Image by Stefan Schranz from Pixabay
A colleague recently relayed the following story about his last doctor’s appointment.
Real World Story: “At my last orthopedic doctor’s appointment, I was left waiting for more than two hours to see the doctor. I received no apologies for the long delay—which I would have gladly accepted because I understand mistakes do happen—and was then made to feel like I was wasting the doctor’s time. Here’s what happened:
“I arrived for my appointment early, checked in, and had my vitals taken by the doctor’s nurse. Before I headed back to the waiting room, I asked if I had enough time to go upstairs to the physical therapy office to check on the status of my first appointment with them. The nurse said, ‘Yes, you have plenty of time. There are four patients ahead of you waiting to see the doctor, so it’ll be a while before we call you.’
“So I walked over to the physical therapy office, got an appointment, and headed back to wait on my current ortho appointment. (Going upstairs, getting an appointment, and coming back took less than five minutes.) And so, I waited, and waited, and waited. It was now two hours since I had initially arrived, so I went up to the receptionist and asked how much longer I needed to wait. She replied, ‘Let me see. Looks like the nurse marked you down as a no call.’ I said, ‘How is that possible? She already took my vitals. She knows I’m here but was stepping out for a few minutes.’ To say I was upset is an understatement, especially when you consider that I sat right in front of the entire office staff the whole time I was there waiting.
“When I finally saw the doctor, he acted like I was bothering him. I had questions I needed to ask about my care, and he kept trying to walk out of the examining room in a rush. The entire consultation stressed me.
“When you think about the disposition of people who are in any of the medical fields, you often picture them as people who inherently want to help and serve others. It’s in their blood, you think. Well, it’s a painful realization that’s not always the case in the real world.”
Strategies that Turn it Around:
- Use common sense. Common sense is often underrated. And common sense is often overruled by policies and procedures. If you have already checked in a patient, for example, and he is not in the waiting room when you call him back, use common sense about what happens next. Don’t let your patient sit in the waiting room for more than two hours!
- Apologize. Mistakes always happen. Making them is not the issue, but how you fix them is. And it starts with an apology. “I’m sorry I made a mistake. I know you told me you were going upstairs. Please accept my apology. Let me fix the problem and get you taken care of right away.”
- Be patient. It doesn’t take much for appointments scheduling in a medical office to get off track, making everyone rush to try and get through the day. But even in the worst of chaotic days, you must remain patient with people. Don’t rush them, especially when they have important questions about their care.
Remember: Most patients, clients and customers want to feel important and cared for. But ALL of them, most certainly, don’t ever want to feel ignored and forgotten. Let us all strive to remove painfully negative incidents from occurring with our customer service delivery.
What do YOU do to ensure you provide memorable customer service?