Check Up or Check Out
As a child and growing up in a small rural township here in New Zealand, I thought our family Doctor was a nice enough man. My mother, a chronic bronchial asthma sufferer swore by him. Me, I was less enamoured, though me was also only six years old and my opinion wasn’t, how would you say, ‘scire quod sciendum’.
VPL
VPL is short for Very Penneylane. They’re my take on everyday lessons from life. Lessons learnt and others where I missed the boat completely. Life’s long or short, depending on which end of the paddle you draw. Either way, being stuck up a creek without one makes for some interesting observations.
About that Lesson
What is worth knowing however, is that years later as an adult, the nuance of those regular childhood visits had quietly set a mental highbar in my mind. Specifically, of what was good or awful healthcare provision by a Doctor or a Health Provider.
Now, I get that hospitals are busy places and some patients are more painful than pained, yet contrary to popular belief they’re the minority. The 99.9% rest of us are helpful in return, courteous and good at being patient patients. And for those reasons alone, Doctors or Health Providers shouldn’t take their foot up off the gas pedal in terms of how they ‘care’ for, communicate between or engage with us.
The reality however, is far less satisfying. In fact, a lot of what passes for healthcare provision here in New Zealand is sub standard. How I measure that, is purely how ordinary me has experienced it. Is mine a valid measurement? Yes. It’s valid because I’m your quality controller and you should ask me, as often as you dare, how I think you’re going.
Don’t ask me on an evaluation form that gets left in some In tray somewhere for the next forever, and forget the online survey or poll that ticks a box on monthly deliverables but doesn’t go any deeper. Ask me when I’m sitting across the desk from you, in your Offices. You Doctors and Healthcare Providers alike, might be shocked to know that I just might think you suck at your jobs.
And while some of you might blame administrative cost-cutting or staff shortages or the lack of Government funding to the sector for your crankiness, inattention or plain don’t-give-damn attitude; none of it concerns me when I finally step up for my turn in your line.
You might also be surprised to know I don’t care how the person before me treated you. If I’m up next and I treat you with the common courtesy your position deserves then I actually expect you to maintain eye contact with me throughout my admission or my enquiry.
You too have a duty to be helpful, courteous and patient with me or us. When it was my turn to see our family Doctor, he asked my mother to sit in the chair to the right of his desk. He put me, front and centre. I was his patient then.
As an adult and a mother now myself, I understand that Dr Allan modelled The Holy Grail of Customer Service 101: being present with his patient. And for that kind of professional insight today, I’d forgive any Doctor or Health Provider almost anything they’d lacked in the run up to that level of professional mindfulness. We patients, we shouldn’t settle for anything less. We do, often, but we mustn’t so they get better at doing their jobs.
RELATED
1. Abraham Verghese: A Doctor’s Touch
© Gail Penney 2011 :: PREVIOUS BLOG POST: Hung Out to Dry
