Courtesy Counts Toward Patient Satisfaction

The old axiom “you never get a second chance to make a first impression” is highly relevant in urgent care, where patients already not having the best of days are probably encountering your front desk staff and clinical team for the first time. Now a new study shows how those patients perceive the professionals they meet in your location is likely to influence their overall satisfaction, as well as their likelihood of complaining later on. Specifically, patients were most likely to complain about their care and experience if they were seen by physicians they found to be “rude” or “disrespectful.” That didn’t apply only to how the physician treated them or their families, though; some patients complained about how team members treated each other, concerned that perceived friction could take focus away from caring for the patient. There could actually be some truth to that, the authors concluded, as team members who experienced disrespect also “may be less likely to speak up [or] ask for help.” The study, conducted by Vanderbilt University Medical Center, was published in JAMA Surgery.