When the Trust is Gone
I recently bought pens from a
company I have been doing business with for years. The price was right, I was promised extra’s
and it would come in time for a fair we were holding.
They came on time, the day
before the fair, but when I opened the box, they were the wrong color, missing
the promised free logo and a word was spelled incorrectly. I was angry and immediately called the
company with my concerns. There was a
promise to call back the next day. Five
days later and still nothing. Now it’s
not the error that has me angry. That
could have been handled with an apology and explanation. It’s the lack of sincerity to make it
right. The disrespect of not calling
back and ironically, where should I buy my pens now?
When we use the healthcare
system and things go wrong, there is a similar dilemma. If I don’t “trust” the people caring for me,
where do I go? Some people might say
that after a bad outcome they don’t want others to suffer the same thing. I know in my case, after my son died because
of his medical care, I needed to trust again.
I hear in many people’s plea for answers, courtesy and respect, they are
also looking to trust the system and the people who work in it.
Customer service has come a
long way in some hospitals and throughout the healthcare system. But learning to navigate it is
troubling. Some of my most recent calls
are asking who the patient’s family should call to get answers to questions or
a response to concerns. The Patient
Advocate, Patient Representative and now the Patient Experience Department. Just try calling and asking for customer
service and see who you get.
Feel free to share your
experience.
1 comment:
Lawyers and risk managers.
I've never seen people that have so much problems trying to be honest and fixing things. As a group as a whole.
You are right, though, about patient advocates. I would add to that to let people know those "advocates" go to risk management.
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