The Risks to the Health Care Staff and Quality of Service and Profitability - Essay Example

 Introduction Health care settings consist of virtually any professional environment devoted to ensuring the health and well-being of clients and/or patients, such as local physician clinics, hospitals, or even dentistry offices committed to oral hygiene. Generally, when a client is exploring service from these professional environments, tensions and anxieties are already on the rise as the client attempts to cope with their current health-oriented situation, thus fear and anger is often directed as the health care provider and the associated staff responsible for managing internal office operations. Staff-directed fear and anger maintains many implications for both the health care provider and the associates support staff in terms of creating long-term emotional problems for the staff and can even impact the actual provision of health care services if the patient remains retaliatory against staff members. The purpose of this paper is to identify the impact of staff-directed fear and anger on the health care environment, the care providers, and the patient as well. The Angry Patient When patients are pursuing the health care talents of care providers, they are usually already experiencing heightened emotions as they attempt to cope with their current health issues. When a client is ill, it can bring feelings of “guilt, resentment, bitterness, anger, fear, grief and even shame” which, when expressed through less-productive client behaviors, can be “alarming and unsettling” for care providers (MacDonald, 2004, p.14). For example, in a health care clinic devoted to providing walk-in care to multiple patient demographics, there is always going to be different personalities which adjust to health crises quite differently. Some patients will likely express their fear and anger in more productive, socially-civilized formats while others explode at the health care provider and can even exhibit aggressive behavior. In this more volatile client environment, health care staff must recognize that these are normal human behaviors and consistently maintain a professional decorum. Unfortunately, however, in more volatile situations where patients are raging out of fear and anger, staff reactions to patient anger “is often a defensive one that actually fuels more anger” (Thomas, 2003, p.103). For example, in a health care environment where staffing levels are insufficient to meet client demand, the last thing a patient wants to hear are explanations for delay in service provision. A staffer who offers, “We’re simply short of help and there are other people ahead of you waiting for service”, will likely create considerable animosity between the patient and the care provider (Thomas, p.103). In this type of scenario, the staff member does not seem to recognize that there are more productive methods to handle client anger or fear and has chosen a less-suitable approach to attempting to alleviate concerns regarding delayed service provision. Many patients are already dealing with internal psychological concerns related to abandonment (Thomas), thus the care provider’s explanatory response only fuels client perceptions that they are being dismissed or otherwise not taken seriously. The impact of poor staff member responses can include patients leaving this health care facility in the future in favor of a different company, which can impact profitability for the health care environment, or developing mistrust for the health care organization which only serves to complicate the relationship between physician and client long-term. “The majority of patients want details. Patients want to know all the side effects, they want to know everything and anything” (Thatcher, 2002, p.14). It is often the tendency of physicians to use sophisticated language, of which they are personally accustomed, when talking with patients. Because most health care settings handle multiple client demographics, not all patients are well-versed in contemporary health-related methodology and can become angry and frustrated when diagnoses are expressed in language such as significant (Thatcher). Instead, it is recommended to put the diagnoses numbers or statistics into a context which is relatively universal and can be expressed to the less-educated client as well as the sophisticated client who is already armed with comprehensive knowledge of their condition or its treatment (Thatcher). Some patients who are not as well-versed in health care jargon can lash out at physicians or become overly-inquisitive about the treatment, thus forcing the physician or other care provider to spend unproductive time with the client which can impact the quality of overall service delivery for other patients waiting for similar care. This illustrates the importance of developing a system of patient diagnoses explanation which can be utilized as a template for patients of multiple demographics and educational backgrounds. Fear and anger will only create negative outcomes to short- and long-term health care provision. “The number one thing to remember is to remain calm” (Griffin, 2000, p.24). From the health care staffs’ perspectives, some patients have even been known to physically assault care providers, causing common injuries such as bruises or even lacerations (Flores, 2008). When health care professionals experience these more dramatic client outbursts related to fear and anger, they can experience very long-lasting psychological problems which are linked to these traumatic events. Long-term outcomes include tension, anxiety, burnout, and in most severe cases, even posttraumatic stress disorder (Flores, 2008, p.30). From the health care environment perspective, when staff members have experienced similar psychological outcomes stemming from client interventions, total quality of service delivery can be impacted when absenteeism increases or staff members simply abandon the health care industry in favor of less-risky job alternatives (Flores). In a dentistry environment, there is often considerable difficulty on behalf of the hygienist or dentist in relation to informing patients that a specific oral disease or problem has been identified. For instance, if a patient is diagnosed with periodontal disease, there are certain risks associated with conducting a routine cleaning, therefore when a patient has come to the office for cleaning, they can get fearful and even resentful that their expected service was not performed. In order to combat this problem, it is recommended that the hygienist actually scales (cleans) a limited number of teeth so that the patient, at least, perceives that some type of work has been completed which is congruent with their expectations (Glasscoe, 2007). The long-term impact of delaying one health-oriented service due to risks associated with a recently diagnosed problem can include loss of patients as they defect to competition or considerable aggression toward members of the staff. The methodology behind scaling a few teeth is an avoidance approach and appeals to basic human psychology which can be an effective tool for multiple client demographics. Conclusion It is important to identify the risks to the health care staff when dealing with angry or fearful patients, in terms of the long-term psychological damage caused to staffers and the potential outcomes to the environment itself as related to quality of service and profitability. Care providers must recognize that fear and anger are common responses from many patients, of multiple backgrounds and educational levels, thus staffers can turn toward contemporary psychological and sociological theories to handle these client-generated emotions in a way that is effective and poses the least risk to the business’ long-term success. The proactive and reactive measures described in this paper can create more positive outcomes while also satisfying the client successfully. References Flores, Nicole. (2008). “Dealing with an angry patient”. Nursing, Horsham. 38(5), p.30. Glasscoe, Dianne D. (2007). “The Angry Patient”. RDH, Tulsa. October, pp.34-36. Retrieved 3 Oct 2009 from www.proquest.com. ABI/INFORM Global Database. Griffin, Cheever. (2000). “Dealing with angry patients”. The Professional Medical Assistant, Chicago. 33(5), pp.24-27. MacDonald, Pat. (2004). “The Angry Patient”. Practice Nurse, Sutton. 28(10), pp.14-17. Thatcher, Chris. (2002). “Tell it as it is”. Canadian Pharmaceutical Journal, Ottawa. 135(6), p.14. Retrieved 3 Oct 2009 from www.proquest.com. ABI/INFORM Global Database. Thomas, Sandra P. (2003). “Anger: The mismanaged emotion”. Medsurg Nursing, Pitman. 12(2), p.103. Retrieved 2 Oct 2009 from www.proquest.com. ABI/INFORM Global Database. Read More