Guest guest Posted July 6, 2004 Report Share Posted July 6, 2004 I will be opening my office for the first time and would like to ask for some input. 1) What size of treatment rooms are adequate. 2) What size for the waiting room and the reception area. 3) How many treatment rooms if I am the only one doing the treatment but still spending enough time with the patient after the initial exam. In the school clinic I found that I was able to treat 2 patients per hour without much difficulty 4) Any ideas on the layout of the office. 5) I don't want to waste space but would still like to make it comfortable for the patient Thanks for your help Brian Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 6, 2004 Report Share Posted July 6, 2004 Hi Brian What size of treatment rooms are adequate. - 12'X8' should be plenty and you can get by with slightly less. How many treatment rooms if I am the only one doing the treatment but still spending enough time with the patient after the initial exam. In the school clinic I found that I was able to treat 2 patients per hour without much difficulty - I also treat every 1/2 hour on average and use three treatment rooms. The third ends up only being used at very rare busy times when I have three people at once. If you have the space for more rooms and think you may one day want to bring in an associate, you might want to look into temporary partition walls. They make them now as fully functional wall, complete with the ability to place in electric outlets, that can then be taken down and moved later. These are not cheap, but less expensive than building and then later tearing down and building again. Any ideas on the layout of the office. - You should have a sink with hot and cold running water in at least one of the treatment rooms if not them all. It is easiest to do this by having one treatment room against the wall of your restroom where that sink is. That makes it less expensive to put a sink on the other side of that wall in your treatment room. Another suggestion for the layout is to separate your waiting area from the treatment rooms in such a way as you can enter and exit the treatment rooms (at least your main 2) without being seen by those in the waiting room. It is sometimes uncomfortable when you are busy with treating to have someone in the waiting room see you as they may want to talk with you when you are trying to get in the treatment room to pull needles, for example. You should also give thought to a storage space and a separate office for consultations and work between patients. Hope this give you some useful ideas. - Matt Bauer - mischievous00 Chinese Medicine Tuesday, July 06, 2004 8:37 AM Office Size I will be opening my office for the first time and would like to ask for some input. 1) What size of treatment rooms are adequate. 2) Any ideas on the layout of the office. 3) How many treatment rooms if I am the only one doing the treatment but still spending enough time with the patient after the initial exam. In the school clinic I found that I was able to treat 2 patients per hour without much difficulty 4) Any ideas on the layout of the office. 5) I don't want to waste space but would still like to make it comfortable for the patient Thanks for your help Brian Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 6, 2004 Report Share Posted July 6, 2004 This is just my opinion based on my practice and what has worked so far (7 years). I treat between 30 and 45 patients per week, work 3.5 days and have 2 treatment rooms. I do not have a reception area as I do not have a receptionist. I will be opening my office for the first time and would like to ask for some input. 1) What size of treatment rooms are adequate. 10'X 12' (120 square feet) is adequate. Much smaller and you can't comfortable get around the table. There is a distinct disadvantage of only being able to stand on one side of the patient (with the table against the wall). 2) What size for the waiting room and the reception area. Waiting area doesn't have to be large by any means, but on the other hand you don't want patients to have to be crammed in together. I would say, again 10' X 12' at the smallest. Reception will need a little more room as you will need room for ever-expanding file cabinets, computer, printer, appointment book, phone, etc. I would say 15'X 18' (270-300 square feet). You will want an area out of view of patients (mine is in view and trust me, YOU DON'T WANT THAT!); that doesn't have to be large as you won't be there for long periods of time. But, big enough for your desk/computer, sizable book shelf, phone, etc. Perhaps 100 square feet at least? 3) How many treatment rooms if I am the only one doing the treatment but still spending enough time with the patient after the initial exam. In the school clinic I found that I was able to treat 2 patients per hour without much difficulty. I have 2 rooms and feel comfortable with that. I don't want to rush around to 3 rooms primarily because I want the patient to feel that I am with them. I also want to get to know them. That's a personal comfort zone, though. If you were comfortable with 2/hour as a student, you will likely soon graduate to feeling comfortable with 3/hour, or 3 rooms. 4) Any ideas on the layout of the office. Most offices combine reception with waiting area with a counter/half-wall in between them. If your treatment rooms are next to one another, I found that insulating the interior walls was helpful. They are nearly sound-proof, which helps with patient confidence. Have the entries to your rooms close together to help expedite your work. Don't have any treatment rooms anywhere near the reception/waiting area. It doesn't feel private. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 9, 2004 Report Share Posted July 9, 2004 Hi Brian! What is adequate? My whole suite is 100 square feet. You will not have enough patients to need a large office for five years. Hope you have lots of money to get you through the starvation period. At 11:37 AM 7/6/2004, you wrote: >I will be opening my office for the first time and would like to ask >for some input. > >1) What size of treatment rooms are adequate. Regards, Pete Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 22, 2004 Report Share Posted July 22, 2004 Barbara: Thank you for your response and help. Brian Barbara Beale <bbeale wrote: This is just my opinion based on my practice and what has worked so far (7 years). I treat between 30 and 45 patients per week, work 3.5 days and have 2 treatment rooms. I do not have a reception area as I do not have a receptionist. I will be opening my office for the first time and would like to ask for some input. 1) What size of treatment rooms are adequate. 10'X 12' (120 square feet) is adequate. Much smaller and you can't comfortable get around the table. There is a distinct disadvantage of only being able to stand on one side of the patient (with the table against the wall). 2) What size for the waiting room and the reception area. Waiting area doesn't have to be large by any means, but on the other hand you don't want patients to have to be crammed in together. I would say, again 10' X 12' at the smallest. Reception will need a little more room as you will need room for ever-expanding file cabinets, computer, printer, appointment book, phone, etc. I would say 15'X 18' (270-300 square feet). You will want an area out of view of patients (mine is in view and trust me, YOU DON'T WANT THAT!); that doesn't have to be large as you won't be there for long periods of time. But, big enough for your desk/computer, sizable book shelf, phone, etc. Perhaps 100 square feet at least? 3) How many treatment rooms if I am the only one doing the treatment but still spending enough time with the patient after the initial exam. In the school clinic I found that I was able to treat 2 patients per hour without much difficulty. I have 2 rooms and feel comfortable with that. I don't want to rush around to 3 rooms primarily because I want the patient to feel that I am with them. I also want to get to know them. That's a personal comfort zone, though. If you were comfortable with 2/hour as a student, you will likely soon graduate to feeling comfortable with 3/hour, or 3 rooms. 4) Any ideas on the layout of the office. Most offices combine reception with waiting area with a counter/half-wall in between them. If your treatment rooms are next to one another, I found that insulating the interior walls was helpful. They are nearly sound-proof, which helps with patient confidence. Have the entries to your rooms close together to help expedite your work. Don't have any treatment rooms anywhere near the reception/waiting area. It doesn't feel private. Membership requires that you do not post any commerical, swear, religious, spam messages,flame another member or swear. http://babel.altavista.com/ and adjust accordingly. If you , it takes a few days for the messages to stop being delivered. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 22, 2004 Report Share Posted July 22, 2004 Matt: Thank you for your response and ideas Brian Matt Bauer <acu.guy wrote: Hi Brian What size of treatment rooms are adequate. - 12'X8' should be plenty and you can get by with slightly less. How many treatment rooms if I am the only one doing the treatment but still spending enough time with the patient after the initial exam. In the school clinic I found that I was able to treat 2 patients per hour without much difficulty - I also treat every 1/2 hour on average and use three treatment rooms. The third ends up only being used at very rare busy times when I have three people at once. If you have the space for more rooms and think you may one day want to bring in an associate, you might want to look into temporary partition walls. They make them now as fully functional wall, complete with the ability to place in electric outlets, that can then be taken down and moved later. These are not cheap, but less expensive than building and then later tearing down and building again. Any ideas on the layout of the office. - You should have a sink with hot and cold running water in at least one of the treatment rooms if not them all. It is easiest to do this by having one treatment room against the wall of your restroom where that sink is. That makes it less expensive to put a sink on the other side of that wall in your treatment room. Another suggestion for the layout is to separate your waiting area from the treatment rooms in such a way as you can enter and exit the treatment rooms (at least your main 2) without being seen by those in the waiting room. It is sometimes uncomfortable when you are busy with treating to have someone in the waiting room see you as they may want to talk with you when you are trying to get in the treatment room to pull needles, for example. You should also give thought to a storage space and a separate office for consultations and work between patients. Hope this give you some useful ideas. - Matt Bauer - mischievous00 Chinese Medicine Tuesday, July 06, 2004 8:37 AM Office Size I will be opening my office for the first time and would like to ask for some input. 1) What size of treatment rooms are adequate. 2) Any ideas on the layout of the office. 3) How many treatment rooms if I am the only one doing the treatment but still spending enough time with the patient after the initial exam. In the school clinic I found that I was able to treat 2 patients per hour without much difficulty 4) Any ideas on the layout of the office. 5) I don't want to waste space but would still like to make it comfortable for the patient Thanks for your help Brian Membership requires that you do not post any commerical, swear, religious, spam messages,flame another member or swear. http://babel.altavista.com/ and adjust accordingly. If you , it takes a few days for the messages to stop being delivered. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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