In my last post, I wrote about health care professionals and insurance companies who look at patients as their symptoms or the part of the body where the problem or the pain resides. Considering that health care is on everybody’s mind today, here are a few more thoughts:
When we recently did a patient/customer service class for a major healthcare institution, a doctor asked the class, “What is the difference between our patients and other businesses’ customers?” Replies included, “patients are sick”, “patients aren’t paying everything, their insurance companies are picking up most of the tab,” and “our patients are not themselves.” The doctor replied, “No. The difference between our patients and everybody else’s customers is our patients don’t want to be here.” It was blinding flash of the obvious.
Everybody else’s customers pick and choose their products and services. If I go to a store, there’s usually a reason I want to be there. If I go to a restaurant, I want to be there. However, when I go to the doctor or to the hospital, I would really rather be somewhere else. It’s nothing against the doctor. I have a very good friend who is a cardiologist. I love this guy, but I’d rather not have the opportunity to need his services. I’d like my heart to stay healthy, thank you very much, even if I don’t get a chance to see Michael at his office.
So what does that mean to medical practices, health professionals, and hospitals? It means that their patients are already feeling vulnerable and uncomfortable when they walk through the door. Vulnerable and uncomfortable people have to be handled in a different way than the person who walks through the door excited to be there. Vulnerable and uncomfortable people have a level of helplessness that could result in being quick to anger, quick to frustration, and quick to tears. A patient or family member asking for something they can’t have will be more apt to get upset when they didn’t want to be in this situation in the first place – “I don’t want to be here and now you’re making my experience even more uncomfortable than it was in the first place!”
There is one place where patients want to be – most of the time. A friend of mine was a nurse on a maternity floor. She said it was “the happiest place on earth” (even happier than Disney!). New mothers wanted to be there, their spouses wanted to be there, their visiting relatives wanted to be there. Everybody is happy! (There are times when the situation is not so happy, but those are a small percentage). My friend said it was the most enjoyable place she’d ever worked.
If you’re a health professional, it’s not your fault if that people don’t want to see you. These people would just like to be somewhere else. They’d rather not have the pain. They’d rather not have the discomfort. They’d rather not have cancer. They’d rather not be sick. Understand that this is where the interaction begins. Healthcare professionals need to use all of their skills to show caring, personal empathy, and compassion for the patient and their family members. It will make the patient’s experience … and the healthcare professional’s experience much better.
