The best way to dealing with patient relations problems is to prevent them from happening.
There are three key ways of doing that:
1. Match the Service to the Patient
Make sure the patient knows what the treatment is designed to do and what it is not designed to do, and that it meets his or her needs.
2. Educate Your Patients in Using their Drugs
This is vitally important – as you cannot rely on the patients reading (or understanding) the instructions.
Educating patients is also part of the ethics of all Doctors.
3. Keep Your Promises
Failure to keep promises is, by far and away, one of the largest causes of patient dissatisfaction.
If you said you would treat them by Wednesday, make sure it happens.
If it is not going to happen for reasons out of your control – call the patient, apologise, and explain the revised schedule or how you are going to make it right.
