Customer SERVICE training ?

[FormerEMSLT297]

First of all my appologies for being gone soo long,,,,, work just takes priority.....

I have been appointed to a teaching position at my P/T EMS unit and i am disturbed to say the least be the newer paramedics....

They do not seem to know how to speak with patients, they are abrupt, crass, and quite frankly obnoxious.

I got to talking with some other officers, and we would like to find a good customer service training class.

Years ago, before the FDNY RUINED, NYC*EMS, I took a supervisors class, on how to manage people. It was pretty good, and it was taught by a guy from IBM, who taught corporate execs, how to lead.......

We do not need something exactly like this, but i would like to hear from any agencys that actually have an established class on "people care" Customer service, or anything similar.....

If you have a link, please post up..

Thanks

[hatelilpeepees]

I would consider shooting three videos:

1. Show how "bad ems" responds to patients. Show them being crass, short, body language that is poor, common ems phrases like "So you been sick for 36 hours, what made you call us at 3am"?

2. Or shoot a video where the EMS crew is on the receiving end of bad customer service, like they walk into a restaurant, and the staff treats them like they treat their patients.

3. Shoot a video where one of your medics has a bedridden family member at home/hospital, and the ambulance/hospital staff treat their family member like your guys treat their patients.

[croaker260]

Here is a slide share presentation I put together on EMS customer service I used to give in our training academy. It includes soem stuff I had gathered from other programs and services. The formatting gets a little wonkey in the slideshare viewer, but usually downloads fine if you want it.

http://www.slideshare.net/croaker260/27-acp-customer-service

[Bieber]

Hey man, I don't mean to hijack your thread, but I just gotta say first and foremost that I absolutely HATE the term "customer" applied to patients. They don't call us to install their washing machine for them, they call us because they're in need of medical care. That aside, I get the implications that EMS like any agency that provides a service is in many ways a business (like all of medicine), so you'll have to excuse me if I get all sappy about the nobility of medicine and all that jazz.

Back to the topic! Speaking to patients is probably the hardest thing to learn in medicine, second to decision making--at least in my short and unremarkable experience. I know I sure as hell had a hard time with it. My suggestion? Skip the videos and powerpoint presentations and get to the nitty gritty. Get some seasoned veterans to play the role of patients (realism is key) and get some of those newbies running scenarios with them. Everything from your typical chest painer to assault victims (yes, even sexual assault), car crash victims, indecisive old folks who can't make up their mind whether or not they want to go to the hospital, whiney children, children who think they're adults ("Oh, you REALLY think I'm gonna go with YOU to the hospital, huh?"), outraged family members, the whole shabam. They need to learn how to interact with people WHILE still treating their medical emergency after all. And don't get me wrong, there's a time to be less than polite (like when you have a critical patient who won't give you short, concise answers to your questions and wants to ramble while you're struggling to piece together a history so you can figure out what's wrong with them), but there's also a time to be polite. One of the biggest things that was imparted on me by my preceptors is that we are here not only to treat our patients, but also to educate them. I try to always take a little time during my calls and explain to them exactly what's going on to the best of my knowledge. Something like, "Okay, so this is the deal, you're having X symptoms which is usually indicative of Y, and these are my findings Z which lead me to think W is going on with you today."

Medical schools employ people to serve as practice patients for medical students (they're even trained to know the appropriate replies and all that), and while we in EMS generally can't afford that, you CAN have people who've interacted with patients extensively do a little role play and get a similar effect. The key, I believe, lies in realism of the actors and of the environment. Take this exercise out of the classroom. Load up some of the students in a van and "run" some calls going to some of the actors homes. Hell, even get their families involved in it if you can.

Anyway, hope that helps.

Edited June 28, 2011 by Bieber

[FormerEMSLT297]

CUSTOMER SERVICE is EXACTLY what we provide. Police and Fire Departments are just that, "Departments" ....The police investigate and prevent crime, and the Fire Dept. puts out fires and responds to emergencies, but Emergency Medical Services do just that provide a SERVICE...

People in EMS, need to understand that our patients, are CUSTOMERS, when they get good quality service, thay are usually happy, when they get poor service, or rude provdiers arrive at their house, they are DISSATISFIED CUSTOMERS.

As for your comment about there is a time for EMS providers to be les sthan polite WRONG. It is now obvious to me why your name is "Bieber".. Because you are YOUNG, and lack experience.........

It is never OK to be "less than polite" as you put it because a patient is rambling on about something and you need "short concise answers" I suggest you go out and read Thom Dick's book "people care" and then revisist your attitude about cutting people off, and being less than polite.

Ohh you are correct in saying that we do not install washing machines, I will give you that one.

[Just Plain Ruff]

What is your budget. I have a program in mind but it might be too expensive, but i have been through it three times before and it is definately worth the fundage.

What about sitting down with thevworst of the offenders to include the patient. Let the patient or family member tell you and the medic who treated them how they felt.

Tel the medic thatbthis is their wake up call and their obnoxious behaviour needs to stop NOW.

Edited July 2, 2011 by Ruffems

[Bieber]

CUSTOMER SERVICE is EXACTLY what we provide. Police and Fire Departments are just that, "Departments" ....The police investigate and prevent crime, and the Fire Dept. puts out fires and responds to emergencies, but Emergency Medical Services do just that provide a SERVICE...

I agree with all of that.

People in EMS, need to understand that our patients, are CUSTOMERS, when they get good quality service, thay are usually happy, when they get poor service, or rude provdiers arrive at their house, they are DISSATISFIED CUSTOMERS.

If you are treating your patients like patients and giving them the proper respect and providing sound, reasonable care, you shouldn't need to worry about "good customer service" or anything like that. In my opinion, our job is to provide good patient care, not good customer service; though by doing the former, we accomplish the latter.

As for your comment about there is a time for EMS providers to be les sthan polite WRONG. It is now obvious to me why your name is "Bieber".. Because you are YOUNG, and lack experience.........

It is never OK to be "less than polite" as you put it because a patient is rambling on about something and you need "short concise answers" I suggest you go out and read Thom Dick's book "people care" and then revisist your attitude about cutting people off, and being less than polite.

You're right that I'm young and that I don't have a great deal of experience working in EMS. At the same time, I think that ultimately our job isn't to be the nicest guys in the world or great customer service representatives. At the end of the day, our job is to care for people's medical needs and sometimes that means we have to work fast and don't always have time for all of the niceties.

Don't get me wrong, if I have to talk over somebody or tell them to give me yes or no answers, I will ALWAYS explain to them as soon as I can why I'm having to be so rude, and I will apologize to them for it. But what I won't do is sacrifice their wellbeing for the sake of etiquette alone. And thankfully, it is rare that I have to work so fast or find out something so pertinent that I must be directly rude to somebody, but when it happens, I won't be afraid to.

Ohh you are correct in saying that we do not install washing machines, I will give you that one.

Well at least we agree on something!

[NYCEMS9115]

Not to say this is right but it's true: you can provide the best care in the world but if you're rude when doing so, the patient (the customer) will say you're the worst Care Provider, ever. You can kill them with kindness, literally...

The State or Governing Agency is responsible in establishing that the Provider has met the minimum Standard of Care. The Employer is responsible to make sure you have the Certifying/Licensing paper; make you better at your Care and that you're nice when doing so. Thus, Customer Service Training...

[Bieber]

Not to say this is right but it's true: you can provide the best care in the world but if you're rude when doing so, the patient (the customer) will say you're the worst Care Provider, ever. You can kill them with kindness, literally...

The State or Governing Agency is responsible in establishing that the Provider has met the minimum Standard of Care. The Employer is responsible to make sure you have the Certifying/Licensing paper; make you better at your Care and that you're nice when doing so. Thus, Customer Service Training...

I completely agree with you. My professor during paramedic school used to say, "Good medics and bad medics both get sued, but NICE medics don't." Which, of course, is a generalization but the meaning's the same. And I hope nobody thinks I mean to say that being wantonly or cruelly rude to patients is ever required. All I'm saying is that there are times when patient care comes before going that extra mile.

[NYCEMS9115]

But going that extra mile can be part of patient care... We can dance around the point... We all agree that there needs to be good patient care which can be very similar to good customer service... Kudos.