GP practice De Blauwe Tulp

The shortage of medical assistants and the workload in practices are becoming increasingly problematic for general practitioners. Huisartsenpraktijk De Blauwe Tulp is also facing these challenges. Therefore, the practice sought innovative solutions. The registration kiosk from Wachtkamerschermen® provides the practice with relief: a solution developed in collaboration with eValue8 and PharmaPartners. The result is a calm waiting area, a minimally staffed reception desk, and an assistant with room for care tasks.

Huisartsenpraktijk De Blauwe Tulp has 6500 patients and is located in the Schilderswijk neighborhood in The Hague. "This neighborhood is designated as a disadvantaged area," explains Adri Verbaan, practice manager at De Blauwe Tulp. "Approximately 92% of our patients have a migration background. The first-generation migrants among our patients often do not speak Dutch, and our patients have low health literacy."

The practice itself is part of the De Rubenshoek health center. In addition to medical care, caregivers in this center also provide a lot of psychosocial support. "The Rubenshoek is considered a best practice in this regard," says Verbaan. "Patients can also come here for social work and financial support. This makes care for our patients accessible and familiar."

Long queues at the reception desk

In the large health center, signage to the various caregivers is crucial. "Patients often cannot find their way and end up at our practice desk. This led to long queues, while we are dealing with staff shortages. The turnover of assistants in our practice is also extremely high," explains Verbaan.

The practice wanted to change this. "Our approach during COVID pointed the way," Verbaan recalls. "Our population is more digital than we thought. Moreover, many patients have encountered registration kiosks at airports or hospitals. So, we wanted to implement such a kiosk."

Easy start with the registration kiosk

Since June 2023, it has been done. De Blauwe Tulp was one of the first practices to use the registration kiosk from Wachtkamerschermen® with the integration with Medicom. "We have been using the registration kiosk for three quarters of a year now, to full satisfaction," says Verbaan. "The start was very easy and actually met no resistance. We did deploy a hospitality intern as a hostess in the first few weeks. But people help each other if they don't understand or they still report to our reception desk. Nine out of ten patients now register via the registration kiosk."

Less burden on reception desk

Verbaan is clear about the benefits: "Our reception desk function is much less burdened. We prevent questions that don't really belong to us. This allows us to close the reception desk in the afternoon, reducing the need for assistants." And the medical assistants working in the practice now have a more varied and challenging job. Verbaan: "Our assistants focus on care-related tasks in the afternoon, such as their own consultations. This relieves our general practitioner. And if we are understaffed, the reception desk simply closes. That was unthinkable before."

"People are also accustomed to registration kiosks. In the beginning, there were a few who found the kiosk impersonal, but actually, we haven't heard this from anyone," Verbaan also notes a valuable side effect due to the reception desk being closed more often: "The aggression we experience from patients decreases. We have fewer conflict situations at the reception desk, so our assistants work more safely."

The opportunities offered by a registration kiosk

Verbaan hopes that the registration kiosk and the integration with Medicom will be further developed: "It would be nice if patients could, for example, update their address, phone number, or email via the registration kiosk. That would save a lot of work. Currently, keeping track of all changes is quite difficult."

Meanwhile, the practice has already taken the next step with its own registration kiosk. Verbaan: "We have now also included questions that we frequently received at the reception desk. So, patients can now select blood tests or physiotherapy, after which they are directed to the appropriate waiting room." Verbaan wants to go further in the future: "In the future, we want patients coming for a CRP test or urinalysis to also register via the registration kiosk."

With all the opportunities offered by the registration kiosk, Verbaan's advice to other practices is no surprise: "A registration kiosk really helps you organize care differently. In both large and small practices. So, definitely give it a try!"

Text: Juul van der Aa, VeertienElf Media