Patient Expectations & Exceeding them!

After completing medical school,we gain knowledge to treat a patient & bedside manners.However there is no training about " the customer" approach to a patient & keeping up to their expectations.

Especially if working in the private sector (though scenario is changing in government sector too!)-patients are customers & the provision of medical service will succeed if delivering the desired customers.

What I write next is my personal opinion after working in private sector for 7 years in a city where most of my patients are internet savvy & have presented to me after goggling their symptoms!Before this I was in government sector in India & NHS in the UK for 10 years & did not really have to consciously behave in a certain way with patients!

Like it or not ...we have to accept the trend & change accordingly !

Patients present to us with an expectation & act accordingly.We as professionals deliver not only clinical quality but also have to satisfy their implied wishes.It took me some time to understand this.

While I listen to a patient's story & examine him-I may come to a conclusion.However if I look busy or am in a hurry- patient most of the time may doubt my conclusion or may feel that I am not paying attention.

Here comes the difference.."Doctors and patients have very different optical regarding quality". 

The patient assesses the technical quality of medical care indirectly by evidence of the interest and concern of professionals with their health and well being. Such evidence is perceived through empathy.

In this context, it is understood that quality is the totality of features and characteristics of a service that affects its ability to satisfy stated or implied wishes.A high satisfaction with the medical service provided leads to a high level of customer loyalty.

Therefore, we understand that customer satisfaction is both a goal and a marketing tool. Thus Medicine and Marketing concepts have common and can share tools and objectives, favoring the doctor-patient relationship and promoting quality health care in our society.

I just want to end by an old saying in medicine(after all the fuss written above)

First..Do No Harm....