| OCR Text |
Show Table 1 Differences Between Hotel Customers and Hospital Customers In Hotels Most people are there voluntarily In Hospitals Health considerations force admission. Most people are in a good mood. Most patients feel irritable, exposed, anxious, and scared. Many people are on expense accounts. Many patients are panicked about the high costs. Guests expect pampering and convenience. Customers expect technological know-how to save life and also expect compassion. Employees must be courteous and responsive. Employees must be safe, accurate, skilled, careful, compassionate, kind, alert, quick responsive, and much more. "being treated as an individual" more important than their satisfaction in "getting better," and they considered "having timely, adequate information about my condition" more important than the newness of the facilities (Zemke, 1989). With the transition of the healthcare industry from a seller's market to a buyer's market, it has become much more important for healthcare organizations to provide good service for their customers and keep their customers informed. Many institutions and organizations have implemented changes in the attempt to foster customer-driven healthcare. Most of the changes so far, however, have been "cosmetic" (Coile, 1990). In their attempt to be more customer-centered, many hospitals have tried to mimic fine hotels, treating patients as "guests." Noise levels have been reduced, staff are more attentive, and the institutional surroundings have been redecorated with carpeting, art prints, and designer sofas. All of this contributes to a better atmosphere, but while hospitals and hotels share certain elements - housekeeping, traffic flow, transportation, maintenance people, amenities, reservation processes, cashiers, checkout ~ they are, in fact, quite different (Leebov, 1988). Wendy Leebov (1988) summarized the primary differences between customers of hotels and hospitals in Table 1 above. Hospitals must look beyond this simple analogy and transform their entire approach to everyday customer relations. Karl Albrecht and Jan Carlzon have coined a phrase to apply to everyday customer relations: "moments of truth." Albrecht and Zemke (1985) defined a moment of truth as "an episode in which the customer comes into contact with any aspect of the company, however remote, and thereby has an opportunity to form an impression." Most of these moments take place beyond the oversight of supervisors. These moments can only be managed by hospital administrators "by influencing the values and attitudes of employees, who will make or break the health organization's reputation for service the countless times each day they are in contact with a patient, visitor, or guest" (Coile, 1990). A moment of truth does not occur strictly with customers, but with anyone who comes in contact with an organization. Moments of truth are not always contacts with personnel. They include advertisements, building appearances, answering machine recordings, and billing statements (Cottle, 1990). How an organization manages its 'moments of truth1 will have significant bearing on its future success. 78 WHAT ABOUT THE PATIENT? |
