How To Create The Perfect Patient Reception Area
How do your patients feel when they step into your reception area?
It’s no surprise that many patients and their families feel anxious as they enter a medical facility. Many are thinking about the treatment ahead, or about the ‘unknown’ in a potential diagnosis. However your patient is feeling, the reception area should offer relief – a moment of ‘wow’ to put patients at ease, and provide a calming environment while they wait.
Staff needs also cannot be overlooked. Receptionists need a workspace that allows them to attend to the incoming and outgoing patients while performing their administrative duties efficiently.
So, how do you create a reception area that delivers a superior patient and staff experience?
1. Check the Waiting Area Capacity:
Ensuring your waiting room has adequate capacity is crucial for patient comfort and operational efficiency. Without careful planning, you might find yourself with a space that’s too small, limiting patient throughput and future growth.
The first thing to establish when designing the perfect reception and waiting area is the number of patients the area needs to accommodate. While this can be straightforward, we understand that many new clinics and start-ups expect different quantities of patients (and support persons) compared to their other locations. Therefore, it becomes difficult to pinpoint the exact number of seats required without careful planning.
To help get around this, our clinical planning consultants can “map out” your patient throughput. This tracks an estimated number of patients on a digital plan as they move through the facility to receive their treatment. We can then ascertain the maximum patient capacity in the reception area, and throughout the rest of the clinic.
Top Tip: The spatial arrangement of your waiting area also determines the number of seats available. If you are opting for a more comfortable and “homely” feel, more space should be allocated to the waiting area. This creates flexibility for the space to accommodate armchairs and side tables grouped in smaller settings, creating a cosier, more personal waiting area.
2. Design an Effective Reception Layout:
A well-designed reception layout is simple yet effective. It ensures a smooth flow from the entrance to the reception desk, and then to the waiting area.
No patient wants to feel uncertain about where to go upon entering a healthcare facility. To avoid this, the reception desk should be placed close to the main patient entrance, so the receptionist can greet patients as they enter.
For the staff, eliminating blind spots is key. It’s important staff can monitor both the patient entrance and waiting area to ensure patients are relaxed and comfortable.
Another consideration is checking that patients and staff are protected from the elements! If the reception is near the building exterior, wind, rain, and sunlight must be controlled. This could be by adding an entrance lobby to create a wind break or changing the location of the reception desk to avoid direct sunlight.
3. Confirm the Reception Desk Design:
The reception desk isn’t just a first touchpoint for patients. It’s also an important workstation for administrative staff to take calls, schedule appointments, and print patient forms.
That’s why balancing form and function for the reception desk design is critical.
The main points of consideration when designing the reception desk are:
Accessible Design: Provisioning for wheelchair access is now a must-have requirement in New Zealand due to the accessibility code. Your design and fitout partner should know the requirements.
Number of Staff: It’s important to know the number of staff working at the desk, and if any future provisioning needs to be made for additional receptionists in the future.
Storage: It’s best to integrate storage solutions into the desk if possible. Common storage requirements are on-desk paper slots for A4 forms and drawers/cupboards for stationery.
Printer Requirements: If a printer and/or scanner is required, it’s helpful to know the type and size. An under-desk printer can be integrated on a pull-out shelf below the reception worktop for maximum ease of use.
Other Key Equipment: It’s important to provision for all IT equipment, including additional monitor screens, EFTPOS and desk phones.
4. Consider the Aesthetic Appeal:
In the early planning stages, it’s a good idea to decide on the level of finish in your reception area. How do you want patients, staff, and stakeholders to feel when they enter the clinic?
The selection of feature furniture, art, greenery, and surface finishes all contribute to the aesthetic appeal. Your fitout consultant can help you decide what level of finish is best for you after considering your fitout budget.
It’s also important to be aware of the suitability of any finishes that are selected. Select the flooring, wall coverings, and seating materials based on the type of healthcare services you provide. While urgent care clinics require durable and hardy finishes such as vinyl, certain specialist clinics can opt for softer finishes with a homely feel, like commercially rated carpets and fabrics.
Read more about our advice for selecting floorcoverings in a healthcare facility here, and wallcoverings here.
5. Decide On The Environmental Elements:
After patients are seated in the waiting room, they need to be kept at ease during their wait. To make this time enjoyable rather than an inconvenience, ensure their senses are positively stimulated through a comfortable environment.
Some of the considerations include:
Entertainment: TV screens are a great way to occupy patients through the display of informative slideshows or videos. Magazines are another cost-effective way to provide relief to patients, without the need for electrical provisioning.
Temperature: No one likes a stuffy waiting area, or worse—a cold and draughty one. The air conditioning in the space should be optimised for patient and staff comfortable no matter the weather outside.
Lighting: The reception area needs to be well lit by LED downlights, especially if the luxury of natural light isn’t available. Feature pendant lights or wall lights are another way to soften the space and create visual interest.
Refreshment: Giving patients the opportunity to hydrate, and even make a cup of tea or coffee is great way to make patients feel “at home”. Remember that you will require a plumbing and drainage provision if you opt for an in-built refreshment station rather than a simple water cooler.
Audio: Speakers with music are a great way to both enhance patient relaxation and comfort, while also increasing patient privacy by minimising noise transfer between the waiting area and adjoining consulting/treatment rooms.
Considering these tips will help you to create a welcoming and efficient reception area for your medical facility.
If you are looking for advice on starting up, refurbishing, or expanding your medical practice, reach out to Focusplan today. We exist to enable you to provide a world-class patient and staff experience, through exceptional design and fitout.
