Whenever you read magazines or watch TV, the news on our health care system is never good.
Val Jones convenes a community group to talk health reform, and refreshingly, talks about the positives in our health system.
Some cited examples of what’s right include customer service, accommodations for persons with disabilities, access to specialty care, and drug development for rare diseases.
Our health care system certainly has problems, but don’t let that overshadow some very strong points that are unique to American health care.
Related posts:
- Breast feeding and taking the boards
- When compassion meets progress in American health care
- Scalpel takes on health care
- Flu and H1N1 influenza vaccine recommendations for doctors and health care workers
- ACP: How to fix the primary care problem in health care
- Op-ed: Shortage of primary care threatens health care system
- Health IT: Labor shortage
KevinMD.com on Facebook
{ 2 comments }
not to put a damper on your upbeat post, but “customer service” is a double-edged sword.
our hospital has signs up all over the place proclaiming that “customer satisfaction is our number 1 priority!” umm… what about patient care? is it okay if my patient dies of an adverse event as long as he fills out a gushing press-ganey on his deathbed? being told as a provider to put such emphasis on customer satisfaction is a prime example of non-clinicians dictating how physicians do their jobs.
and treating patients as customers does nothing to alleviate the entitlement mentality either.
but i’m with you your other points. (sorry, i’m a bit punchy after being up all night seeing nonsense visits at the ED)
“is it okay if my patient dies of an adverse event as long as he fills out a gushing press-ganey on his deathbed?”
Seriously? Here’s a news flash, most patients EXPECT a hospital, ANY hospital, to give excellent patient care. Now we may not like that these enormous expectations are put upon us, but we chose this field. The bottom line is excellent patient care is what we do.
If we want to separate ourselves from any other hospital or any other physician in the eyes and mind of the average patient, then it behooves us to pay a little more attention to our patients’ satisfaction because at the end of the day, the average patient doesn’t really differentiate between good clinical care and excellent clinical care. But they sure know how they’ve been made to feel during their stay.
Comments on this entry are closed.