(I’ll take a pass–literally.)
Recently I switched primary care physicians. Although I have found it difficult sometimes to find doctors with a more holistic mindset that I like and am comfortable with, the main reason I decided to seek a new doctor was because of poor customer service in the office.
One Friday morning I felt a familiar pain and realized I had developed a kidney stone, knowing that’s what it was from several prior experiences. I called the urologist’s office to make an appointment and found that I needed a referral, this being the first time with this particular ailment since moving to my current city. I requested the referral from my primary care office, which they immediately provided. Afterward, I talked again with the urologist’s office and they said I would also require an X-ray, adding that my practitioner’s office should have known this.
I called my primary care office again and found that they were closing at noon, so I would have to wait until Monday. Having a kidney stone is quite painful, so I asked if they could prescribe a pain medicine to help me over the weekend. The duty nurse said I would have to be seen to allow that, which wasn’t possible since the office was about to close for the weekend. By now it was 11:30 Friday, so to me the emphasis seemed to be on closing the office for the weekend, not on helping a patient. The nurse assured me that they would check on me Monday morning. I passed the kidney stone that weekend. I could have informed them of that on Monday, but the promised call never came!
Interestingly, regarding customer service communication, a referral from my former urologist would have resolved the issue; no X-ray would have been needed. However, he had retired a couple of years before–and they didn’t have the records anywhere! That is difficult to understand in this day of technology–a simple thing to do for patients is to have their records available for them.
As I thought about this episode, I was reminded of the concepts of reliability and responsiveness we discuss in chapter four of our book. Being able to count on our doctor to provide service dependably and accurately is vital for quality health care. Being responsive to patient needs is important as well, and in this case would not have been overly difficult to achieve. During the Covid-19 pandemic many office visits were via telemedicine. This could have been an option to perhaps allow prescribing the medication to help get the patient through the weekend with less discomfort. Also, the doctor’s office could have shown responsiveness by arranging the necessary X-ray. I also thought about why the urologist office couldn’t have accepted the referral from the primary care physician and then have completed the necessary X-ray in their own office. In other words, there were a number of options available at both medical facilities to help a patient in pain. However, both chose to adhere specifically to policy and allow the patient to suffer through the weekend. This part of the ordeal reminded me of our chapter six discussion of the negative effects providers have on customer service when blindly following policy and exhibiting little to no flexibility in following directions.
Following a few of the simple rules we outline in the book could have made the entire situation more tolerable.
So, I switched primary care physicians. The day of my first appointment with my new primary care provider was a refreshing contrast—the staff was efficient and caring. I had to wait for a while in the examining room but, unlike with my previous doctor, I was not asked to disrobe for the length of the wait! (This uncomfortable wait was often 30-45 minutes at the previous practice.) Being a little more comfortable while waiting, though a small thing, can mean a lot to a patient, as it demonstrates respect and kindness. We describe the importance of courtesy and kindness in chapters 4 and 5 of Better Customer Service.
– Ed