The art of medicine can be learned through patient complaints.
Physicians often learn customer service in residency. We either receive a complaint or interact with a dissatisfied patient who wants a solution in real time — in either case, it’s too late.
Taking a position with your group or hospital that lets you field complaints exposes you to the failures of our field. It’s akin to self-improvement by focusing on your failures.
Learning common themes across patient complaints allows a better understanding of the patient’s perspective. This will teach you to prevent complaints in the first place.
“The doctor wasn’t listening to me.”
Doctors checking their watch or phone while speaking with patients. Doctors talking to the patient from the doorway, talking over or interrupting them.
The literature supports the idea that doctors interrupt. Some studies state that it takes doctors an average of 11 seconds before interrupting a patient!
“The art of medicine consists of amusing the patient while nature cures the disease.”
― Voltaire
