THE announcement made by Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Brigadier George Lewis, that the institution is moving to place more emphasis on customer care has been well received.
In fact, it was greeted with enthusiasm and a breath of fresh air by members of the public, who depend on the institution for medical care.

A fortnight ago, the first batch of nurses trained was presented with certificates at a ceremony held at the institution’s Multi-Purpose Hall on New Market Street.
Brigadier Lewis first acknowledged the creditable performance of those dedicated nurses and doctors who take a very professional and humane approach to their jobs, regarding the patient’s health as foremost, even under trying conditions, but chided those who were not pulling their weight .

He however, cautioned that, regardless of the conditions under which nurses and doctors work, it is their duty to go to work and provide ‘quality’ service to the public.
He drew to attention the many complaints from members of the public that the hospital needs to do better than it is doing.
Against this backdrop, he conceded that the only reason that the hospital can be perceived as not doing that well is: “Our behaviour, our attitude, and how we interact with the public.”

The CEO added that sometimes when nurses (in particular) interact with the public seeking service, they do not do so in the manner as would make the hospital proud, hence the importance of the customer services training.
He stressed that customer care is about looking after customers and ensuring that they are satisfied with the service, and since the GPHC is in the business of service, it behooves the staff to ensure they provide the public with a service that is second to none when they come to the institution.
“It is important how you speak to people; your demeanour; how you present yourselves and how you avoid conflict,” the CEO said.

ZERO TOLERANCE
But Brigadier Lewis, on the issue of ‘conflict’, told nurses and doctors categorically that the administration has ‘zero tolerance’ for verbal altercations (let alone physical ones) with patients.
“It will not be tolerated. I have [already] warned … that any nurse or doctor getting into any altercations with any patient … I blame the nurse or doctor, I am not blaming the patient, because the nurse or the doctor has the responsibility to serve the patient who is a member of the public.”

He said even if patients’ attitudes towards the staff is bad or wrong, they (staff) are supposed to be able to lift themselves above that level and handle the situation in a professional manner.
He advised that if they can’t handle the problem, then they should seek the support of their supervisors, emphasising: “… you are not supposed to, under any circumstances, get involved in a verbal altercation or as has happened in some cases – a physical altercation with any patient.”

Among the many persons commenting on this stance, was welfare and humanitarian worker, Angela Grant, who spent her early childhood in Guyana and St. Lucia, and now works at the Brooklyn Hospital Centre, U.S.A.
“First of all, health care workers have to understand that it is not about themselves, it’s about the patients, because without the patients, there is no job for each and everyone of us who are in the health care field, and we should at all times exhibit professionalism, in spite of the patients’ condition,” the welfare worker said.

LOVE AND CARE
She said it matters not whether it’s a mental patient, whether it is a patient who is alert and knows what he is about doing or the reason he is in the institution — nurses are there to provide that love and care.
“It is a hospital – an institution for helping those who are sick and who can’t help themselves when they are sick and staff must live up to that and deliver accordingly,” she reasoned.
Grant shared that in the U.S., patient surveys are done at some hospitals to ascertain how patients feel about the service.

On discharge, they are given a form to fill out and return by the mail, stating how they feel about the patient-care service.
If the patient complains about the attitude of the nurses towards them and state that they don’t want to come back to the institution, then the authorities know what they have to do.
But by and large, training is what prevents this kind of response. Nurses are also trained about how to handle the different ethnicities of people; ways of communicating with them, [paying attention to] language barrier and avoiding the risk of conflict through the use of interpreters.

“Customer service is very big in the U.SA,” Grant says, adding: “So I compliment who added that so because of that, patients are able to come back, feeling satisfied.”
She said nurses or health care workers must understand that whatever problems they may have in their homes – do not bring them to work, or they’ll transfer it to other people who did them nothing wrong.

“That is totally wrong,” Grant said, adding that in the U.S. it would not be tolerated, since the patients always have rights; the customer is always right, and nurses must understand that it is a business: “ you treat your customers right and they will always come back.”
Grant also said that doctors and nurses need to be trained in how to handle bereavement of families, stressing that such training needs to be put into place at the GPHC as early as possible.