Any healthcare provider who takes a one-size-fits-all approach to patients, does so at their own peril because they are doomed to repeat the same satisfaction outcome over and over again. My feeling is that if you can recognize the type of patient you are working with, you have a much better chance of altering that outcome.
In the past, Brooke Billingsley and I have written and talked to healthcare organizations about “reading” patients based on our extensive healthcare mystery shopping experiences. This is the process of identifying the patient’s personality type and understanding what the patient needs from an emotional standpoint. But if the desired outcome is a positive patient satisfaction survey, reading patients is only part of the equation. The other part of the equation is addressing the issue of who will likely be filling out the survey based on the patient’s medical situation and the patient’s behavior.
I have created the following list of patient types (if you have others, please share), to illustrate that creating real change in your healthcare organization sometimes requires predicting how a particular patient might respond on a survey and then develop strategies to make the most of that prediction:
1. The hard to please patient – I am reminded of the nurse who said to me, “If patients would learn to be nice to me, I’d be nice to them.” Of course, it doesn’t work that way. Make sure staff appreciates the damage these patients can do with one survey. Then ask them to consider how many of these types of patients they encounter each week. The percentage should be low. Hopefully they will come to the conclusion that extra effort to be responsive and overly-attentive will pay dividends.
2. The passive patient who is silently disgruntled – Beware of the phrase, “Everything is fine” when the patient’s body language and facial expressions say otherwise. Don’t accept that answer if other things are telling you otherwise. Probe the patient for feedback. If you can’t get it from the patient, ask family and friends such as, “It seems Betty might be upset about something, is there something I should know?”
3. The submissive patient who has the family fight his/her battles – With this type, you are getting no clues of dissatisfaction from the patient but volumes from the family. Thinking with the end in mind, who is likely to have the most input on the survey? It is probably the family. Focus your attention on them to make sure they are satisfied by the time the patient is discharged. In doing so, make sure they are directly involved in the discharge discussion.
4. The happy patient who is uncomfortable commenting – These patients fall into the category of those who don’t bother completing the survey because everything was just fine. Don’t let them get away with it! For this type, put more effort into encouraging them to participate. They have to be convinced that it REALLY IS IMPORTANT that they do so. Please don’t use underhanded tactics like “begging for a five,” but tell them that the organization really appreciates as much detail as possible such as identifying staff people by name.
5. The demanding but appreciative patient – These patients keep asking and asking, but as long as their needs (or wants) are met, they are happy. You won’t know this unless you carefully assess their response to your actions. If you go above and beyond for them on a regular basis, you’ll have a friend for life.
6. The very ill patient – I include this type not because they are likely to respond to a survey, but because someone else might. Again, it is important to feel confident that the family is pleased with the care their loved one has received and that their needs were met.