Dental practice waiting rooms ideas

Dental practice waiting rooms ideas: Patients come to visit dentist wait for 16-30 minutes on average. The struggle is real for patients waiting to take their turn. They can’t sit patiently for such a longtime. As a dentist, you cannot hurry treating your patients. You should please the waiting patients without irritation.

When you keep them engaged, it will be a great diversion. They don’t feel hard to wait all the while. Patients visiting physically must get impressed at the first visit. Think that there is nothing called second impression. So, give a great first impression.

Here give top 20 ways to engage and ease patients while they wait for their dental appointments.

Ambience

Patients are your guests. Patients have anxiety about dental treatment while entering into a clinic. A calm and relaxing ambience makes them feel comfortable. In your waiting room, use some cool color wall paints. They are proven stress relievers medically. For example, use green color to make patients feel calm and secured. The color yellow gives more positive vibes. Don’t paint your waiting room any odds colors to give discomfort.

A clean carpet also makes a good impression that they choose a right dentist. These are some default psychological factors affect patients’ mind while waiting. Moreover, they are spending bit long time there. So, they automatically note everything around them to while away the time. Make sure, you set your waiting room ambience very soothing and welcoming.

Furniture

For all the waiting time, patients will be sitting in chairs and sofas in waiting room. Again, you should choose modern and cool furniture for your waiting room. When it comes to seating arrangements, provide some good quality furniture. Mend furniture that makes noise while sitting. Patients get irritated to sit on it. They find it awkward to sit and create noise when they try to sit on their comfortable posture. They will avoid your clinic for the next time for sure.

Invest on good furniture to put in waiting area. Get some cushion type chairs to reduce anxiety and nervousness of patients. They lay back and feel stress free all the while. You may have some physically challenged people. Make some special seating arrangements for them. They need not strain and sit as normal people. This shows your concern for    and they start trusting you.  They automatically forget such long waiting hours even.

Complimentary items

If possible, provide some complimentary eatables. You may ask why dental patients need such thing. There are people who relieve stress by eating. Approximately 40% of people feel like eating when they are stressed. Obviously, patients have extreme fear and worry about their treatments. This gives a feel that they are waiting for a very long time than actual waiting time. Make sure that you are not giving any complimentary eatable to hurt their aching tooth.

You can always provide water, some soft drinks, and less chewy healthy snacks. Again remember you are providing this in a dental clinic. So, everything should be given with at most care in a way not to hurt their tooth. Not necessarily food, you can give tiny gifts that make them happy and engaged.

Wi-Fi zone

Nowadays, it is one crazy attitude growing higher. Many prefer to use free Wi-Fi in all public places. They never mind doing this even in dental clinics. Of course, it is not a good option to divert patients’ mind. Still, they can’t stare at the ceiling or furniture for a longer while. In your waiting room, give free Wi-Fi zone. Patients surf anything they wish using that free Wi-Fi. They even want to lengthen their waiting time, if you do so. So, this can be the best way to keep them wait at clinics with joy.

Give puzzles

Stress hormones are released less, when you divert patients’ mind. They forget about the dental treatment and waiting time once you give playful activities. Always keep some cubes, riddles and puzzles in waiting room. They involve deeply into such activities. They never mind waiting too long. They actually think fully on completing the puzzle, riddle or solving cubes. They also sit for the treatments with relaxing mood.

Pleasant music

Music relatively reduces stress hormones. Many patients come with full of fear to face the painful dental treatment. At those times, brain starts releasing too much stress hormones. Waiting time boosts this fear further. Pleasant music comparatively has high chance of relieving stress. Music is the best healer. They forget pain and relish music. A pleasant and slow pace music really helps them to while away the time. Moreover, nobody gets irritated on listening to music. So, this can be the common way to please the patients.

Good air conditioning

When fear comes, automatically patients start palpitating. They really feel suffocated on thinking the painful treatment procedures. They also sweat a lot due to this fear. Sweat and suffocation makes anyone to feel irritated. Thus your patients may get more irritated. Many may leave even without taking treatments. Ambience includes air conditioning also.

Make sure you have proper air conditioning to the waiting room. You can either use air cooler or air conditioners. You can also create any natural way of letting air into waiting room through windows. Choice is yours. Check humidity inside the waiting room. Often adjust to the temperature. Your patients sit with ease.

Some green plants

As already told green denotes calm and secure feeling. It builds such positive energy inside your waiting room. More than artificial plant decors, living plants feel better. It completely changes the look of waiting room. There are many indoor plants available now. Have some plants that need less water and maintenance. Cactus is preferred to be kept inside any working place generally. May be your patients like to grow such plants or have some interests in buying plants.

If possible, create an eco zone inside your dental space. Grow more flowering plants inside the campus. Keep a fish tank with colorful fish. Make your patients to feed those fish. Create fountain like set up. The sound of water itself works as a therapy to cure fear and anxiety. Do follow any of the thing you can afford doing it. Patients will find it interesting to spend time there. Divert patients using this effective way.

Cleanly and hygienic sitting area

Cleanliness is what the first thing that gets noted. Maintain your waiting room so clean. Many patients are allergic to minute dust particles. If there is no proper hygiene, your clinic is not at all welcoming. Wipe the floor very often. There should be no foot mark or shoe mark. Clean your window pane. Adding to this, make sure there is no foul sanitizer smell. Use a pleasant smelling sanitizer. Always keep air freshener and spray room sprays. Hygiene standards expected to be really high at dental clinics.

Informative walls

Don’t leave walls of waiting room empty. If you have more aesthetic sense, then have some portraits on walls. Especially, have some funny and informative dental portraits. Write some general oral hygiene tips. Give some knowledge about cosmetic dental surgery. Fun cartoon dental images can also be painted on the waiting room walls. They explore such images and read oral care instruction. Thus it gives a diversion from feeling uncomfortable due to long waiting hours.

Kids play area

Many patients bring their children with them. It is hard to manage children during waiting hours as they are not patients as adults. It irritates patients and they return home without visiting the dentist. When you arrange any play area exclusively for kids, they can engage their children there. They can have fun activities and slide with their children. Thus it prevents patients from getting annoyed on waiting to visit the dentist.

Magazines

Waiting rooms always have magazines, books and pamphlets. You can follow the same in dental waiting rooms. You can vary from others in the choice of magazines. Subscribe to any annual, biannual or quarterly magazines that are exclusively for dental care and dentistry. You can also have comics and general magazines in a separate desk. Those who wish to read them, they can while away the time by reading it. Leave some business cards of dentists there. It may promote your clinic also.

Stress free waiting

Arrange overall view of the room in a relaxing way. Patients never visit dental clinic just to take treatments. Some may come to have their regular dental check up done. For them, it is like going out from the stream of routine. They consider those visits as a fun time. So, make sure you are very particular in choosing calming things around them in the waiting room. They come for regular monthly dental checkup if you provide such ambience. Thus plan in a way that you are creating a peaceful atmosphere in waiting room.

Relaxing decors

Not only furniture, your decors must be unique. So, they can spend time on exploring it or admiring it. Hang some beautiful chandeliers in your waiting room. Keep a warm lighting there in waiting room. It gives them a therapeutic feel. They totally forget about their dental problems and long waiting hours. Paste any creative paper art. If possible write how you made them. Thus they can try some once they return home.

Good receptionist

Your receptionist must be patient friendly. He/she should welcome them. They should show good gesture to them. Their attitude must be kind and polite. So, patients will approach them to ask any queries. They should always wear smile on their lips in both sending and welcoming patients. As you know “smile is the universal welcome”. Recruit your receptionists on seeing all the above mentioned qualities. Then it reduces the chance of irritation among patients in their waiting hours.

Receptions should always tell who visits next to the current patient. They should guide them to the dentist room. When there are an elderly people, they should assist them. These sweet gestures make them feeling pleased.

Alerts and countdowns

Make sure you have a display showing patients lists and their turns to take. If possible announce the waiting list of patients to meet the dentist. Besides them, show how long the patient should wait more. It can be like countdowns. There may be long waiting hours. But the patients psychologically feel that they are waiting for a less time. These are some tricks that really work to avoid boredom.

Inform waiting time

Once the patient enters into the waiting room, receptionist should inform them the waiting time. When there is long queue, then they reschedule and visit the dentist in the next coming days. They need not wait there for the whole day. If you don’t inform them, they surely get annoyed. It is better, if you inform them in prior. They will be pleased to reschedule and visit on any other day.

Positive quotes

Health care waiting rooms always grow positive attitude. For dentistry you can paste some beautiful teeth alignment images with any quote about confidence and smile. Keep changing them time to time. When they are surrounded with such quotes, they spend time on reading it. This considerably lessens their growing anxiety too.

Reduce dental phobia

Dental patients grow phobic attitude on their treatment only during the waiting hours. They look so nervous and worried during waiting period. Waiting hall should give them the comfort that they need. Make them happy and stress free. If possible, give them a hand note or short videos of treatment procedures. This will ease them.

Oral care snippets

Keep a jar of complimentary tiny gifts. With that attach a card each stating a dentistry fact or oral care instruction. They find it fun to choose and read. They can also take it with them to home.

Find your way that suit your waiting room now!