What Are The Pros And Cons Of Customer Service In Healthcare

I have worked in healthcare for over 13 years and I have seen the issues that can arise regarding customer service firsthand. The company I work for is starting to have trainings and meetings to improve customer service to our clients. Don’t get me wrong some strive to help the patient and go above and beyond as others are burn out and feel like they just need to get the patient in and out without really understanding the patient’s needs or concerns. Unfortunately, there is a growing concern about customer service in healthcare with Healthcare Reform happening in the US today. Of course the actual Affordable Care Act has its pros and cons, and everyone has their own opinions on the subject and what should happen. But we can all agree that the patient and care received should be the first priority before the doctors, healthcare workers and insurance companies.

In many business industries such as retail, sales, and manufacturing, customer service is a must. If the mentality of ‘the customer’s always right’ didn’t exist then these industries may not have very good success with customer service. It doesn’t always mean all customers are right all the time but it gives them the ability to work through their differences and make the customer

happy and will help the customer return for another sale in the future. This will help with revenue and keeping their business growing.

Customer service is kind of different in healthcare. Even though healthcare professionals do their jobs and take care of their patient’s needs, customer satisfaction has never really been a must. It is usually understood, do the minimum and get them in and out of the office and on to the next patient. We all know that when patients get sick they usually do not want to go to the doctor but know it is a necessity. Therefore, most of the time since it is not an option, but a necessity; patients sometimes feel they do not deserve superior treatment. Things are changing and the Affordable Care Act will change the way customer service works due to giving more options for the patients therefore the healthcare facilities have to step up their game and have different rules. There needs to be many changes from, communication to attention to detail within healthcare.

There are some steps that healthcare professionals need to consider to provide better customer service. Front line staff should realize that they are the first one to be seen and could be the only representation from the office. Therefore, they have to give excellent customer service. You can offer customer service by assisting with other area problems they may mention to you. Nurses should take into consideration that the patient could have other issues besides just the ones they are presenting, therefore communicate with attention and see if there is anything else they would like assistance with. Doctors should make it a priority to have more bed side manner and sympathy to their patients in addition to the medical knowledge. Live by the golden rule. Treat them as you would want a family member or yourself treated. Also managers have to realize it is the responsibility of the manager to be sure the customer service is in place because it reflects on them if their staff treats patient’s poorly. When it comes to co-pays and bills for services rendered, patients should be looked at as paying customers. This may be their hospital of choice but remember their insurance changes and they can always move hospitals and if treated poorly the patient could tell family members or friends their experience and it could not be so good on the healthcare facility. Remember a first impression is all it takes to get someone to decide if they like the facility or not. We should strive for satisfied and repeat customers and our customers should demand excellent care and customer service.

In the Impact Participative Management Perceptions article it shows research proving that a stronger impact on customer service is when recommending services rather than clinical performances. (c.f. McManus 2007). Employees that work in participative climates tend to be more involved and happy with their jobs and perceptions are likely to influence the employees’ customer service. Reference: FIGURE 1 Likert's Profile of Organizations page 4 of the article to see the information involved to provide a participative management perception.

Customer service needs to be a priority in any healthcare facilities. Managers and leaders need to assure excellent customer service takes place among their staff. Throughout my experience as a Community Care College student it has been stressed to me about creating a ‘Brand’ that represents myself and abilities, well healthcare practices should also create a ‘Brand’ for them and uphold the expectations of exemplary customer service.

I would like to take a moment and give a couple examples showing good customer service and the other not so good.

Good – A homeless man comes into a public health clinic, needs to have services so that he is available to stay in the shelter that evening.

The clerk assists the patient by registering and sending back to nurse for services. Once the nurse has the patient and starts with the assessment, the homeless man expresses that he is in need of other services that is not provided through the health clinic. The nurse knows that she cannot assist with this new issue but instead of just turning him away and saying we cannot help. The nurse takes it upon herself to make a call and get the patient referred to a clinic that can assist him. This is an example of a nurse going above and beyond the call of duty to help someone in

need.

Not So Good – A patient comes into the hospital with an attack of kidney stones. He is hurting so bad he cannot stand up. The admitting clerk helps the patients gets registered and in line to be called by the nursing staff. The patient is then called to triage where he is assessed. The nurse knows how bad this patient is hurting but they do not have any rooms available, therefore, the patient is asked to sit out in the hallway until a room comes available. The patient is in so much pain and ends up unbuttoning his pants (not exposing anything) to get some relief and then starts getting nauseated. It had to be humiliating a bit to the patient. Nurses continue to walk by and not check on the patient. Another patient sitting out in the hall realizes the patient is about to throw up and grabs a trashcan. Patient does end up getting sick. A room is still not available but there is a triage room that has a chair and curtain to give the patient some privacy. Instead of a healthcare personal helping this patient out until a room comes available they still leave him out in the hall not giving any kind of care. It is just a poor way of giving customer service to the patient. It would have a least been a good gesture if a member of the staff that continued to walk by could stop and just check the status of the patient instead of just leaving him. Even if they would have stopped and said we are looking to finding you a room shortly it would at least gave the patient some sense that they cared and were working on the situation. After this experience the patient decided to change his insurance to be sure never to have to go to that hospital again for an emergency.

In comparison of the two examples you can tell what could happen if excellent customer service is not extended. I always think how I would want my family member to be treated if they were to walk up for services. If I treat everyone the same way and go above and beyond to help someone when they are in need it will benefit me more than the patient in the long run by the satisfying feeling I will get for helping them. No one should ever want someone to go away unsatisfied or feeling bad when they leave a place that they came into get help.
My hope for the future is that customer service in healthcare will get to the point that people will not dread going to healthcare facilities but feel as if they will get great care for their needs and will return expecting it to stay that way. It is what we all deserve from our healthcare providers.