Your Patient Intake Form Is Part of Your Brand
You will have patients find your website and felt like you might be the right provider for them, so they booked an appointment and filled out your intake form. The online form (that they are statistically most likely filling out on their mobile device) is just as much as part of your brand experience as your logo, but many health practices do not treat it that way.
What service design has to say about this
In service design, there is the concept of a service blueprint, which maps out every touchpoint a person has with an organization before, during, and after the main interaction. In the context of a health practice, this includes everything including: the Google search that surfaced your name, the website visit, the booking confirmation, the intake form, the parking situation, the waiting room, the appointment itself, and the follow-up communication.
Every touchpoint is part of the experience of your business and your brand that communicates something about how this business treats people.
That being said, the intake form is often the first touchpoint that happens within the organization, before the patient has made their first visit to your office; it's the first moment they experience your organization as a participant rather than a prospect.
What the form is actually saying
Let’s first consider the language in a typical intake form: most are written for administrative efficiency rather than patient experience and include asking for information in the order that makes sense for the database, using clinical or bureaucratic language.
For a patient in a potentially vulnerable moment, such as someone who has finally made the appointment they've been putting off, or who is anxious about what they're coming in for, that kind of form communicates something specific. It says: here we are concerned with getting the right information in the right fields. What it doesn't say: we're glad you're coming, and we've thought about what this is like for you.
The design of the form communicates the same things. Is it easy to complete on a mobile phone? Is the visual design consistent with the website? Does it load correctly, function correctly, and take a reasonable amount of time to complete?
When friction happens on the intake form, it’s not simply inconvenient; it creates doubt for the person filling it out. A patient who has a frustrating form experience can begin to wonder, consciously or not, whether the rest of the experience will be the same.
What good intake form design looks like
An intake form that serves the patient as well as the practice does a few specific things:
It asks only for what's actually needed before the appointment, such as basic information about the patient, their health history, and contact information.
It's mobile-optimized. Research on digital health form completion consistently shows that a significant portion of patients complete intake forms on their phones, often in the evening. A form that's difficult to navigate on mobile creates more barriers for your potential patients.
The patient who made it this far
Getting someone to book an appointment can be a challenge as it requires them to identify a need, find your practice, evaluate whether you're the right fit, and take the step of actually scheduling. When they get to the point of filling out your intake form, they've already done significant work to get there.
It’s important to actively create less or prevent barriers from your patients who have spent the time to book an appointment with you. One easy place to start is with your intake form; make it simple to complete, clearly written, and communicate your care before they make their visit.
Take the next step
Want to see your health practice through the eyes of a first-time patient before they walk in? Download the free Website Checklist.
→ Get it free at wellfolkdesign.com/resources