When a visit to the urologist is coming up, all sorts of thoughts go through your head. For example: how will the appointment go? What examination am I in for? Will I feel comfortable with the doctor treating me? All perfectly understandable and very relatable trains of thought. So how wonderful that the right scent marketing from AROMEA gives positive feelings a boost and that a pleasant, relaxed atmosphere lightens up the appointment! Dr Koller has been working at his public health insurance practice in Wörgl since April 2020. The practice is located in the Gesundheitszentrum Wörgl, the local health centre, is fully accessible and therefore easy to reach for people with reduced mobility too. A trusting doctor-patient relationship and a detailed explanation of medical conditions are at the heart of every consultation. Today we talked to Dr Ralf Koller about his practice, his voluntary work and how he uses AROMEA there, and gained some very interesting insights.
Your website mentions your voluntary work as a paramedic. How did that come about?
Koller: Medicine and the idea of helping people have always fascinated and occupied me. So during my studies, I worked as a volunteer paramedic. This gave me deeper insights into medicine and confirmed my choice of career. After my studies, I was also employed as a paramedic for a few months before deciding to train as a general practitioner and urologist.
You are a urologist, general practitioner and emergency doctor. How did you come across scent marketing from AROMEA? And why did you choose it?
Koller: Funnily enough, I came across Aromea on our last summer holiday! My wife was immediately taken with the impressive scent experience at our hotel. Armed with her iPhone, she started researching where the scent came from while we were still on holiday. And a little later, more or less still on her lounger at the beach club, she contacted the AROMEA sales representative.
The right Airdesign can help patients feel more comfortable during their time at the practice. Your practice is scented with “Forest Therapy” and “Indigo”. How would you describe the two scents, and why did you choose them?
Koller: At the moment, we’re using the scent “Forest therapy”. For me, a walk in the woods brings fresh, clear energy. It brings deep relaxation on a psychological and physical level and has a harmonising, balancing effect overall. What matters to me in the practice is that patients feel comfortable with me. Nobody really enjoys going to the urologist. So as soon as patients enter my practice, I want to take away negative thoughts and unpleasant emotions as far as possible and replace them with positive emotions, like the ones you feel in the woods. In the practice, I also try to reinforce this feeling with pictures of forest motifs. This makes for a really well-rounded whole and a truly pleasant atmosphere, because it’s also enormously important for me and my team to cope with stressful days at the practice in a pleasant atmosphere.
You also use an AROMEA Flex, which is easy to reconfigure and move around freely. What has your experience been with handling the diffuser?
Koller: In the consulting rooms I use the Aera Smart. It underlines the clear, bright architectural structures of the practice and is very easy to transport. The AROMEA Flex welcomes our patients as they enter my practice. Both types of diffuser are really straightforward to handle, thanks to control via an app. The intensity and the period of scenting can also be set very easily and flexibly.
Do your patients notice the pleasant, fresh scent in your practice? If so, has anyone mentioned it to you or your assistants?
Koller: Patients have often mentioned the good smell and the harmonious atmosphere it creates in the practice! Naturally, we’re very proud of that. Children in particular keep noticing the especially good smell. The nicest compliment was what a 12-year-old said: “Mum, it doesn’t smell of doctor in here at all, it smells like the forest”.
Urologist Dr Ralf Koller on “Forest Therapy” in his practice in Wörgl.
