Did you know that 13% of the US population speaks Spanish at home, making it the most commonly spoken language after English? So chances are you have more than a few patients in your dental practice for whom Spanish is their first language.
Yet when was the last time you considered incorporating software that allows you to communicate with your Spanish-speaking patients? If your answer is “never” or “not recently” you have some work to do. By not catering to the needs of Spanish-speakers, you might lose patients to dentists who do make that a priority. Everything from the accessibility of patient intake forms to chairside interactions can affect how patients view your dental practice and whether they return. A poor interaction or a misunderstanding could make Spanish-speaking patients feel they are not valued.
Rather than view these situations as failures, you can view them as opportunities. Let’s look at a few examples of how you can make your practice high-tech and engaging for Spanish-speaking patients—and stand out from the competition.
Use YAPI for Spanish-Speaking Patients
If you don’t already know the value of using dental automation software in your practice, then let us show you! In addition to making your practice generally more efficient, dental software such as YAPI allows you to send essential patient communications in Spanish.
For instance, YAPI supports Spanish appointment reminders, making it easier for Spanish-speaking patients to engage. YAPI’s Actionable Notes feature enables you to change a patient’s preferred language by going into your PMS and entering [Spanish], [SPA], or [ES] in the patient or appointment notes section. This change will ensure any appointment communications sent through YAPI, whether in email or text, are sent in Spanish! Any reply from your office is also automatically sent in Spanish, and confirmations are synced automatically to the PMS appointment book.
You can also send Spanish versions of any of your Paperless Dental Forms—such as New Patient Intake Forms—to patients. And most of our standard forms are available in Spanish upon request, so there’s no need to go through the tedious task of translating forms on the spot or hiring a service.
YAPI also allows you to embed a “New Patient Forms” button in Spanish on your website or include it in emails.
Should you ever need to revert patient communications to English, remove the [Spanish] tag through Actionable Notes.
Educate and Empower Your Front Office Team
In addition to using dental automation software, your team should consider exploring additional resources to help communicate more effectively with Spanish-speaking patients. For example, several excellent links on the American Dental Association’s website provide educational brochures on different dental treatments or hygiene tips for children, all in Spanish.
You can also check out dentalcare.com, which provides Spanish dictionaries for both adult and pediatric dentists. These dictionaries can help your team learn basic vocabulary and common on-the-job phrases such as “Are you in pain?” or “How are you feeling?” which can come in handy chairside. If you’re responsible for answering the phone, keep these resources handy, so you can quickly lookup a word or phrase if a Spanish-speaking patient calls. Even if your Spanish is rocky, patients will appreciate you making an effort. AetnaDental also has Spanish dental resources for different dental specialities.
Making patients feel prioritized and valued can go a long way in solidifying a solid long-term patient relationship. So what are you waiting for?
Want to learn more about how to create an excellent patient experience? Check out these posts:
- Visual Cues: Ensure A Better Experience For Your Dental Patients
- Need a Better Workflow? Why Real-Time Syncing is a Game Changer
- Elevate Your Patient Experience In Your Dental Practice
