Making a Difference Through Customer Service Excellence: Part 2

This is eight in a series of articles from MONOC Mobile Health Services, New Jersey's largest provider of EMS and medical transportation and first CAAS-accredited agency. The goal of this series is to provide insight and solutions for the different managerial and operational challenges facing the EMS leaders of tomorrow. For more, see www.monoc.org.

Since Part 1 of this article was posted online, I have received some excellent feedback from readers, including the ultimate role model for patient advocacy, Thom Dick. This illustrates that we are on the right path!

We've already identified many areas where we can make a difference and many where EMS people often fall short. We tend to lose patience and not always see what is important. Trauma and other higher profile calls may make us less eager to make a difference on the more routine calls, where our attitude and work ethic can determine whether or not we do what is right.

Handling Elderly Patients

Let's look at the elderly population. Statistically, the elderly probably make up more than half of your agency's requests for service. Many providers view them as a nuisance because of their very demanding needs, which may be more personal than medical. These needs can be very simple, like ensuring that the patient's cat is fed or that he or she has the correct sweater for a stay in the hospital.

These patients communicate differently, and their situation or circumstances might call for a little added patience in order for you to gather information or relay information to them. If you are called to assist an elderly patient, consider that his needs might be different than those of some other patients. When frustration sets in, try to imagine the patient's life experience. The person in front of you may have served his country in a foreign land to ensure your liberty, invented the paper clip or the diode that kept your first video game working, or raised children who are successful contributors to society. Most importantly, at this stage of life, they have paid their dues and deserve our respect, regardless of how curmudgeonly they might be. Speaking of respect, there is nothing more disrespectful than calling an elderly patient "honey, dear, sweetie or pal." It's good practice to call all patients Mr., Miss or Mrs. until told to do otherwise. If "Mr. Smith" corrects you and says "It's Joe," then "Joe" it is.

Dealing with the Homeless Population

For many reasons, we often get to know the homeless population better than the police or anyone else. Perhaps it's because the majority of homeless people suffer from mental illness, drug and alcohol addiction, or both. These afflictions often land this section of the population in the hospital, and they don't drive themselves there! Many of them are intoxicated, dirty and have poor hygiene. Certainly, this is not the most desirable patient to be in the back of the ambulance with, but before passing judgment, consider how the person got into this predicament. Let's face it, none of us are rich, and many of our peers in EMS are struggling to pay their bills and living from one paycheck to the next. It isn't a far stretch to think that if they didn't have a good support system of family and friends they could end up in the exact same position. Get to know your "regulars" and their names, if you don't already know. Speak to them like you would someone from the more affluent part of your area and see how their attitude toward you changes on that run and in the future.

I had the opportunity to get to know one homeless man who had a reputation among my coworkers as being a nasty, violent alcohol abuser. My partner and I took time to get to know him and to learn about his taste in music, his family and what he did for a living before his addiction caused him to lose his home. During one encounter, we learned that he hadn't eaten in a couple of days, so my partner and I gave him our leftover dinners on the way to the hospital. Then, in the emergency room waiting area, we witnessed this scary-looking guy with a reputation for being angry offer his bag of nacho chips to a crying child. The child's mother cautiously moved away from our patient, but it was a humbling experience for us to see this man offering to give away food that he so desperately needed.