Healthcare Customer Service Real Life and a little help from Mel Gibson.

This is an accurate assesment of today's healthcare system.

Quote from KY RNThis is an accurate assesment of today's healthcare system.

I am not meaning to be offensive in any way, but I am just giving you my thoughts on my view point after finishing your article. I kind of have an idea of what you are trying to say, but I feel that the way the article is organized is confusing and does not make your point in the way that you want it to. I don't see where the Mel Gibson thing fits into the whole picture, unless you are trying to say that by making healthcare more customer service oriented that we are commiting suicide, and if that's what you were trying to say then a tie in at the end with you supporting that with the quote would make more sense. At the moment I can really only think of one thing ( I am sure there are others ) that has suffered from making the healthcare industry focus on customer service is the affect on nurses...nurses recieving more abuse from patients, nurses feeling over worked having to deal with getting patients water, more pillows, deal with the needs of their family all while trying to keep them healthy and alive, hospitals unable to keep enough nurses on staff, afford to pay decent salaries or afford to update medical equipement, etc. because they are broke due to so many patients who are not insured and cannot afford to pay for their hospital bill,etc. and all this leading to lower job satisfaction in nurses and leaving nurses wanting to get out of the field. I can see this leading more hospitals closing down and an increase in a lower grade of people going into nursing that are willing to put up with the lower pay, more work and all the other crap. Then you can tie in with some statistics to prove your point. Please chime in if anyone has different opinions or ideas...

I think that economics created an excess of hospital beds and increased competition. This is why they turned to a customer service model. As the strong survive and the weak are eliminated by closure we will again have a better balance which will reduce the need for a customer service model. In time we may get to a point where there is rationing and even a waiting list for hospital beds. People will come to despise health care more so than they do now. Then they will long for the good old days when they were whisked away quickly to a hotel-like hospital room, given a fancy menu to call for room service, and treated as though they were our most important customer.The truth is that we need to use customer service skills in any job that deals with the public. We need to be nice. There is nothing wrong with it. We need to be able to improve and to find out what patients like and don't like about us. We exist for them. But we also need to be able to set limits and not have to tolerate abuse. We need to have some rules and some control for the safety of everyone. It can't be a free for all kind of unstructured hotel type environment.I think that nurses like to be able to have control. If we put too much into customer service we lose control and that can be a dangerous thing in an explosive environment such as a hospital. I don't think nurses should be allowed to treat people like Nurse Ratched- the ultimate control freak. But they can't be expected to drop everything and fluff your pillow right now or be written up for poor customer service. There needs to be an in between. Hospitals need to support the staff and not just accept that the customer is always right. Often he is not. Be patient, the one thing that is certain in health care like everything else is change. Change will come, one way or another.

I believe the reason for the current focus on "customer service" in healthcare is because one of the elements of quality care is "customer" satisfaction - for "customer," read "patient." And QUALITY care is what we want to give our patients. Depending on where you work, you may have stories of how inconsiderately a nurse treated a patient, how long someone had to wait for a bedpan, how long someone else sat in his own excrement before someone cleaned him, etc. You prefer to work in a place that is known for its excellent, sensitive, competent care.Each unit in a hospital (or any facility) has its own culture, which might be exhibited as a lack of individual kindness in treating the patients. This can stem from a caregiver's terribly busy day with altogether too little time to expend one minute on a smile and an extra personal comment. It can be that the unit is one where patients are perceived systemically as inconveniences requiring a lot of effort with little return, which may lead to cold, brusque treatment. It can be that an individual nurse has her own personal problems that affect the way she treats others.I think many of us had forgotten how much a simple thing like a smile and a pleasant greeting can mean to someone who is fearful, ignorant, sick, weak etc. It was necessary to teach everyone in the hospital/facility to perform specific greeting and teaching activities in a consistent, reliable, effective way so that the whole institution is seen as "customer friendly." It's too bad it was necessary to mandate this, but it was. And if management on each unit is not committed to these processes, the people working on the unit will not adhere to them: "if no one really cares, why should I make the effort?" This is human nature at work. Everyone hates change - that's human nature too. But when these simple actions, like asking if there's anything else you can do, or prompting patients to elicit needs they may not be aware of yet (Do you need the urinal? Can I get you some water? etc), are carried out consistently, the impression is of an institution whose workers all really are working to give the patients everything they need.Customer service can never trump technical competency! It's assumed that each caregiver is as technically competent as possible. But the two are not mutually exclusive - you can give good care and friendly care at the same time.

Oh hi Madam ******* on Seroquel, you are refusing your medications once again? Do you want to stay here longer? Your insurance wont allow that.I really hate how Medicaid patients feel ever so entitled even though they really aren't paying for the care.

I read the article and the writers opinion. Apparently this writer has nothing important to do in her life. Spending time taking care of patients or helping the needy would be a start. A description of the service industry written by a lay person is not of much use to anyone.

Umm this is not a her and it is not a layperson. I think it is a reasonable analysis of the movement to make health care provision a customer service model. We serve you rather than we take care of you. We are a service that you are paying for, rather than are health care providers who you have entrusted with your care. There is a definite difference in the relationship with a customer service focus. It is more subservient. I prefer to be partners with patients- like a contract. I will help them with their health care. Customer service is more like you are paying me to do this for you. I exist only to serve you. It is a little creepy and reflects the influx of non-healthcare background MBAs into health care.

Quote from cxg174Umm this is not a her and it is not a layperson. I think it is a reasonable analysis of the movement to make health care provision a customer service model. We serve you rather than we take care of you. We are a service that you are paying for, rather than are health care providers who you have entrusted with your care. There is a definite difference in the relationship with a customer service focus. It is more subservient. I prefer to be partners with patients- like a contract. I will help them with their health care. Customer service is more like you are paying me to do this for you. I exist only to serve you. It is a little creepy and reflects the influx of non-healthcare background MBAs into health care.

I still want you to come work with me...

Quote from cxg174I still want you to come work with me...

Awesome writing, I hope you submit it to your local Letters to the Editor.