In this digital age, everything has become simple and easy. Right from shopping to financial service and now even healthcare, all the facilities are now available with just a click away. All the prominent and renowned hospital now have an online doctor appointment booking system through which without waiting in line, you can meet with the doctor.
The online appointment system allows the patients, to choose which doctor they want to meet, what day and what time they want to book the appointment. Also, patients can upload their previous reports to ensure that they do not miss out on necessary reports.
While most hospitals have adopted this system, there are still a few who are not very sure. If you are not sure and want to know why more and more patients are scheduling appointments online and how doctors can utilize these to create a more efficient practice, this article will help you.
Advantages of online appointment scheduling
Some hospitals have a personalized booking system, while others opt for common platforms like Practo, which allows appointment boking for individual doctors. Let us learn about the advantages of online appointment scheduling.
- Efficient practise: the online appointment is an efficient practice which makes scheduling meetings and uploading documents easier for both the patients and doctors.
- Special practice: Along with the online appointment scheduling, doctors have also started providing some special services to patients to make the hospital visit smooth. It has allowed practises saving money and the time of certain secretarial positions.
- Regular reminders: Aparts from scheduling appointments, these services also provide automated reminders to the patients before the appointment.
- More convenient: Earlier hospitals booked manual appointments on calls or personal visits. This has made it very difficult for the reception staff to keep track of all the patients. With an automated service, the entire system gets automated, and the hospital and doctors can see all their visits at once. With greater convenience, patient staff satisfaction goes up!
- Easier Resource Management: With the complete appointment system automatic, the reception staff can be used for better care of the patients. This makes the resource management system more efficient, thus helping get more revenue at lesser spent.
- Customer Satisfaction: With the patients being offered the freedom to choose their time and date for the appointment, it reduced their frustration and time. They no more have to wait for the doctor at the hospital. Instead, they need to make an appointment beforehand making them more satisfied and happier.
Understanding and using web-based booking systems is a section developing an advanced clinical presence. Patients utilize the services to have control and self-rule with their timetables, while additionally saving time and understanding their wellbeing on closer to home level. Exploring the various choices and choosing which sort of e-booking stage would turn out the best for your centre.
Disadvantages of online appointment scheduling
While there are a lot of advantages of online booking, we cannot ignore the various disadvantage that comes along with it.
- Lack of Good Internet Access: In a country like India, which is still developing, not everyone has access to smartphones or an active internet. It makes the entire procedure of online booking entirely useless for some patients.
- Doctors apprehension about the system: With online booking, the control is completely given to the patients. However, not all doctors are comfortable with the patients getting a full view of the doctor’s schedule. They are also not ready to give the patients so much control of their day.
- System failure: As it is a computerized system, a small glitch in the software can create a problem. It will hamper the doctor’s reputation and also cause loss of revenue to the doctor.
- The Complexity of the system: The online appointment requires the patient to fill in many details, but some s may not have the kind of medical information. They first need to discuss it with someone to know which doctor they should consult for a particular problem. With the automated system, there is no human touch. So the patients are confused which doctor they need to book the appointment with and if they require a routine checkup or something emergent.
- Lack of Safety concern: With the digital age data leaking and security has been a significant concern. If the hospitals are booking an appointment for the patient, they also need to be sure that they are keeping the patient information safe.
It is essential to stay mindful of the various concerns which arise due to an automated scheduling system.
Conclusion
The automated scheduling system is a part of growing and evolving healthily. Over time, the refining of the software will promote practices’ efficiency and their usefulness in today’s healthcare system.