Training
RWS provide an extensive range of training for doctors and staff.
Trainings are tailored to your practice needs and are provided online at times to suit you. Our extensive list of trainings has been compiled through our years of working in the private practice arena – we know what your practice needs to ensure smooth-functioning, a turn-key operation, and a well-balanced, motivated team. The sessions we offer are relevant to the day-to-day requirements of running a medical practice.
Doctor training
Doctors who are new to private practice or established can benefit from our trainings. We have a suite of 50+ trainings designed to assist you. At RWS our goal is to provide education for you in all areas of your private practice so that you understand your business. Gaining this education means you will be in control of your processes and will not be vulnerable if your staff leave.
Training for doctors crosses over 3 areas:
Personal mentoring
Many of our doctors benefit from attending personal mentoring sessions with our Director, Caroline Chaplin. Personality profiling and core needs analysis are typically undertaken resulting in greater self-understanding and better balance. Sessions are private and are conducted at times to suit your hectic work schedule.
Business mentoring
Doctors are excellent clinicians but haven’t had training on how to run a small business. Business coaching is excellent for doctors embarking on a private practice journey or transitioning between practices. This coaching provides the knowledge and framework required to make your vision into reality.
Administration training
Training in this area is typically understanding surgical billing, practice set-up/transition skills, business KPI’s, software set-up and accounting processes including payroll. We can train your partner too – no one has your back quite like your partner.
Here are some example training modules for our doctors:
- Practice set-up (A complete guide to all the steps you are required to know to get your practice up and running)
- Understanding health funds and billing (You will gain a solid working knowledge of billing and health fund processes, so you get paid, and your systems work well from the onset!)
- Setting up efficient processes (Optimal processes that encompass your selected software)
- Referrer Marketing Training (Learn the skills of attracting and maintaining referrers)
Contact our team for information on our full suite of training modules.
Staff training
If your staff have knowledge gaps we can provide training for them too. When new staff have been recruited to your rooms we can conduct a gap analysis and then provide the appropriate training to close these gaps.
Training for your staff is provided as follows:
Training for new employees
Staff training typically may be required when RWS has hired someone for your practice and a gap analysis has revealed some areas where further training could complement the employee’s skill set. For example, your new employee may require surgical billing training and they may also require strategies to deal with distressed patients. Every employee is different, so the training is tailored to close their individual skill gaps.
Training for existing employees
Often our doctors will engage in our training services to help provide motivation and growth for their existing team. This training is conducted with individual employees or in small intimate group settings. In this setting popular trainings may include conflict resolution, resilience, personality profiling and assertion training.
Group training
At times, our doctors require their entire team to be trained. This may occur when you want your staff to be consistent in an area such as customer service for example. Training can teach uniform strategies to ensure the team is providing a consistent patient journey.
Here are some examples of staff training topics that many practice staff have been taught by RWS:
- How to run a consulting session
- Debtor control
- Billing and Health funds
- Dealing with difficult patients
- System efficiency
Upskilling staff into new roles
As a doctor, you understand there can be times within the practice cycle when you would like your staff to be upskilled to fill a more senior position. This may be for the purpose of succession planning or simply having a backup for more senior staff (covering leave, etc).
Every situation where staff need to be upskilled will be slightly different, as such a tailored training plan will be provided to suit both the staff members’ current skillset, and the priorities of the practice. The two most frequent situations we see are:
1. A junior staff member has been hired without private practice experience
2. A Medical Secretary is taking on the Practice Manager role without management experience (particularly the hardest attributes in this role being leadership/delegation skills).
We are experienced in staff training and can support staff should you need them to be trained for a more senior position. Our HR, management, finance and software teams will work together in the process to ensure the staff member is delivered a variety of tailored training to help them feel confident in their duties.
Our first step would be to hold a gap analysis to understand and decipher where the specific staff’s skill set is currently, along with your priorities for the practice. Then we would provide you with a training plan of what we recommend for them moving forward. From there, training and procedure documentation can be rolled out at a pace that they are comfortable with, that suits the practice’s timeframes.
A few of our satisfied training participants:
Dealing with Difficult Patients and Potential Conflict Situations “10/10 – Loved it! Examples were spot on”
ENT Clinic, Melbourne
Health Fund & Billing Training – “10/10 – Peter is a very good presenter and made the content easy to understand”
Orthopaedic Clinic, Melbourne
Dealing with Difficult Patients and Potential Conflict Situations “10/10 – I thoroughly enjoyed being able to have an open discussion on our personal background and personality traits/strengths as being important to our work life”
IVF Clinic, Melbourne
Frequently Asked Questions
Why should I consider training for my staff?
Did you know that one of the major reasons staff will remain at a practice is because there is an opportunity for growth? Growth was cited as a major drawcard for candidates surveyed across all industries. However, in a medical practice where there are limited roles, a growth environment can be difficult to create. RWS provides this growth environment for you via training. Staff feel motivated and empowered when training is offered as they feel personal and professional progress. Creating and maintaining this environment is essential in today’s market where employees change roles regularly. Training will help to retain your staff. Data also indicates that staff are more likely to stay with a doctor who is interested in their well-being as well as their professional skills.
PWC, Reshaping the Workplace, 2011
PWC, PWC’s Global Workforce Hopes and Fears Survey, 2022
How do sessions work?
Most training sessions are 90 minutes. Depending on your needs, we offer single sessions as well as multiple. Trainings are scheduled at times that suit you. We use Zoom as a platform for our training, but we are happy to accommodate your preferred platform.
Post the training sessions with your staff you will receive a summary of how your staff went and what they learnt. Staff complete a survey asking their opinion of the training which we send to you also. Your staff will receive a certificate of attendance at the conclusion of all trainings.
Why should I consider training for myself as the doctor?
Running a business can be wonderful as you have autonomy and control of your life, however at times it can be stressful, so support is needed personally and professionally.
Doctors are not taught the administrative functioning of their practice and tend to copy what colleagues do. For example, most of our doctors have never been taught how the health funds work or how to know what their costs should be. We find doctors pick up these skills very quickly. Often it is a case of, “You don’t know what you don’t know.” We won’t bore you with too much detail, just enough to arm you with the knowledge to run your business well and minimise the risk of fraud.
It is important not to forget about yourself as an individual and what you need to feel happy and balanced. At times doctors can feel like a hamster on the hamster wheel. We see from our benchmarking that doctors who are balanced and happy in their lives, perform better in private practice.
How do I find out more?
We have a detailed training guide showcasing all the courses on offer. Contact our office and we can send the guide to you. When you are ready, we would like to chat with you about your training needs and from there the next step is to nominate times that suit you. Training sessions are booked, and attendees are sent a preparation guide.
Our office may be contacted on admin@roomswithstyle.com.au or by calling 1300 073 239.