I recently had a medical emergency in which dealing with medical staff was more painful than my physical ailment. Through this experience, I discovered that I felt much better in the rare instances when I dealt with kind and caring medical staff. Their approach to patient care was better than medicine.
Real World Story: I can sympathize with medical staff who work with sick people day in and day out. I can imagine how easily a medical professional can become desensitized to people’s pain and suffering over time. And for medical staff in urgent care facilities, the onslaught of patients can seem never ending. At some point, I imagine that the process morphs into an assembly line of people who need to be processed as quickly as possible—in through the front door, out the back door.
But through my recent medical emergency, I found that a simple hello, a warm smile, and a kind word gave me much comfort. Just knowing that someone cared about me and looked me in the eye with compassion was nearly enough to lessen my discomfort. Knowing that someone was looking out for me made the long wait times bearable because I knew I was not going to be forgotten.
I can’t count the number of times that I’ve said this, but customer service is about people helping people. And great customer service is letting people know that you have their back and that you care. And that’s better than medicine any day.
Strategies that Turn it Around:
- Acknowledge people: People always want to be made to feel acknowledged. Always greet patients, customers and clients with a welcoming hello and a warm smile, even when you’re busy with other tasks.
- Be kind and compassionate: Being kind and compassionate can seem like daunting tasks when you’re super busy. It takes time to be kind and compassionate because you have stop what you’re doing in order to be present with another person. And how is that going to work when you have twenty people waiting in your lobby, you may ask yourself. Like all good skills, it takes practice. And with practice, you’ll find a balance between working quickly and efficiently and being kind and compassionate to others.
- Empathize. One of the best ways to practice kindness and compassion is to empathize with others. Put yourself in their shoes. Imagine for yourself what they are going through and what they are feeling.
Remember: We’re all humans with feelings and emotions. And everything we do is based on those feelings and emotions. When we work with other people, especially sick people, we must know how to acknowledge, be kind and compassionate, and be able to empathize with them. Sometimes, the best medicine is simply to show people that we care.
How does your organization ensure that all your patients, customers and clients feel cared for?