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Guest ral

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Been saving this because I know it's been discussed ad nauseum.  Still irks me nonetheless.  In a new job search a couple of months back, I honed in on a certain advert, and keep going back to it.

I firmly believe in my role to take care of people.  I do it with honesty and integrity, and always in a manner that I feel is best for the patient. (Even if the patient doesn't always think so).  

Back to the ad for a position at a local urgent care.  The very first item listed under the "Essential Responsibilities" reads:

"Provides exemplary customer service to patients, visitors and coworkers; Maintains customer loyalty score at or above company benchmark"

Neither of those two statements should be within a ten mile radius of my job description.  First of all, saying that I need to provide "exemplary customer service to patients” is so far from what medicine is all about.  I will gladly provide exemplary patient care, as I always strive to do so.  Secondly, a "customer loyalty score at or above company benchmark" is insulting.  Might as well give out those little cards you get at Subway, and punch a hole in it every time a patient comes in for a flu-like illness.  Sutures or an I&D gets two holes punched.  Fill up the card, and your next Tdap is on the house.

 

 

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Because you are now a shoe salesman and not a provider of health care. They are now customers and not patients. This is the paradigm for the forseeable future.

I told my admin folks that, if they were around long enough, they would see the pendulum swing back the other way after the data conclusively proves this mentality is harming patients....which it is and the early data is already in. They looked at me like I was totally insane.

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In my setting where the employer provides the clinic service to the employee AND eligible dependents as a benefit; if someone rarely gets unruly then we just contact the department supervisor if the employee is out of line.  I don't know that we've done this but we also have the ability to black ball someone from the clinic if they don't play nice.  There are no such things as satisfaction scores, though we do provide an opportunity to respond to a survey annually with regard to likes and dislikes.  I ask them too many questions about their own health to allow them to interact I'm told and the majority of them are SCHOOL TEACHERS!

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  • Administrator

Businessmen(1) are the problem:

* They patent this and that gadget and medicine, and push it with the primary effort being to profit, and the betterment of patient outcome at most a means to that end.

* Then other businessmen decide to try and rein in the first set of profiteers, and, lacking any medical acumen whatsoever, hire medical people to decide what care will or will not be covered, with the primary goal of cost constraint, with the betterment (or maintenance, really) of patient outcome at most a means to that end.

* And then other businessmen come in to try and improve the customer experience given the above two facts, with plenty of experience in customer service and none in medicine, and here we are.

(1) Businessmen is used in the gender-inclusive sense and such usage is in no way intended to leave businesswomen off the hook for this malarkey.

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I hate hate hate Press Ganey scores - and in our institution they are posted on the Internet with patient comments (oh - I’m a 4.6 stars out of five ) 

still , I’ve had patients comments published about my clothing , my voice , and other personal attributes etc 

we have one PA who has been called an “idiot “ by a patient - yeah that’s public too 

It’s demoralizing to say the least ! 

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If your hotel bed sheets are dirty or your car isn’t fixed correctly - you have a CUSTOMER service issue.

When I explain the meaning of an A1c of 10 and you just don’t like what you are hearing - well, don’t shoot the messenger. This isn’t a hotel or store. This is the ART of medicine and healing. 

The pendulum cannot swing back fast enough for me. 

And, NO, you can’t have fries with that......

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I think you were applying to my Urgent Care.  We have the same phrase in our job description and let me tell you they mean it.  Our scores are tallied weekly and we each get a report.  "Courtesy". "Satisfaction with Provider on course of treatment". etc.....And these scores directly affect your bonus.  Drop under their required 9 out of 10 and BAM...no bonus.  So, we often comment after a visit..."Would you like fries with that Z-pk..."?

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