When I put myself in the shoes of a patient, the three most important things to me are whether or not my health care provider is friendly/personable, my provider incorporates me in the care plan, and the speed of service.

Please respond and give your opinion to my discussion boardHi Class,

When I put myself in the shoes of a patient, the three most important things to me are whether or not my health care provider is friendly/personable, my provider incorporates me in the care plan, and the speed of service.

Thinking into the future, if I had to deal with an unhappy patient there are a few interventions that I can do to hopefully reverse the patient’s negative experience.

First, I would ask the patient about the experience at the front desk with a calm tone, facing the patient with open body language, and utilizing active listening skills.

Then, I’d apologize for the negative experience and ask the patient for their input as to what they believe we as a team can do to improve the situation and hopefully prevent this from happening again with them or another patient. In this part, it is important to not single out and make staff working at the front desk out to be the bad guys, but to present as a united front as you are all on a health care team.

Next, I would speak with the team and review the negative experience with ways that we can improve. Attacking issues from an objective, solution based standpoint as opposed to finger pointing addresses the problem without unintentionally ruffling feathers on the team. Granted, some may not be as open to feedback, include everyone as it is a whole team issue.

Once the team has been addressed, assure the patient that their concerns have been heard and that team is addressing it. Assure the patient that their care and their experience is very important to the whole team and thank them for trusting me to handle the situation.

Finally, I would follow up with the patient to see if they’re satisfied with the service, provide them with a way to contact myself or another person who handles patient satisfaction if they would like to speak more about it, and thank them for choosing us for their health care needs.

Hayley Welcome