Fostering a Different Reality in Healthcare

For a while now, reality television has served as one of America’s favorite guilty pleasures, and I admit that after a particularly challenging day at work, nothing beats hitting the couch with the remote control and the promise of a few hours of mindless escapism. (Although reading for business and pleasure is what fills much of my leisure time, that task requires a cerebral effort that no amount of reality television will ever command!)

But how ironic is it that we escape reality by embracing another reality — which as we know, is a carefully crafted and edited version of what constitutes “real life.” I may be dating myself here, but I remember watching the very first season of “The Real World” on MTV almost two decades ago and thinking what an interesting social experiment was unfolding, despite producers’ machinations and manipulations. The show was the first to assemble a diverse cast of characters, put them under the same roof, and watch the pressures of co-habitation dictate the drama-laced plotlines. Since this pioneering series, we’ve seen a million iterations and are very familiar with the archetypes that emerge from these small-screen microcosms; someone’s always the stereotypical tyrant, villain, and hero, coming in all colors, creeds, intellects and sexual persuasions. We know there will be conflict, cursing (bleeping), and all manner of bad behavior, and I wonder, is this really why we watch reality programming? Who hasn’t dealt with someone who drove us mad in the work setting? And are we living out our fantasies when we see reality show contestants confronting the sources of their angst, just as we secretly would choose to do at the office if we didn’t have mortgages to pay and employment to sustain?

Bad behavior is not confined to reality TV, of course. We encounter it daily from loved ones, complete strangers, and people with whom we have slight acquaintance. I suspect that it is this constant conflict that accounts for a nation of stressed out, maxed out people with itchy trigger fingers looking for a fight. We are increasingly players in our own versions of reality programming; several years ago a gas shortage here in Phoenix brought out the truly ugly side of humanity, and rivaled anything that Hollywood could have devised.

So what does this have to do with being a physician entrepreneur? Healthcare has its own breed of infamous hostility; doctors versus nurses, nurses versus nurses, and healthcare professionals versus just about everyone, including patients, insurance companies, and suppliers. Read John Shufeldt’s column in this issue and you’ll hear about patients who make you want to run, not walk, to veterinarian school. And don’t miss Michelle Beaver’s look at violence in healthcare and security issues in urgent care centers. Bad behavior seems to be endemic these days, and the growing pressures of life will only compound it.

Patients will reward healthcare centers that demonstrate good behavior; numerous studies have looked at patients’ perceptions of lack of communication, friendliness, compassion, and excessive waiting times they have encountered in healthcare settings, and the verdict is that patients will take a pass if customer service is lacking. Contributors Kenneth Rabinoff-Goldman and Ira Bloomfield, in their respective articles on marketing in this issue, address the importance of eliminating any image-breakers that can destroy your center’s reputation. If you have a rude receptionist, you will lose patients and revenue. In a world where bad behavior is rampant, you as a physician entrepreneur have an important opportunity to reverse the trend, provide a positive healthcare experience for your patients, and reap the rewards of being a bigger person than reality television says we are capable of being.

Cheers,

Kelly M. Pyrek

Group editor, Virgo Publishing Medical Group

kpyrek@vpico.com

Share this article: Email, Slashdot, Digg, Del.icio.us, Yahoo!MyWeb, Windows Live Favorites, Furl
Add this article feed to: RSS, My Yahoo, Newsgator, Bloglines

Read Comments [0]