Why the Customer Service emphasis?

Nurses General Nursing

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I am always told/hearing that we have to provide good customer service/service excellence to our patients/clients BECAUSE they have other choices as far as hospitals go.

But honestly, if Hospital A fills up, it's not like hospital B is not going to take the leftover patients.

Why is there "competition" between hospitals? One would think there would be a bed waiting whereever one wanted to go -- or not, and that clients/patients would just have to go where their doctors assigned them?

I mean -- we are in a large city and we have only so many hospitals anyway. It's not like our so-called "healthcare consumers" have all that many choices.

Why all this brou-ha ha about having to "please" all of these patients like they're discriminating customers? I mean -- it's not a retail chain.

I just don't get it. People should be happy to go anywhere and get decent healthcare from good doctors, in a clean facility. This is all I have EVER expected as a patient in a hospital myself. Just clean surroundings and safe care. I've never needed to be waited on, coddled, or "pleased." I"ve expected to live, and get out healthy. That's about all.

Our hospital wants to be the BEST - well, how about allowing that hospital on the other side of town to be excellent and the BEST as well? What's wrong with allowing all hospitals to provide good decent care and let it go at that?

Don't know what i'm trying to say -- but this customer service emphasis just doesn't JIVE with what a hospital is supposed to be and do.

I agree 100 percent-I hate calling patients customers! My hospital ain't

Wal*Mart!:yeah:

Good customer service is more than nursing. Unfortunately, nursing seems to bear the brunt of the lectures, pressure and criticism.

Having dealt with several hospitals, good customer services has got to include the other employees.

I remember having repeated screw-ups from a particular hospital's billing department. It took many phone calls, visits, headaches and stress to sort out bills every time.

When my son was taken seriously ill, I asked the paramedic where he was being taken. The paramedic asked where I wanted to go. I chose an equally good hospital the same distance away. It was the billing department that influenced my decision.

sadly it's come to a point where it is all about the customer satisfaction scores. nevermind the working conditions for the nurses, verbal and physical abuse we endure. the sub par pay.

they are spending millions on finding out how to please the "customer" instead of rewarding nurses for their excellent care during high ratios double time and overtime.

so true. then the scores are looked at by management and then of course you hear about them at staff meetings where they stress that you have to be nice to the patients and the families regardless if they are both standing in the middle of the hall screaming at you in front of your peers and other doctors. it is all about the almighty dollar and how to rake them in!

Specializes in Med-Surg, Geriatric, Behavioral Health.

Hospitals stopped being "houses of healing" a long time ago...it is "a business to collect the insurance dollar" now via healthcare...expensive health care at that. Maybe, the older nurses can remember the time when a hospital was headed and ran by a physician...not a business CEO. That began the whole downward spiral...and it hasn't changed. The drug companies also have a hand in it as well...and make a tidy profit. Sad, I know, but that is our reality. Calling a patient a customer sort of acknowledges this transition from healing to consumption. It is all about the all mighty dollar.

Specializes in Neuro ICU and Med Surg.
I got a lovely card from my manager today. It was actually from a patient I had last week. I took care of him for three nights. He was a wonderful gentleman, 81 yo and had a hip revision done and was in ICU for monitoring because his hemoglobin was low. The card was very nice. He also gave me ten dollars too which was nice but unnecessary.

The funny thing about your post is that I went to work on Saturday and a co worker told me to check my mailbox for a card from a previous pt we both took care of. I sure enough found a card. It was a nice thank you card and inside was a note saying thanks for the wonderful care and $20 inside for me to use for lunch on them. The card was nice enough but the money was nice too but unncessary. This pt and his family were so sweet. It was a refreshing change from some of the crap we see.

ETA: I did nothing more for this patient than I did for another.

Any server can tell you that not all their customer show appreciation for good service by leaving the appropriate tip, however, there are times when some leave great tips too. Customer service is about providing the best service and level of care possible. We should do our jobs without our patients overhearing our complaints. And I agree, our salaries come from the reimbursements that we recieve from insurance companies, too much bad mouthing from their paying clients about our poor service.... The result is assured... If you think your pay is poor now... Look for what happens with poor satisfaction scores. As a consumer, I know I look to my friends and family members for recommendations for service providers, one too many bad reports, and I never use them again.

Specializes in ICU/Critical Care.
The funny thing about your post is that I went to work on Saturday and a co worker told me to check my mailbox for a card from a previous pt we both took care of. I sure enough found a card. It was a nice thank you card and inside was a note saying thanks for the wonderful care and $20 inside for me to use for lunch on them. The card was nice enough but the money was nice too but unncessary. This pt and his family were so sweet. It was a refreshing change from some of the crap we see.

ETA: I did nothing more for this patient than I did for another.

I didn't do anything different for my patient either. I had another patient whom I took care of almost every shift I worked and she had been on our unit for over a month. The family told me that I was one of their favorite nurses. I didn't get a card but just hearing that made me feel so much better. I'm telling you ever since I started working at Henry Ford from the BIG B, I've had much better patient experiences.

Specializes in Neuro ICU and Med Surg.

Michigan,

Same for me. I worked for another part of HF before I started where I am now, I was treated well there and was respected by docs and management. I was asked to apply for a nursing supervisor position. No thanks, I am not the management type.

The first place I worked ( a competetor "desigend around you" should give you a hint.) I was always called into the office for being rude or something stupid that I didn't do on the previous shift. I always had good rapport with most of my patients, and I had worked as a cashier at a local grocery chain through NS and was always evaluated by secret shoppers as friendly and helpful. I was baffled about all the bull poo that I was getting into the office for. So I quit after 2 years there. Best decision I ever made.

I have also heard horror stories about your previous employer.

Specializes in ICU/Critical Care.
Michigan,

Same for me. I worked for another part of HF before I started where I am now, I was treated well there and was respected by docs and management. I was asked to apply for a nursing supervisor position. No thanks, I am not the management type.

The first place I worked ( a competetor "desigend around you" should give you a hint.) I was always called into the office for being rude or something stupid that I didn't do on the previous shift. I always had good rapport with most of my patients, and I had worked as a cashier at a local grocery chain through NS and was always evaluated by secret shoppers as friendly and helpful. I was baffled about all the bull poo that I was getting into the office for. So I quit after 2 years there. Best decision I ever made.

I have also heard horror stories about your previous employer.

Can you PM me the name of the competitor? I'm gonna guess it starts with a D and ends with a C. The horror stories are true. They also started pay for performance where you get a raise based on your evaluation. Hope Henry Ford doesnt consider starting that. Anyhow, I work contingent sometimes at the BIG B and every time I do, I start having heart palpitations. Next month, I'm not picking shifts up there.

And don't get me started on the neuro who refuses to make eye contact with me and will only answer my questions by looking directly at MY husband and speaking to him...as if I was invisible. And he knows I am a nurse! Good lord, I need a chill pill.

I'm so sorry you've had such a bad experience. Sounds like the hospitals in my town. Most of the time, all the windows and doors around the nurse's station are closed. I've stood there for five minutes waiting for someone to even look up!

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