What to say to mend fences and provide excellent quality of care

Complaint management in the healthcare industry is critical to maintaining healthy doctor-patient relationships and nurse-patient relationships; without service recovery, trust and confidence amongst patients and their families is harder earned, and treatment is met with more resistance and slower healing. Satisfied patients make healthcare employers, Case Managers and medical staff breathe easier, smile more and work better as a team.

What is Service Recovery?
Reassuring a patient by letting them know they are important to you, as well as getting to the bottom of what caused the problem and how to right it, is at the heart of service recovery—which means responding to what ails with not just medicine, but solid assurances and solutions in the fast paced, hectic environment of most physicians practices and physician outpatient centers, hospitals or home health care settings.

About this Three Part Series
Welcome to the first in a 3 part series of how to rectify patients’ complaints with words that are time-tested by the healthcare experts. We have assimilated information from medical literature, as well as our own healthcare expertise to provide allied professionals, nurses, and doctors alike with answers to patient complaints that strengthen doctor-patient relationships during frequent or annual physician visits.

5 Common Physician Practice & Outpatient Center Complaints
The “verbal remedies” provided here are examples of how to soothe an annoyed patient.

Complaint #1: My goodness, this place is hard to find! I think your directions are wrong—it seems like I get lost every time I come here.

Your verbal remedy: “I’m sorry to hear that. I’ll take you back for your appointment right away.  At our next staff meeting I’ll tell my supervisor our online directions show room for improvement.”

Complaint #2: I’ve been sitting in this office a long time! I was supposed to see the physical therapist at 8am and it was past 9 am when they finally brought me back to the treatment room. Why was I told to get here so early?

Your verbal remedy: “I’m sorry to hear that. A breakdown in communication like this is never a pleasant thing—someone should have explained to you why you had to be here so early. Let me find out what happened. I’ll fill you in once I know.”

Complaint #3: I’m sorry to say this, but my physical therapist—who is nice in every other way—wears a perfume that distracts me so much I can’t concentrate on our therapy sessions.

Your verbal remedy: “I’m sorry to hear that. Service standards in this physicians practice require us to refrain from wearing overpowering scents, so I’ll definitely let your therapist know it bothers you. Would you like some crackers to settle your stomach?”

Complaint #4: When it comes to my loved one’s condition, I feel like I’m left in the dark completely. Can’t one of your therapists tell me what’s going on?

Your verbal remedy: “I’m sorry to hear that. You probably know about our federal privacy rules, but nevertheless I think it would be a good idea if I—or one of the other rehab therapists—sat down with your loved one and discussed your concerns. I’ll see if she/he has an appointed Health Care Agent and confirm what’s okay to share and what isn’t. I’ll get back with you ASAP.”

Complaint #5: Your physical therapists tell me they are over worked because of being short staffed. I don’t understand what this physician outpatient center doesn’t hire more therapists.

Your verbal remedy: “I’m sorry to hear that. They must know you’re a good listener—they still shouldn’t have complained to you. I’ll remind them that we’re actually staffed just right. We’re in compliance with current standards for our physician outpatient center/physicians office.”

A Note on our Apologies
You may have noticed that each of the apologies we’ve given as examples here, begin with “I’m sorry to hear that.” This is an excellent way to preface your reassurances to patients because it proves that you listen intently, even if the problem lies outside of a hospital complaint; you also prove the patient matters to you—a surefire way to improve quality of care in your practice or physician outpatient center.

Footnote: The following post was inspired by the book “I’m Sorry to Hear That…Real Life Responses to Patients’ 101 Most Common Complaints About Health Care,” written by Susan Keane Baker and Leslie Bank. We have summarized what lies at the heart of this well received reference guide for healthcare professionals and medical staff working in physicians offices, hospitals, physician outpatient centers or in home healthcare settings.