The Service Industry

i've come to realize over the past 2 weeks that sometimes doctors are just customer service officers. maybe for those senior consultants who have a whole string of accolades to their name, patients are in awe of them and totally respect every word they say, so not much effort is required to make them happy. but for the HO, they are really just customer service officers holding an MBBS degree. as for SIP students who don't even have MBBS yet... hai...

and it's in this lowest life-form in the ward where i learned how important PR skills (public relations la... not per-rectal) are. at the beginning, i get patients who give me all the ???? in their looks, wondering if i'm sure i know what i'm doing. relatives scrutinize my every actions and ask me multiple questions to see if i'm capable enough. it doesn't help that i'm posted to a B1 class area... all paying patients! slowly, i began to grasp the whole idea and learn the ropes of reassuring them using my "charm". haha!

just walk in with confidence, speak to them really nicely and explain why you have to take the blood, what it's for, etc... kindly tell the relatives to wait outside and you'll be done in a while... handle the patients with care, apologize to the patient for hurting her when you're tying the tourniquet, do some small talk with the patient (like how are you feeling today? you like your breakfast this morning?), pre-empt the patient before you insert the needle... after that, smile n tell the patient and relatives "it's done!"... and they'll all thank you profusely and look soooo glad you've just poked him/her and sucked his/her blood.

isn't that all PR-ing? the procedures like venepuncture, blood cultures, plug setting, etc... are really just a small part of the entire process. it's the PR skills that accompanies it that requires a whole lot of effort. on my good days, i can do it naturally and make everyone, including myself, happy. sometimes i'm just pissed off cos i got outta the wrong side of the bed, got my foot stepped on by someone, or i'm just basically tired... and i just dun feel like being an angel. it's really a struggle to be sociable and sweet to those unappreciative patients.

oh... one more thing... i've come to realize from experience that when a patient is mean to you or your colleague, you just have to take a deep breath, cool down and be 150% nicer to them. then they'll feel so guilty for being mean to you and start obeying you. haha! try that trick someday...

then like it's not bad enough, u've got more ppl to please! patients are at the top of the heirarchy... after that comes the consultant, the registrar, the MO, the HO, nursing officers and the nurses... (sometimes not in that order... the nursing officers n nurses are frequently more important.) haha... life as the lowest amoebic life-form is tough la...