Master the HCAHPS by moving your hospital from the patient customer service to the customer experience. This grand rounds was provided to doctors and nurses, but is suitable for all hospital personnel.

1. Hospital Customer Service vs.
Customer Experience
Thomas Masterson MD
medicalpublishing@gmail.com
July 2015

2. Ok, who is the customer?
• Babysitter shows up for the kids, who is the
customer.
• If I’m the parent, do I think I am the
customer?
• If I’m the child, do I think I am the customer?
• How about both… ?

3. Friday evening phone call
• PMD: “Sorry Tom, this is kind of a dump but
Mrs. Smith really needs to get admitted.”
• Tom: “No sir. Your patients are your most
valuable part of your practice. It is an honor to
be entrusted with their care. Send her over.”
• PMD: “I’m glad you said that Tom. I feel the
same way.”

4. Customer Service on YouTube
• https://youtu.be/7WRxEY8o3kc

5. Why is customer service tricky for doctors?
• We think of our product in scientific terms –
correct diagnosis, correct therapy, …
• Customer service is a cousin to likeable, i.e.
like high school.
• We all know doctors who provide excellent
customer service, but might have quality
issues.
• Who is qualified to teach me about customer
service? McDonalds, Disney,…?

6. Quint Studer
• Key phrases for Key Times
• AIDET
• Happy workers are the only people who can
make our patients happy.
• The ratio of praise to criticism should be 3:1.
• Catch people doing things right.

7. Specifically
• Knock on the door.
• Introduce yourself to everyone in the room.
• Ask permission to draw the curtain for your
privacy.
• Sit down.
• Ask permission to examine the patient.
• Provide an overview of plan of care and time
anticipated.
• Thank and ask for questions.

8. Malcolm Gladwell

9. What happens in a blink?
• An expert can provide an opinion.
• We can get an impression of a teacher that
holds up for a whole semester.
• We can get an impression of our doctor.

10. Harry Beckwith

11. You, Inc. The Art of Selling Yourself
• People buy you with their eyes.
• Keep communication clear and simple.
• Compliment others.
• Find Common Ground.
• Magic words: Thanks, Welcome, Name,
Children's names.
• On Time.
• Owner vs. Renter.

12. “Nobody cares how much you know,
until they know how much you care.”
- Zig Ziglar

13. Cleveland Clinic
• US News and World Report #5
• Empathy: The Human Connection to Patient
Care
https://youtu.be/cDDWvj_q-o8

14. Fred Lee phlebotomy
• https://youtu.be/0P2iWGCK998

15. What about the Soup Nazi?
• Why does he have customers?
• What are they there for?
• An experience is personal and memorable.

16. Metro Connection on NPR 7/4/2015
• They were interviewing Kojo Nnamdi at his
barber shop. Kojo had gone to the J+C Barber
Shop for 25 years.
• At the end of the interview, they say why 25
years? The barber said: “They tell me
everything, I guess I relax people.”
• And Kojo says: “It’s the environment.”
• Neither one says: “It’s the haircut.”

17. Personal and Memorable creates the
Customer Experience.

18. Dale Carnegie
• Remember that a person's name is, to that
person, the sweetest and most important sound
in any language.
• Smile.
• Become genuinely interested in other people.
• Make the other person feel important – and do it
sincerely.
• Don't criticize, condemn, or complain.
• Give honest and sincere appreciation.

19. Conversation Stack

20. "It's ShowTime Folks"

21. Create the Experience
• Be prepared.
• Knock, introduce yourself, shake everybody's hand. Sit
down.
• Find common ground. Show that you've done your
homework.
• Ask permission to examine the patient. Comment on
the exam.
• Tell them about the room and excellent care ahead.
• Ask what else you can do for them. Be ready for the
test question!

22. We have the ingredients
• Gracious patients.
• Highly skilled nursing… Handling IMC level
care on a routine basis.
• Knowledgeable and collaborative colleagues.
• 24/7 ICU Attendings in house.
• Creating excellence is just a matter of bringing
the ingredients together.

23. Building the customer experience
• Who would I recognize for improving the
customer experience? What person? What
department? What floor?
• What should we work on next? Physician
Communications? Med-Rec? Round the clock
patient dining? Quiet time?

24. “Nobody cares how much you know,
until they know how much you care.”
- Zig Ziglar