Health Centre De Pastorie

Health centre De Pastorie is located in the ‘Philips Dorp’, a lively neighbourhood in Eindhoven. The educational level of the patients is a mix of low to highly educated and in terms of ages, it ranges from young to old. Many expats also live in the neighbourhood. The health centre employs 4 regular GPs, 1 deputy GP and 1 trainee GP.

GP Dominique Rutgers had already had the idea of installing a registration kiosk in the practice for a few years. After all, she had already seen this at the dentist, orthodontist and at the hospital. And she thought, ‘We should also have such a system in our practice to reduce the pressure on the front desk.’ She contacted Wachtkamerschermen® to see if this could be realised. Initially, there was no link to PharmaPartners' Medicom yet. Together with Wachtkamerschermen®, the link was realised and De Pastorie Health Centre was the first practice where the registration kiosk was installed: ‘I was disappointed that it took a while until the link was in place. But once the link was available, we immediately started ‘pioneering’ with the registration kiosk. It really was a long-cherished wish that came true.’

Scoop

Because De Pastorie had the scoop and was the first practice to start working with the registration system with Medicom, there were some start-up problems at the beginning: ‘In the beginning, the registration process via the kiosk was not smooth. Patients did not quite understand how to enter their date of birth. Fortunately, Wachtkamerschermen® listened carefully to our feedback and adjusted the sign-in process. Now it works much better!’ Adjustments were also made to the ‘late notification’. In the beginning, patients received a ‘late notification’ after only 5 minutes. This has now been adjusted and practices can indicate themselves when they think a patient is late: ‘I can imagine that this is different for every practice, but that's why it's very nice that you can now set it up yourself,’ Dominique says.

Dominique indicates that the perception of whether it has become quieter at the front desk varies: ‘The assistants indicate that it is still sometimes busy at the front desk. But this is mainly because patients decide to come to the practice spontaneously if, for example, they have to wait too long on the phone or if they are unable to make an appointment digitally via MGN. We have now agreed with the assistants that appointments cannot be made at the counter. We have to ‘educate’ our patients a bit in this.’

When we asked Dominique if she could still do without the registration kiosk, she responded, ‘Oh, no! We noticed the difference when we couldn't use the column for a few hours due to internet problems. So it does matter!’

More efficient planning

GPs notice big differences since the registration kiosk is in place: ‘We can now see exactly which patients are there. This up-to-date overview allows us to plan our work more efficiently. For example, we can make a phone call in between consultations or call in a patient who is early earlier.’ Dominique also says that now they no longer walk to the waiting room for nothing to pick up a patient who is not there yet: ‘This allows us to work more efficiently and spend our time better.’

‘Also, patients indicate that they now have clarity on whether or not they need to report for their appointment. Furthermore, they like the fact that they now have confirmation that the GP knows they are present. In addition, patients no longer have to wait in line at the front desk and, after registering at the registration column, they can walk straight to the waiting room. Sometimes it was difficult for us GPs to walk through the crowds in the entrance hall to the waiting room. That is a lot less now!’ said Dominique.

Future plans

The registration kiosk has ensured that fewer patients come to the counter and that GPs can plan their work more efficiently. But Dominique says they still have some wishes for the future: ‘It would be nice if patients themselves could check their details, such as phone number and e-mail address, via the registration kiosk and adjust them if necessary. This would save the front desk even more time. I think it would be a nice addition to the existing functionality and we are discussing this with Wachtkamerschermen® whether this can be realised.’