The Difficulties of Complaining - Case Study Example

--------------------------- --------------------------- --------------------------- --------------------------- The Difficulties of Complaining IntroductionComplaining is basic nature of a person. He is never satisfied with any thing, but everybody always try to satisfy guests, visitors, or strangers to some extent. This is known as hospitality. It refers to the relationship process between a guest and a host, and it also refers to the act or practice of being hospitable, that is, the reception and entertainment of guests, visitors, or strangers, with liberality and goodwill.

In any business 'customer satisfaction' should be the first motto. Hospital industry is also falls under this category. Clearly, there is a trend towards consumer attention as far as amenities, design and features within the hospital industry. It makes people feel special.An exampleExcellent patient care is the most important piece to keep hospital rooms full. As an example, "Mr Tadeus Kowalski was admitted to the ward a year ago for rehabilitation following hip replacement in an elective orthopedic centre.

He has had a second hip replacement and there are plans to transfer him to the ward again for rehabilitation, Mr Kowalski and his family said they did not want him to return to the ward. Mr Kowalski has Parkinson's disease and said that, although his medication should have been given three hourly, it was often late. This caused him greater distress and impeded his recovery. In his notes, there are several entries indicating that he, his wife and family have been asked to keep his own medication as his medication has not been given on time.

As cure costs more than prevention, to alleviate Mr Kowalski concerns and enable him to accept the rehabilitation, hospital needs to provide special ward and appoint a dedicated nurse for him. There is a requirement for the doctor to visit the patient more informally other than the scheduled official rounds.. He should be provided with labeled medicines and with chart indicating its dosage and time to take it, which will be helpful in absence of attendant.There are several such cases which affect hospital reputation.

Many such problems creep up due to communication gap between working staff and patients, unawareness of staff regarding importance of timely medication or their neglecting behavior. Generally older people need more care as well as attention; thus, they should be allotted separate wards with a dedicated attendant to take care of their needs. Official visits by responsible persons should be increased to gather customer feedbacks. Emergency services should be more prompt. All patients, including old people, should be educated for self medication.

They should be provided with labeled medicines and with chart indicating its dosage and time to take it, so that they won't miss their medicines, in case the attendant is absent. Staff should be educated properly regarding patient's ailments and various precautions and practices expected of them. Mr Kowalski case happens to be a special one due to his disability to move. His needs include a permanent attendant to help him through his normal cores and timely medication without being disturbed.

ConclusionThe above case study addresses only a specific type of complaint. Other types of complaints include lack of emergency facilities, unavailability of staff, bad behavior of staff, unhygienic environment, lack of ventilation in ward, use of expired medicines, and failure of treatment after discharge, bad quality of food, and lack of advanced equipments. To resolve these issues the management needs to lay down stringent policies and implement them with continuous monitoring through checks and feedbacks.

24 hour help lines, additional attending staff on call, etc could be helpful practices.