Customer service is a big buzz phrase in any industry today, and especially in health care. Health care organizations spend buckets of money on patient and staff satisfaction surveys (check PressGaney.com). HCOs also spend millions on advertising, explaining their amenities and explaining why you will be so much more comfortable in their hospital. I think the best way for someone to learn about customer service is to experience it first hand.
Have you ever seen Undercover Boss? A CEO of a large company goes undercover, working in various parts of his own company to find out what it's like to be a "little man" at that company. I suggest that a couple of hospital CEOs do the same thing. In a hospital as large as, say, Allegheny General (AGH) or one of UPMC's sprawling facilities, a high-level exec could easily play patient because the majority of the staff do not know who they are.
I would especially like to suggest that some high-level desk jockey at AGH become an undercover patient. I have had 3 overnight-stay admissions to AGH; in 1998 I had elective back surgery and spent one night, in 2006 I had my ankle injury and spent 3 days recovering from the open reduction internal fixation and other effects of the fall, and finally, just a few days ago, I spent one night after an elective ankle fusion. My first experience was okay. Not bad, not good. It was 13 years ago, when hospitals appeared to care more about keeping their doors open. The care was indifferent but adequate.
My 2006 experience was dreadful. From the ER to the front door at discharge I received substandard or dangerous care from the nursing and ancillary staff. The only bright spot was the orthopedic physicians, who were fabulous. I won't revisit this any further except to say that I got a lot of grief from my boss (I was an employee of the hospital) for speaking out.
This third experience was not all bad. The food was pretty decent, the room was clean, and the escort people managed to keep the elevator door from closing on my elevated, injured leg.
It wasn't all good, either. I started out by arriving at the Ambulatory Surgical Center at 5 AM. I spent 15 minutes or so in the waiting room which was packed wall to wall. Was there a sale on surgery? The ambulatory surgery center process wasn't bad, and at 6 AM I was picked up to go to the OR. I had to give up my glasses, which I absolutely hate because I can't see anything, not even the clock in front of me. I was first rolled into the incorrect pre-op area ("she goes into the nerve block room Ronald!) and then parked at the end of a row in another pre-op area. I was very anxious because I do not like needles, and I knew that this was the place for the IV and the nerve block. Thankfully I did not have to stew for very long; within a few minutes I was literally surrounded by men (too bad I couldn't appreciate them, as blind as I was). One lovely young man picked up my left hand and began to do the slap that is supposed to make the veins show themselves. My veins have always seen past this game and once again refused to make an appearance. Rather than torture me, they decided to insert a small-bore IV now, enough to give me some sedation for the nerve block, and put a larger IV in after I was in the OR. Chalk up one very big check mark for customer service!
I woke up in Recovery, on a very uncomfortable gurney. The pain it caused my back just made all the other pains worse. I was awake and ready to leave recovery by noon but had to wait two hours for a bed. I got to listen (remember I was denied my glasses) to the woman in the next slot scream for dilaudid and scream that her pain,level was a ten....until she was told that she couldn't leave recovery until her pain mwas below three. Hallelujah, a miracle happened because her pain instantly disappeared and she was off to her room.
It was 2 pm before I got out of recovery. I will pick this story up in Part 2.
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