IS CUSTOMER CARE NECESSARY IN AFRICAN HOSPITALS? II

TO TRAIN OR NOT TO TRAIN?

A critical question in customer care is whether to train or not to train. Is it cost-effective to train hospital personnel on customer service? Is it even necessary? What will it add to their medical skills? This question is more pertinent in private practice where the labor turnover is very high and financial resources quite thin. 

Sometime in 2013, at the Summit of all Federal Chief Medical Directors (CMDs) in Jos, Plat eau State, Nigeria, the representative of the Nigerian Honorable Minister for Health spoke extensively on the need for hospitals to train their personnel.

As he spoke, it dawned on me that an untrained hospital personnel is like an untrained driver behind the wheels of a brand new Ferrari. That is a recipe for disaster. What is the point of having a "five-star" facility without training your staff on how to handle customers? Or, why purchase an incubator for your pediatric unit when no one has received training on its use?

Customer care training will ensure that patients are treated with dignity and respect whenever they visit your facility. This will improve hospital-patient relations and lead to repeat "purchases" of your services. It is generally acknowledged in Business that organizations survive and grow on repeat business rather than new business. Good customer care among other things, will also help to convert new business into repeat business.

Hospital personnel should be trained routinely and regularly on the use of modern equipment, records keeping, current medical trends, customer care etc. You can contact healthcare training or management consultancy agencies in your area.