In the medical office give an example of ineffective communication that resulted in bad customer service?

I can think of zillions & you could too! Put in exam room, no one told pt was there, and then forgotten & everyone went home (YES, this is true); One MA didn't tell another that pt needed blood drawn & pt went home & had to be called back for draw; miscommunication over repeating vital signs after meds given & so none were taken & pt had abnormal VS; not getting enough breathing treatements so pt had to go to hospital; MA pulled IV out on pt going to hospital (she thought pt was going home when was told get pt ready to go).....there are alot!

Lol, I have one from today. I had a dentist appointment and the receptionist did not tell the dentist that I was there. After waiting for 45 min I asked another receptionist when I would be seen because I had somewhere to be.She told me that the first receptionist never gave my information to the dentist. The dentist apologized for the miscommunication and asked me if I would like to reschedule my appointment. I told her no I am just going to find another office to do business with.

Example of ineffective communication: A illegible prescription.

Bad customer service: Patient dies or is made worse from wrong medication.

I can't understand how something as critical as what's conveyed in prescriptions is so poorly written.

An office with where my wife was referred for surgical consultation had a poor reception/scheduling staff. When my wife called for an appointment (after the first 5 calls over the course of 1.5 months) she was told they would call her back. She finally called back another month later and was given an appointment. When she asked if there was a problem, the receptionist told her, that she should probably get another physician. After finally seeing the surgeon, who my wife liked, whenever she called it would take several calls to get a response. Eventually, I talked with the surgeon and got his cell number, and now we talk to him directly. He has changed his staff. BUt the poor communication from his staff cause a 6 month delay in my wife being seen a 1 year delay in her surgery, and almost made us choose another physician, as we were afraid we could never find the surgeon if she had a problem.

The irony of this is, when we finally worked this out with the surgeon, we found out he lives in our neighborhood, and we could have reached him very easily. Now he consults us on how his practice is working as far as patient satisfaction and customer care is concerned.

LOL, this sounds like a question from an interview!

A common example is one which is hard to manage. When you get patients in the clinic who speak a different primary language, it is often necessary to work with a translator. However, most of the translators are not medically trained so they are unable to translate the phrases properly. This often leads to misunderstandings. I don't understand what is wrong with the patient, and the patient doesn't understand my explanations.

For my Spanish speaking patients I am able to send my MAs who are fluent in Spanish to medical Spanish courses at the local college, but for other languages, there is no local resource.