Quote:
Originally Posted by Heytubes
Having been a patient several times during my major health issue, the Villages hospital has always given me and other patients I’ve know excellent care.
One person with a bad experience tells ten, ten patients with a good experience tells one.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Arlington2
And One Person with a bad experience feels complelled to repeat it 100 times, people with a positive experience don't feel compelled to repeat. We also have had positive experiences in the hospital, and also the emergency rooms at both 44 and SS.
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Very true. And there are 2 other factors:
1) the complainers are generally very vocal
2) People hear what they want to hear and believe what they want as well, regardless of the facts.
As Chief of Staff, I once had a family member complain to me that a physician walked into her mother's room and said "Aren't you dead yet?". That physician was one of the best I've known, and when I had to speak to him about it, we both laughed. What he said was nothing like that.
Also, the spectrum of what sets people off is very wide and often exaggerated. I can't count the number of times people complained about long wait times in our ER---"I waited 7 hours to be seen". Since their arrival time, time of triage, time evaluated by the ER nurse and time first seen by the ER doc was all logged, I could confront the complaint head on. The best was "I hear what you are saying, but the time from your arrival to being seen by the doctor was 37 minutes---perhaps your watch is broken". That of course was challenged with "They're lying". And in turn, I would respond with "computer time stamps don't lie". They would walk away unswayed and unhappy, convinced that
they were right. Others would be set off by "cold food", even though patient food temps were measured by thermometer and recorded. Or I rang the call bell and the nurse took "hours" to respond. These times are also monitored so of course it was, well, a misperception to put it kindly. People are very often quite off their game when they or a relative are sick.