South Africa day #1 – SADA and The Patient Experience

Just proving how small a world it is – I was boarding my flight from Dubai to Durban yesterday morning and a voice said “Good morning Mr. Barrow”.

I turned to see Dr. Iqbal (Kat) Kathadra, a former client who sold his dental clinic in the UK some years ago to return to South Africa and manage an inherited business. He and his wife were returning home after a trip to the UK to see children and it was a real treat to see them and chat. Global village eh?

Arrived Durban last night to have dinner with a delightful man and wife team who are building a micro-corporate (10 practices so far) and experiencing all of the usual growing pains associated with that, which we discussed over a rather magnificent Fillet Bearnaise and accompanying South African red.

This morning I’m on an 08:00 shuttle to the South African Dental Association (SADA) regional conference and, later, will be investing 2 hours in The Patient Experience for an audience of over 100.

We will be looking at the 6 Moments of Truth in the patient journey:

1. First digital contact;

2. First human contact;

3. First consult;

4. Treatment co-ordination;

5. Treatment plan presentation;

6. End of treatment review.

My existing clients will know all about this – in fact I’ve delivered the same session as a team training exercise on-site twice in the last 10 days.

A bigger audience today but I’ll still be calling break-out sessions and asking them to think about how they can improve.

Here’s the handout I’ll be using.

The-Patient-ExperienceDownload

From there – a dash to the airport and a flight to Johannesburg for a speaker’s dinner this evening.

Today in South Africa is the winter solstice – shortest day, longest night. It’s 20 degrees in Durban and everyone is wearing overcoats and complaining about the cold.