The 9th most commonly mentioned new patient complaint: Staffing issues.

Among 100,000 survey results were countless raves about the practice support team. Patients specifically mentioned how they were put at ease, impressed when they introduced themselves, offered a practice tour, anticipated questions, and being impressed by their overall kindness and respect.

Thankfully, the positive comments were far more frequent than the shortcomings that were mentioned:

Rude – Believe it or not, some patients sensed a whiff of intolerance or even contempt. Granted, in pain, many patients may have a distorted emotional state. Being effective at the front desk requires high levels of empathy and other forms of emotional labor.

Detached – It’s not uncommon for us to mislabel introversion and shyness as aloofness or judgment. Or to see patients as interruptions to our computer work. Being effective at the front desk requires the unicorn combination of left-brain precision and right-brain social skills.


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Bill Esteb, a passionate chiropractic advocate since 1981, brings a fresh perspective to the profession as Patient Media’s creative director and co-founder of Perfect Patients. With 12 insightful books examining the doctor-patient relationship, he inspires chiropractors worldwide as a chiropractic speaker, through his chiropractor coaching program, and consulting. Since 1999 Monday Morning Motivation has been emailed weekly to over 10,000 subscribers, sparking breakthroughs across the chiropractic community.

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