CUSTOMER SERVICE / SEEING A PERSON

As customers, we all want excellent service, but how do we get it? As service providers, we want to provide excellent service, but how do we give it? For so many years, we’ve all heard the buzz words – customer service, customer service, customer service. It truly is a thing of inexplicable beauty when you experience it. It’s one of those things – you know it when you feel it.

The door to the Novi Orthopedic Center’s hand and wrist surgery area is ajar.

– Hmmm. Someone must not have closed it all the way.

I begin to do so…

– But…wait. If I close it, the next person who arrives also is probably having hand/wrist surgery and will have a difficult time opening it.

And so ajar it stays...

It’s that “but wait,” second thought, other person mentality that creates customer excellence. As I sign in, the woman behind the window does not avert her gaze. She even smiles, reaching her hand out to steady the paper where mine cannot.

Called into the billing area for health insurance information – generally pretty boring, dry, methodical, perfunctory. The biller notices my purse. We talk about how her friend would like one, where she could get it, the cost, etc. A connection is made. To me…as a person. I am not my health insurance identification number. I am not my credit card identification number. She looks through the billing formation and tells me what she is doing as she is doing it. She notices an error and explains how it may have occurred. I offer an alternate explanation. And even though my rambling explanation is totally off base, she acknowledges it, moves on and fixes the error. Before I return to the lobby, she offers to open the door. Though I deny her assistance, she watches to make sure I can maneuver my way safely back to the lobby.

Within minutes, a nurse calls me as I am finishing last minute review of emails. Hurrying, I throw the phone in my bag and tell my friend who will keep it during the surgery.

– I’ll just turn it off later.

I approach the nurse.

– Would you like to turn your phone off now?

– Yes…yes I would in fact.

And so I did. One less thing to worry about. Done.

The nurse tells me her name, Sherry. She is holding a mammoth plastic bag. It is filled with other smaller plastic bags. She opens each, one by one explaining what each item is for. She demonstrates how the hospital gown is worn. She says not to worry about the tie. She repeats her name.

– I’m Sherry. I’ll be right outside. Even though you won’t be able to see me because the curtain will be closed, I will be within hearing distance. You just need to say my name, Sherry.

The surgery holding area is calm. Not a bunch of people running all around. I can hear one other patient beyond the pulled curtain next to me talking to her husband. The medical staff walks with purpose, with confidence.

After I am in my gown, Sherry returns and notices the beep beep beep going off next to me. She doesn’t like it. She stops it. I wasn’t aware of the heightened anxiety the beep beep beep was creating until it wasn’t. Calm.

Sherry explains that a doctor will talk to me about a nerve block and after that family can come in. While we wait and Sherry reviews the medical information, we talk. She learns how I hurt my wrist. I learn about her giving her daughter a baby shower and her daughter’s sick dog. Connection.

I gotta say I really like this being a person concept.

Sherry tells me that if for some reason she has to be out of the area, Jennifer will be there.

The nerve block doctor arrives…very pregnant…eight months pregnant I learn. During her explanation of the procedure, I hardly notice that there is a page, but after she finishes a sentence she apologizes, tells me she was paged, is needed in surgery and will return in a few minutes.

Meanwhile, Sherry has been back in and is ready to insert an IV which I hate…which I tell her I hate and then I tell her why…hard to find a vein, vein is small, vein rolls…Sherry listens. She ends up cutting off my patient identification bracelet to find a vein, replacing the bracelet after. Not a problem. Not an inconvenience.

Dr. Guiboux comes in. He initials my hand – a simple practice surgeons use so that everyone knows which area of the body is being operated on. He looks at the color of my fingers, runs his fingers across mine to make sure I have feeling in them. I can’t really remember much else, except that on his way out of the room, he pats me on the shoulder. Not a Joe Bidenesque pat, but an – I – got – this – you’re – going – to – be – ok – pat.

– So will there be a catheter?

Nerve block doctor returns.

– No, says Sherry.

– So, a bed pan then after the surgery?

– Do you have to use the bathroom?

– Yeah. That might not be a bad idea.

– Let’s have you do that now because after you have the nerve block, we can’t get you out of bed.

Sherry listened. She understood what I was asking even though I didn’t.

There was a lot of unhooking, getting me to the bathroom and back, repositioning, and yes, she did offer me the bathroom on the way in, but I didn’t have to go then. Not a problem. Not an inconvenience.

Right before I am taken in for surgery, Dr. Guiboux returns. Unfortunately, I have had a few surgeries before. This is the first time a doctor has returned to visit me after I’ve been initialed and before the start of the surgery.

– How you doin? You ready?

– I’m good. How are you? (At this point, the doc should be the one feeling good I’m thinking.)

– I’m doing great.

– Great.

– Ok, see you in there.

After the surgery, Dr. Guiboux talks to family members. Nothing unusual there…but…he also returns to disconnect me from everything when I am in recovery. A doctor taking care of a patient from start to finish. Truly. How special is that?

The nurse explains post-surgical care. She tells me she had the same surgery, shows me her scars. She has full range of motion but worked hard. Then tells me what a great surgeon Dr. Guiboux is. Truly. How special is that?

Patients are not wheeled through the waiting room or other area of the building. Pick up for post-surgical patients in their semi oblivious I just want to be home in bed mental state is right outside the surgical area. And the nurse…not someone else, wheels you out to the car. She tucks you in safely for your ride home.

Excellent customer service. You know it when you feel it.

Novi Orthopedic Center…Dr. Guiboux…nurses…biller…other team members – You rock!

I received a survey to complete – I wrote this blog instead.

At my first follow up visit, I learn that the doctors, because they own Novi Orthopedic Center, determine how the center operates. That’s a novel idea – allowing doctors to establish processes and procedures for how they want their patients treated. Truly. How special is that?

Customer excellence…as service providers, we have it within our power to create it. It requires us to think about excellence at each step of the process/procedure. Take the time. Give it a But Wait, second thought. Think about the other person. What would you want?

Patricia Nemeth received her Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Michigan (Ann Arbor). She earned her Juris Doctorate and Masters of Labor Law degree from Wayne State University School of Law. She is the founding partner of Nemeth Law, P.C. which is celebrating its 25th Anniversary in 2017. Patricia decided to start a personal blog because she wanted to write about topics other than the law.