiently 

Regular reminders not only help patients remember their appointments, but an option to cancel or reschedule also helps in efficiently giving other patients an opportunity to visit during the cancelled time slot. A National Health Services Survey in UK found that 91% of patients would accept a last minute scheduling of an appointment. Also, giving an option to confirm, cancel and reschedule gives the patient a sense of involvement in the process and increases their chances of keeping the appointment.

Automating processes can also help in the doctors’ form filling process leaving them with more time to spend talking to patients during their visit. Interactive chatbots can help patients list down their symptoms so that the right doctors can be referred to and doctors too can go over the list even before the patient visits them. 

Among the many patients are those who need constant care. Despite best intentions of any healthcare clinic they will not be able to constantly interact with them all the time. Automation on the other hand is always available, even during non working hours. It can constantly monitor patients’ health, remind them of prescriptions and the time to take them. 

Automated appointment systems help patients reschedule and inform wait listed patients that there is an opening for them to take advantage of. This system gives patients the advantage of knowing in advance that they can meet the doctor earlier than scheduled. 

Patients need their questions answered. However, from the clinics point of view most of the questions are either routine or common questions. Automation can easily reduce the number of repetitive calls for similar questions. 

Patient referrals is a big channel of increasing business. However, a successful referral can happen only when the patient experience has been smooth and satisfying. While automation helps in increasing patient satisfaction it can also ask for referrals through the patients’ preferred mode of communication. 

Automation helps in reminders, confirmations, cancellations, filling openings, notifying patients, doctors and staff; and reduction in workload, resulting in increased focus to provide better healthcare and cutting down revenue loss.

Digital Marketing plan for your Business

Digital Marketing, is the direct route to new and old clients. Yet surprisingly most businesses ignore this route and concentrate on traditional ways to interact and bring in customers. It’s time to change and come on board the online world that will help you expand your business exponentially.

Did you know that 59% of adults in the US have looked up a specific medical condition online. Around 77% of online searches are done on search engines. A significant amount of people will go to trusted hospital websites or healthcare websites to find their symptoms. In other words if you have an online presence you are more likely to find new customers when you tap into this resource.

How does Digital Marketing work?

Digital marketing is an interactive mechanism that uses different digital channels to distribute information. These digital channels include social media, mobile applications, email, web applications, search engines, websites and many more new electronic media which will pop up in the near future.

If you make two broad categories of your potential customers then you can probably understand how to use digital marketing a little easily.

1 People who are looking for information about your business
2 The place where people hang out looking for information you have

Search engines are the place where people are looking for answers. If you know the answer you must share it with them. How? Read on.

Social media is the place where people hang out. Social media algorithms serve them information according to their interests. They join groups which match their interests. However, there are many social media platforms. Where are your potential customers hanging out?

How to get noticed on the search engines?

If you want people to know your brand then get a domain. And to park the domain and information you would like to share you need to get your own space online. Online with an online presence can you build your brand online.

Bringing people to your website with SEO

According to a Google research 77% of patients do online research before deciding to schedule an appointment. SEO means search engine optimization so that information that you put online can be found easily. In simple words, when you will be put up information about yourself and your practice, you should put in the extra effort and use words and phrases that are being searched online about your specialty. You will find these words and phrases with the help of a Keyword tool called Google Keyword Planner. Search engines show the best matches they find and your website has a chance to rank on the search engine page. Once you find out the words that searchers are using to find healthcare clinics or your specialty, use those words generously throughout your website.

Make your website simple to understand and navigate. Give detailed information about yourself. Big bright photographs along with information about clinic location and timings could help patients to know when and where to come. The appointment system and fee structure can also be shared with them and you won’t have to answer those repeat questions if you add an FAQ section to the website. Sharing buttons on the information pages makes it easier for researchers to share the information with other potential patients they know.

Attract Searchers with Lead Magnets

While finding the different kinds of searches on Google, you will find many questions that people are searching for. You could answer these questions bn your website. Similarly, you can share guides, how tos and calculators. All specialty information that can be shared, should be put on the site so that it establishes you as an authority in your field. This information could be a self assessment guide, a checklist or even a video explaining a particular symptom. Examples of lead magnets could be “BMI Calculator”, “Pregnancy Calculator” or “Carbohydrate Calculator”; PDF files about “Guide to eating out after surgery” etc. In exchange for this guide or calculator, you could ask for data including name, telephone and email address.

Almost all pages could lead to an enquiry form or a section that helps out in scheduling an appointment. Once you have information about potential and new customers you could promptly follow up with a telephone call.

Showcase Good Reviews 

Your website should also have testimonials of satisfied patients. It may not necessary that you will always have good reviews, but your commitment to serve your patients in the best way you can will definitely result in more patients giving you good testimonials. The good ones can go on your website and the bad ones to the admin department to find out what went wrong and how it can be improved. A bad experience can also be a good opportunity to have a satisfied customer. Most patients don’t leave because of bad service, but because of not being given enough attention. An apology bundled with a value added proposal usually makes complainants happy and convert them into repeat customers.

Sharing your Happy Patients’ Reviews with the World

Happy and satisfied patients can be given a form when they are in the clinic or the form can be mailed to them and with their permission can be put up on the website. The form could have a rating system or a star system which makes it easier for potential patients to gauge that current patients are happy with your services. If you make your web pages easy to share then people can share the reviews with other potential patients via social media. According to a Pricewaterhouse Cooper survey, 42% of individuals viewing health information on social media, look at health-related consumer reviews and referrals of specific treatments or physicians. At the same time 43% of patients said they were likely to switch doctors as a result of negative online ratings.

Testimonials need not be quote unquote your patients. Some can be turned into a story. Like a story of how you and your clinic helped a certain patient. If the patient allows this journey to health to be recorded, you could make a small documentary in video.

Promoting Advertisements on Search Engines

You can buy space on the Search Engine Results Page. Just like you found keywords to share information on your site, you will have to take the help of keyword tools and find out what patients are searching for. Maybe you could also have an offer of a discount. For example a Christmas offer for an X% discount for a full body check up or a FREE diabetes check up. When you do an advertisement on the search engine your ad will be on top of the search engine results page, increasing the chances of somebody clicking on the link given. 

Retargeting ads

Retargeting ads are just like search engine ads, but the only difference is that the person being shown the ad has had some interaction with you earlier. You must have noticed that once you visit some retail brand’s website, you start seeing their ads wherever google ads are displayed. These are retargeting ads. This ad service is very economical and since the person is already familiar with your site and brand, it has a higher chance of conversion.

Using Artificial Intelligence to Answer Questions

Chatbots have the ability to have conversations with patients who want to find a solution to their queries and if urgent can book an appointment for them too. Around 42% of patients would rather have a chat online since they feel it is better than waiting on hold to talk to someone. Chat bots are usually programmed with FAQs and normal conversation type responses. The person on the other end asks questions on the chatting software on your website and he is given answers that have been uploaded earlier. The conversation ends with the enquirer being satisfied with the answers and talking to your office for further inquiries or a checkup.

Taking the help of Social Media

Whatever information you share on your website can be shared on social media. Social media is the place where a lot of people are hanging out. Facebook is one of the most popular social media platforms and has around 2 billion users of all ages and Instagram has around 500 million users who are young and mostly female. There are similar social media platforms that have a specific kind of audience. It is your job to recognise those audiences and decide if you want to cater to them. While sharing information on a particular platform you should know the kind of format is popular on it. Photo and Video is popular on Facebook, Photo is more popular on Instagram, and image and infographics is popular on Pinterest.

Special Tips to Get the Extra Mile

Once you have chosen the platform(s) you find your customers on, you should start sharing information in the popular format so that they will notice, like and in turn share with others. You can share patient experiences, journeys and testimonials on social media giving potential patients a reason to trust you regarding your specialty. You can also share more information about the medical conditions you treat and education about diet and nutrition while the treatment is going on.

Write attractive and effective copy describing your posts. Remember to use Hashtags with your posts, they help you increase your reach. Find out trending and current topics in your field of expertise and use the trending hashtags for maximum advantage. Connect with doctors and professional who target a similar audience and gather a referral network that you could tag. This way their audiences can view the post too. When you find people commenting on the post, make sure to interact with them and engage with them. There are many communities of different professions that could be related to your specialty. You could join these online communities and share your posts in those group pages. Remember your posts and interactions should lead to a form so that you can collect data.

Social Media Marketing

Just like you advertise in Google, you can advertise on social media. Your ad will be shown on the newsfeed of your audience. This audience, provided by the social media platform, can be categorised by demographics, interests. location etc. You can target people according to the patient/customer persona you have created.

Similar to retargeting on search engines you could retarget people who have visited website on social media. As mentioned earlier retargeting ads are very economical to promote.

Keep in touch through Email and SMS

Once you have procured a database, then you could keep in touch with the potential patients with a newsletter. Your emails can include all the channels your clinic can be contacted with, for an appointment. Remember to keep an unsubscribe option for people who do not wish to be sent communications. You could also use emails and short messages for quick surveys including symptoms and improvements patients are looking for in a clinic.

 

Emails can be used for Reminders for Existing Patients. The reminders can be about appointments or prescriptions and dosages.

Reconnect with Patients 

There are many patients who lose touch after treatment and believe they do not need your services anymore. Also there will be patients who cancel their appointments but do not reschedule. To reconnect with them you would create an email and sms sequence. You could share offers with patients in this category so that they book an appointment with your office.

If you are committed to increase your patients then you should have a dedicated digital marketing plan. We hope this comprehensive guide helps get started and assists you to chart your marketing and sales funnels.

How to improve your English Speaking

Every skill development starts with the why? Whatever skill you want to learn or improve you need to work towards a goal. If you don't have a goal, your resolve will fade with time just like most of your new year resolutions and you will find that you have stopped what little you have been doing. Similarly, the reason you want to improve your English should be good. If you are trying to improve your English because your friends are doing it or someone has told you that speaking good English is a good thing to do or worse, someone (read parent) has forced you to do it then you will end up not doing what needs to be done and you would have wasted your time trying to please someone else. Though I must add here that if you have the opportunity to improve your English do not waste it. You may not get the chance again soon or you may realise that you need to learn English fluency at a later stage in life, but you'll probably have other problems to take care of.

Why should you improve your English?

Other than the important fact that English is a universal language and most education is done and preferred in English. A lot of latest news, especially technology and science, is distributed and published in English. The local news in your local language will publish cutting edge news only if the editor believes there are enough people out there reading his paper or watching his channel who really want to know what's happening in the world. Although Google is improving by the day - even in local languages - knowledge of English helps you get better results, faster. Google search engine relies on search terms that are put in by users and the results depend on what these researchers are clicking on from the search engine results. But knowing the terms or words that you are looking for greatly helps in getting the right results. 

Managers look for people who are good at communication and relationship building and prefer employees who know English along with the local language. In India, English is one of the more popular languages. In fact, it is one of the official languages of India. If working anywhere in the world is something that excites you then speaking English will help you get there and communicate with your new colleagues before you learn the local language of the country. 

While you work on a job or independently you'll find that knowing English helps you work and interact with peers and bosses better. It helps you legally too. If you say: You may do it, it means you'll probably do some work in reference, but if you say that you will do it means that you will definitely do the work that is being talked about. Knowing the difference will help you use the words carefully and to your advantage.

These are just a few reasons to learn English. There are many which maybe specific to individuals who want to learn the English language for themselves. Someone wants to write in English. English is the more preferred language on the internet and this person wants to take advantage of the reach the net can give him or her, and that's why learning English becomes important for them.

How to improve your English
Once you have decided that English needs to be a part of your growth story, you will want to jump on to and swim in the vast pool of English language. However, there is no single exercise to improve your English. You will have to read, write, listen and speak English. Just like swimming, which involves moving your hands, feet, breathing and seeing where you are going there is no single activity to master the art of speaking English. And just like swimming you have to dive in to completely learn speaking like an expert.

Focus and consistency - do it right and do it consistently. If you join a class or take the help of another person remember it is you who will have to turn up every day consistently. Sometimes your interest levels will be high since day they may be low but turning up everyday come hell or high water is what is going to make you an expert.

First thing after you decide to learn English or anything for that matter, is to make a time table. You have to make efforts to learn regularly. Come hell or high water. When you start you are usually in high spirits. However, after some time when you find that learning anything is not all a bed of roses, then your interest begins to weaken. That's why whatever your state of interest, which will increase and decrease with time, you will have to turn up in class or do what you are doing consistently. To take of your interest make your learning enjoyable and easy to do. If you are enjoying your activities then learning becomes easy. On really had days when you are really not feeling like doing anything do what comes easily. At least this way you'll revise what you know.

Find an English speaking companion

If you want to talk in English you will have to start talking in English. Never stop yourself from speaking because you believe that one day when you learn English perfectly, that day you'll start speaking in English. It is a skill you'll have to acquire by doing. If you don't start today then that perfect day will never come. The question is who do you talk to.

You need a person who knows and talks English and is willing to be your speech companion. This could be a friend who can speak, understand and even explain English words and phrases to you. You could also try to find an English trainer or mentor. This person needs to give you at least an hour of the day to talk to you. This also means you will have to take an hour out of your schedule so you can practice. Once you have mutually agreed to the time, you need to religiously turn up or call and talk for an hour. You could talk about the weather or a topic you've agreed upon earlier. 

Similarly you find people who want to talk in English to improve themselves. There are clubs that get together just to practice English speaking. Usually there is a coordinator who knows English. 

Singing songs and understanding your favourite singers

Songs and poetry are the highest form of any language. The amount of vocabulary and the grip on grammar that you need to write and understand poetry and song is very high. But there is no harm in trying to sing along with popular singers and their lyrics are found easily online.

Read what interests you

You need to start reading. Read what interests you. You don't have to read stuff that bores you and makes you avoid reading. Many good natured people will advice you to start reading newspapers. Which is a good idea. Unfortunately, not many people are interested in reading the news since it is available in video format. However, there are many types of newspapers. There is the broad sheet. The normal big pages that you see many uncles reading leisurely has hardcore news. But it also has a health, entertainment, business and sports section. There are tabloids, that usually focus on entertainment and there are fortnightly and monthly magazines which cater to various subjects and some of them can be very niche. If you like stories, there are magazines that have short and long stories. Other than those you can pick up books that have short stories or novels. There is no dearth of reading material, you can choose from whatever suits you best. Start reading today.

Listening

Understanding what other English speakers are saying is an important part of learning English speaking. This way you learn pronunciation and diction. It is also a great way to learn new words and phrases. An English speaker who knows the language well can be a great companion who can help you understand the Vocabulary and pronunciation. Your companion can also read to you the latest news or stories. Watching Hollywood movies and English serials can help you learn the latest phrases that are trending in native English speaking Nations. Listening without video also helps to understand the different pronunciations of vocabulary. You can do this by listening to podcasts of popular speakers or discussions of your favourite topics. Write down what you learn and go through it later. A mentor or English coach, if handy, can be a great resource to discuss the new words and phrases you hear.

Writing

Writing is an important part of learning any language. Writing helps cement the words and phrases in your memory. Most people think in their native language and then translate their thoughts into English. Writing is a great way to organise your thoughts and form proper sentences. It is a great way to show your English companion or teacher your progress. Write down things you've learned by reading, watching videos, listening and talking to someone. Make points and discuss with yourself on paper what you could have said differently. Writing is also a great way to find out your comprehension. Write essays of the things you've learned or the discussion that was happening in the podcast you listened to recently. It will give you much more clarity about the things you've heard and seen. 

You can make flash cards to memorize new words and phrases. 

Taking tests after each English training exercise will definitely help you. Make up tests and ask yourself different questions about the videos or podcasts you've seen and listened to.

Thinking fast and quick

It is important to start thinking in English. But it is not easy. We have a tendency to think in our native language and then translate the words into English. This also is the reason why we make some mistakes. Mistakes like placing words in the incorrect order including grammar words are common because of our habit of translation. How do you get over this problem? 

Start talking to yourself. I, me and myself

The only way to start thinking in English is make your thought process work in English. Many times we go over conversations we have had or are going to have. We plan what we will do or contemplate what we could have done better. It is natural. What we need to do is start doing this exercise in English. Will you make mistakes? Of course you will. Should that stop you from talking to yourself in English? Definitely not. If you find talking to yourself a bit self conscious and not easy, then start with describing an object that you see in front of you. You can do this anywhere. You can narrate a story you know. The field of day dreaming is vast. Take your pick. You can talk to yourself loudly and in your mind depending on where you're sitting. If your are at a public space you can imagine talking to yourself regarding something you see or you can call your friend and describe to him what you see. 

learn phrases
talk to yourself - record yourself = audio video - track your progress

practice everyday

talk to yourself

think in english, narrate, describe the object, - describe the word

use the dictionary - only english

make a to do list - if not already doing it - in english

an english phrase to motivate yourself, something at the start of the day, and at the end.

english speaking - don't be scared, pronunciation, singing, conversation, partner with someone you can meet, if not then someone you can call, prepare any conversation in advance. refer to international phonetic alphabet for pronunciation, every day, debate, 

listening - someone else reading, conversations, songs, understand what people are saying, listen to radio since you need to understand what is being said without facial expressions, watch english televion serials and films, speak and read and listen to yourself, film reviews, serial reviews, read aloud

reading - read aloud, write down new words, flash cards, study for limited period of time and take regular breaks, newspapers, stories, a little higher grade reading, take tests after reading if there are no tests then make up the questions, increase your reading speed, put a finger on the word, read intensively but take breaks - 25-30 mins, right reading place, 

writing - write new words in a notebook, flash cards, take tests, post it notes - memory castle, 

vocabulary - words and pronunciation, dictionary, mirriam websters american, oxford, idioms and common phrases, 

grammar - pronunciation