Patient’s dissatisfaction in the clinics in the current day scenario

Service to our host is the most important thing when the host arrives at our doorstep. Who is the host to the clinic? Patients of course! With the advancement of technology computers and mobile phones have replaced much of the paperwork. Nowadays our medical records are all in the printed-on papers or stored in the form of EMRs. The concept of customer service is a very important one.The lack of proper customer serviceOur clinics lack the basic customer service that needs to be provided, and this amounts to the patient’s dissatisfaction. The front office personnel is so engrossed in the computer stations that they do not see the customer standing in front of them. Back in the days when computers were non-existent, since there was no other option, they would address the patient’s queries. The clinics should employ multiple people in all sections of the building to address the patient’s needs. Proper training of the staff is required because they are the face of the clinic.

Doctors who look at screens instead of patients

It’s not just the front office, but even doctors have personal desktops and laptops. It is good that doctors are online and sometimes solve patient’s queries online. The patient may not be able to come to the clinic or maybe the patient is on vacation — the scope of reaching more patients increases by using computers. At the same time, importance needs to be given to the patient sitting in front of you. Since the patient has taken the pains to get to the clinic and meet the doctor, the doctor has to give his/her undivided attention to their patients. If a patient comes to the doctor with a problem, the doctor spends most of his time reading the EMR and surfing the browser. More than half of the patient’s time is wasted in this drill. This in turn delays the next patient’s turn. The patient will feel disconnected if not given full attention and this amounts to the patient’s dissatisfaction. Since everything is electronic based if we could come up with a system where the doctor knows that the patient has taken the appointment and if the doctor can go through the EMR beforehand, then it would save a lot of time or there can be an assistant who can help the doctor with the details on the EMR before the patient comes in. The patient’s health record errors

EMR – It is the electronic version of the patient’s health record, termed as an electronic medical record. When we go the doctor the EMRs are very important as they carry the history and status of our health issues. While entering the data about the patient into the system, one needs to take the utmost care. But due to the ever-growing population and the number of patients, there seems to be a smaller number of hands to enter the patient’s data. In many cases, the name of the patient; the terms used is misspelled. The outcome of this is when the patient goes to the doctor; he does not understand the EMR and spends all the time understanding it. The patient is very dissatisfied with all this. If one is going to employ the system of EMR, proper maintenance is required. The records should be readable and should maintain correctness of data, or things may turn out to be disastrous and may lead to even death of a patient in emergency. It looks like this EMR thing is targeted towards employing more people. Nevertheless, if correct data corresponding to the correct person is maintained in the clinic records, then there is no reason why we need to eliminate the use of EMR.

Hello Doctor - Please show interest

There is always a disproportion to the number of doctors, the number of patients and the staff working in the clinic. The clinic should oversee their gains and employ more people to serve their patients better. What is a clinic without its patients? Patients are the most important priority. If the doctor is showing disinterest in the patients, the patients will go to another doctor whose ratings are high. Now this inflow and outflow of patients to different doctors causes insufficient care. By the time the patient goes to different doctors the condition of the patient’s condition may deteriorate. Some cases may turn critical. The patients deserve the right to information. Doctors should properly explain their case to them. There has to be a team to harness the skills of the staff and the doctor. Weekly and monthly reports need to be discussed with them, and proper measures have to be taken to make the staff and the doctors work together for the betterment of the patient. There are waiting times at the clinic. If for some reason there is a delay, a simple apology will lighten the mood of the atmosphere of distressed patients.

The doctor’s priority should be treating the patients and saving lives. The clinic staff’s priority should be that the patient’s needs are addressed as quickly as possible. The staff is also responsible for maintaining the correct records of the patient with the highest accuracy possible. We can add in a survey leaflet to know about how the services of the clinic have been. According to the feedback, we can improve the services to serve the patients better. Dissatisfied patients bring down a clinic’s reputation. Once that goes down, then it is very hard to close the damage caused to the reputation. Thus, any patient’s dissatisfaction is harmful to the patient as well as the clinic. The clinic must always ensure that it is giving its best to its host - the patient.