Making the Most of a Bad Experience with a Patient Bad Reviews Won't Hurt Your Career Bad reviews and patient complaints are major issues for any hospital or practice. As per the researchers, the average number of unsatisfied customers will complain to 9-15 people about the bad experience they had, and 13% of people will complain to more than 20 other people. As a ratio, for every patient there is 26 more patients with complaints, but do not raise their voice. That one patient could ruin your patient’s feedback and will affect your practice. Related: Top 5 Exercises for Work: Prevent Back Pain Listen to your patient and let them know that you are listening to them The most important thing is that your response to the patient is crucial. You should always first seek to understand than to be understood. Good communication is essential for running a better practice. The very first step in becoming a successful nurse is to listen without reacting right away, or getting angry and defensive. Remind yourself that it is not always your fault If you try to cultivate the skill of listening to your patients with intent to understand, can help in improving practice and patient's response. If a patient complains, it is not because of your service at the practice but because of the bad outcome they received. So, try keeping yourself calm and understand that it is not always your fault. Sometimes, patients become irritated and annoyed due to the negative outcomes of their test results and surgeries. So, it doesn't mean that it is your fault. Stay positive! Taking the best out of your negative feedback If a patient files negative feedback against you, then this is the best time to make a difference. If your hospital owns a policy of refunding patients who have faced any kind of dissatisfaction, then this could play vital in establishing a good practice. This directly or indirectly delivers positive feedback as well. Related: Top Job Opportunities for Nurses who Love Working with Children Try learning to deal with your angry patients The thing that wins over anger is love and care. When a patient is ill, they can sound like a kid and expect an optimum amount of care and support from the nurse. If those expectations are not fulfilled, sometimes leads to the generation of anger and arrogance in the patient. This could have adverse effects on the patient's health as well as your feedback. Simple steps to deal with angry patients Here are some tips and tricks in which situations of annoyance can be easily handled:
1. First of all, listen and fully understand the nature of your patient's complaint. 2. Clarify the complaint and repeat it back to the patient making it clear you have understood. 3. With your experience and the patient's complaint, try learning from it and make policies prevent it from happening again. 4. Keeping track and generating continuous contact with your patient can result in positive feedback. And when everything fails... Keep it in your mind that, if you are trying hard to deliver the most comfort for you patient and they still are not satisfied, no one can change the patient's mind. Some people will never be satisfied, and for your own sake, move on. You can’t satisfy everyone, and letting go of these patients will be a great relief to you. Related: Leading Registered Nurse Ronda Love Vani, RN, CCRN, MSN to be Published in the Worldwide Leaders in Healthcare as New Member of the International Nurses Association Please follow us on Facebook, Linkedin, Pinterest and Twitter