Well-Served as Patients, Dissatisfied as Customers

[HuckleB]

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/03/health/03essa.html

"Posted on the walls of the hospital where I work are banners and billboards that invite patients to fill out satisfaction surveys. "Tell us what we're doing right and what we're doing wrong," they say.

Health care, if you haven't noticed, has become a highly competitive business. And, like all businesses, we aim to keep our customers happy. We've even adopted business lingo: patients are now routinely referred to as customers or consumers.

No one would argue that hospitals and doctors should not be responsive to patients' concerns. But a business model that says the consumer is always right can clash with what is best for a patient, especially in the area of mental health.

Not too long ago, I received a call from a patient care representative at the hospital. A young woman who was in psychotherapy with one of my residents had called to complain about her treatment and demand a new therapist.

..."

[Warpy]

1. Priorities in healthcare are vey different

and there are some people who just don't understand why a nurse with six critical care patients can't go down to the kitchen and fetch a snack for a visitor who has just arrived from out of town or why staff who are running their legs off because the patients are 10x sicker than they used to be just 5 years ago don't have time to smooth all the wrinkles out of that bottom sheet right this instant! Likely few people are going to be happy about a hospital stay under the best of conditions (a VIP ward with great staffing), and dangerous understaffing elsewhere is contributing to the problems inherent to the experience.

We eventually get that snack, and those wrinkles are gone the minute we get time, but most people want what they want excactly when they want it.

I'm not a bit surprised by this article.