Česky
No sooner do they sit down at their desks when they arrive at work than their coffee is cold and they are already dealing with patients' telephone requests, answering their text messages and e-mails, making appointments, dealing with the needs of medical staff, communicating through internal lines, arranging patient transfers between departments, handling the administration associated with sending test results to applicants, providing wheelchairs and giving patients all the necessary information. This is the daily bread of the receptionists in our facilities. They have the added support of liaison officers who take care of transferring calls and are available to the medical staff to connect with patients and other facilities.
"At the Diagnostic Centre in Prague, receptionists also handle patient payments for additional tests, such as childhood vaccinations, and create closures. They summon patients to the elevator and accompany some clients to appointments. They also send and record mail received and sent. Compared to the Hořovice Hospital, each patient must also report his or her arrival to the reception desk, where data is checked and informed consents are signed," says Jana Kašparová, who manages the reception and call centre at both facilities.
"At Hořovice Hospital, the reception team consists of 15 colleagues."
From patients to stuffed animals
Receptionists play an equally important role at the Multiscan radiology centre. And the professional staff can see for themselves. "In the event of holidays or absences, we staff the reception desk with radiology assistants, who can thus verify in a collegial manner that the flawless operation of the examination room begins at the reception desk," laughs Barbora Švédová, the centre's operations manager.
Four receptionists rotate in her team, and one has even celebrated twenty years at Multiscan. Not surprisingly, sometimes working at the reception desk is quite adventurous and fun. "From a human point of view, the receptionist oversees the whole situation around the patient. For example, the small and cute escorts of our patients sometimes need to be supervised for a while during their appointments. That's when the receptionist comes in as an animator and draws pictures or looks for lost cuddly friends in the waiting room," adds Barbora.
According to her, working with several technologies and programmes is also a challenge for receptionists. The most important of these is the AMOS ordering system.
Mobile tent at reception
To help receptionists and operators cope with the onslaught of work and patient communication, our facility does everything possible to support and train them. "This job requires team spirit, the ability to make quick decisions and to be ready to tackle new things all the time. A pleasant demeanor, good mood and the desire to do this demanding job are also important. On the other hand, the positive reactions and gratitude of some of the patients we have been able to help are a great satisfaction," says Roman Jirava, head of the reception at the Rehabilitation Hospital Beroun. Beroun is the only healthcare facility far and wide that returns missed calls, which accounts for a large proportion of the local reception's activity.
They receive ongoing training here, not only in communication but also in crisis and stress management. Visitors are sometimes in a difficult situation and want it dealt with immediately, which is not possible due to the busy nature of the doctors. "At the reception, we are the first place patients define themselves against or vent their frustration. The training teaches us how to talk to such patients so that we can calm them down," Roman adds.
He says the biggest challenge is to stay positive despite the various complications.Apart from our regular duties, we were responsible for the agenda around testing and vaccinations. For the protection of staff and patients, we checked the reception for infection-free conditions in the mobile tent. It was often the case that patients did not receive a test result or did not have their vaccinations recorded by an error in the single registration system. In order to get everything done, colleagues dealt with these problems on their personal time."
"During the covid period, we received over 15,000 calls per month."
A surgery without telephones
In short, no one is bored at our reception desks. The proof is the novelty they boast in Hořovice. Currently, under the leadership of Jana Kašparová, they have completed a successful project in setting up processes in the children's ward of the hospital.From the reception desk, we then created a bridge between the medical staff and the patients. Parents can reach us without any problems and according to the defined rules for further communication, the ward staff then call them back."
Early next year, they will tackle the second phase of the project here, focusing on ordering prevention, check-ups and vaccinations to relieve the medical staff of administration. In short, the role of reception is irreplaceable and irreplaceable in our facilities.
