With the cold days on their way out and warm spring and summer months fast approaching, it’s time to do a little spring cleaning to prepare for a busy season ahead.
Making sure that your medical practice is clean, tidy, and organized not only presents a professional and reassuring appearance for your patients, it also helps to keep your staff productive and on task.
When everything has a place and everything is in its place, both efficiency and quality of care are improved. Here are a few things to keep in mind as you prep for the big cleaning day.
Take Stock of Your Space
Try to view your practice through the lens of a patient. If they see dirt or trash lying around, walls in need of a touchup coat of paint, or even a chair that may be on its last leg, a significant impression is made- whether they’ve been to your practice a gazillion times or they are walking in for the first visit.
Some questions you can ask yourself are:
- Would they see a space that is clean and organized?
- Would they see a space that is welcoming?
- Would they see unsightly garbage or clutter in view?
- Would they see dirty or scuffed walls?
- Would they see broken or badly banged up furniture?
- Would they see carpet in need of a shampoo?
Perceptions matter and you want your patients to perceive your medical practice as professional and thriving. Take stock of the most visible and urgent things to do, and prioritize those first. Then you can move on to the items that are less visible, yet still important.
Start From the Top
Once you’ve determined the needs that are the most pressing and you’ve addressed issues like repainting or conducting minor cosmetic repairs, you can employ the top-down strategy. This concept means that when you’re cleaning, you start from the ceiling and work your way down.
So chores like brushing out cobwebs from corners, dusting ceiling fans and the tops of any window blinds or fixtures, cleaning the tops of shelving or storage areas, etc, should all come first. Dirt will trickle down, so by starting from the top, you can ensure that you don’t miss anything.
Even if you have a cleaning crew that does a regular clean of common areas, you’ll still want to make sure that you’re tackling the places that are hard to reach or that may get missed, such as faux plants, photo frames, lampshades and baseboards.
Get Your Staff Involved
Big jobs always get accomplished faster when there is more than one set of hands working on it. Ask your employees to spend a day helping out. You can offer them over time and treat them with lunch or dinner while you all work.
You can also ask your staff to make sure that their own personal space is clean and organized, including their digital space. Make a checklist of all the things you would like to see done, and then divvy it up between everyone and get to work.
Here are a few ideas to get your team started:
- Go through the junk drawer, or in some cases, the junk storage cabinet (everyone has one).
- Go through any medications on site, and discard those past the expiration date.
- Get rid of old medical supplies that are never used or have been broken.
- Get rid of paper clutter, and file everything away properly.
- Get rid of old business cards and papers with old logos.
- Get rid of out-dated mail, magazines, and anything that is not pertinent to the practice today.
- Clear digital clutter from computers… such as old files that are no longer necessary or temporary files. Also, be conscious to place important information into properly labeled folders.
Remember that first impressions matter to your patients, and organization matters to the productivity of your staff. Take some time to give your medical practice a healthy spring clean, and greet the new season ready to take your business up a notch.