Customer SERVICE training ?

[croaker260]

But going that extra mile can be part of patient care... We can dance around the point... We all agree that there needs to be good patient care which can be very similar to good customer service... Kudos.

I have actually had the pleasure of meeting Thom Dick (not his real name BTW) and hearing his People Care Presentation first hand. I have met many sage and wise medics. He is a sage and wise man, who just happens to be a medic.

One of the salient points of his presentation is this:

The 4/2 rule.

4

---

2

What we do "For" a patient is always more important than what we do "to" them.

You know, there are medics who get "Customer Service" intuitively..they may not call it customer service, but they understand that only 10% of our calls are critical, and only 40% even require ALS...but all of our patients/customers require interpersonal communication...the major part of "customer service.

The medics who dont grasp this intuitively seem to veiew customer service as a chore, like a false face you put on when you work a food service job or retail. And I understand why...afterall that is the "face" of customer service in todays society. But that is not customeer service....customer service is follow through and follow up, it is honesty and integrety, it is going the extra mile even when it means cleaning up a 3 day incontinent patient, and its making sure the pets are safe before you leave.

Remember , if we do these things we are not just being nice, it is a tool to build better patient raport and thus provide better patient care...just like any of the medications, dagnositics, or other tools on our rig....

As Thom dick says...its not Patient care...its People care. Customer service is an ill fitting name with a negative perception.....but one that is easily recongizable by admin so it is the name we get saddled with. I prefere Thom Dicks name better.

Does that make sense?

Edited July 4, 2011 by croaker260

[HERBIE1]

All good suggestions about solutions here. I'll quibble about the term "customer". We can refer to the people we treat in many different ways- some printable, some not. The trend is to attach cute names to consumers as well as employees in all types of businesses. Clients, consumers, customers, patients, "friends", etc. The buzzwords for employees are even funnier- associates, team members- and my favorite-"partners"- as if some minimum wage guy at Wal Mart makes corporate decisions of any kind.

Anyway- It doesn't really matter the moniker we hang on the people we care for, it's how we treat them- physically and psychologically. In most cases, those we care for ARE customers- the service we provide is not free. They pay up front, are billed, or the service is included in assessments and taxes. So yes, this is about customer service, although in our case the consequences for a poor encounter are a bit more serious than a poorly made espresso or chicken sandwich.

If a person is a a'hole to a patient or family member, odds are they would have a similar attitude in any job they would perform. Tough nut to crack, but you need to set up specific behavioral standards that must be adhered to, as well as outlining consequences for violating those standards. Specifics are difficult in such cases, so you need to tailor any approach to your providers and the specific problems you are seeing. I have found that management/leadership/HR training is vital in order to fairly deal with personnel issues such as these- especially if a collective bargaining agreement is involved.

I have actually had the pleasure of meeting Thom Dick (not his real name BTW) and hearing his People Care Presentation first hand. I have met many sage and wise medics. He is a sage and wise man, who just happens to be a medic.

One of the salient points of his presentation is this:

The 4/2 rule.

4

---

2

What we do "For" a patient is always more important than what we do "to" them.

You know, there are medics who get "Customer Service" intuitively..they may not call it customer service, but they understand that only 10% of our calls are critical, and only 40% even require ALS...but all of our patients/customers require interpersonal communication...the major part of "customer service.

The medics who dont grasp this intuitively seem to veiew customer service as a chore, like a false face you put on when you work a food service job or retail. And I understand why...afterall that is the "face" of customer service in todays society. But that is not customeer service....customer service is follow through and follow up, it is honesty and integrety, it is going the extra mile even when it means cleaning up a 3 day incontinent patient, and its making sure the pets are safe before you leave.

Remember , if we do these things we are not just being nice, it is a tool to build better patient raport and thus provide better patient care...just like any of the medications, dagnositics, or other tools on our rig....

As Thom dick says...its not Patient care...its People care. Customer service is an ill fitting name with a negative perception.....but one that is easily recongizable by admin so it is the name we get saddled with. I prefere Thom Dicks name better.

Does that make sense?

I've seen that 4/3 rule in other contexts, but it's indeed accurate. I had forgotten about it, so thanks for bringing it up.

[FormerEMSLT297]

Bieber, I'm still not following you, please post an example of where in order to provide good and rapid patient care, you need to be rude ...

I'm at a loss for when that might occur, an example would help me understand your reasoning.

thanks

[Bieber]

Bieber, I'm still not following you, please post an example of where in order to provide good and rapid patient care, you need to be rude ...

I'm at a loss for when that might occur, an example would help me understand your reasoning.

thanks

Most recent example I can think of was having to tell a blood spitter (in no kind terms) to STOP spitting blood everywhere so we could work on him. Another one that comes to mind was a patient with atrial flutter at a rate of 280 who wanted to turn every question into a life story. Eventually, we just had to tell her to just give us yes or no answers so we could try and get a full history on her; even that wasn't working so great, though. Mind you, we apologized to her and explained that we weren't trying to be mean, but we needed to get some information on her.

[FormerEMSLT297]

Sorry, I'm still not feeling it, blood spitter gets a mask, that was easy, as far as the A-flutter with that fast rate, I dunno what questions need to be asked.... except, are you dizzy, are you having chest pain, are you having trouble breathing ? Then simply move to treatment, cardizem, verapamil, maybe electrical therapy wehatever your local protocol allows.

It just sounds to me that you need to learn some better interview skills. I have found that allowing a patient to talk and explain their history sometimes calms them and lets them feel that they are more connected and therfor involved in their treatment, I often allow patients to ramble on while I put them on O2, start their EKG monitoring, and get an IV established..

Why cant you just let the patient go while you get your basic critical care steps in place,,, then after everything is ready, you can start treatment...

I'm sorry, your examples still do not hold water with me, If you have a combative violent patient spitting blood, you need to involve law enforcement...

Edited July 14, 2011 by FormerEMSLT297