Branding The Patient Experience The Emergency Room Experience
The Top Five Reasons Patient s Might Visit The ER 1. The Repeat Customer 2. The Second Opinion Seeker 3. The Googler 4. The Narcotic Seeker 5. The Emergency Petition Patient
The Repeat Customer This patient will often visit the Emergency Room several times in the week, and oftentimes they might be without insurance, they might be homeless, they might have work related issues, or if they have any pain or hear of a loved one with an issue they will often visit the emergency room. Staff will often become familiar with The Repeat Customer, and tend to say oh hi Mr. & Mrs. Doe, please be seated, I will put your name in the system so that you can be seen (again)! Staff will quickly become irritated with the Repeat Customer, and oftentimes ignore the needs of The Repeat Customer. Question: How do you handle a patient that is coming to the ER several times a week, or several times a day, and they want to hold a full conversation with each visit?
The Second Opinion Seeker This patient will use the Emergency Room to get further test, because they don t believe what their primary Doctor said about their diagnosis, and they are looking to get additional answers or validation. This patient will often demand that they get additional blood work, or some form of x-ray to validate or refute what they were told. This patient does not understand the expense of the ER to do such test, and an alert pops on the scream that the patient is in debt with the hospital. Staff might have the burden of explaining to the patient about their co-pay to visit the ER, and might need to explain the expenses involved with further test---if the patient ask. Question: This is the ER, how can you address a patient financial concerns while Branding the patient experience?
The Googler There are patients that if they are having a headache, abdominal pains, or general pain will become scared, and start looking on the internet to diagnose their symptoms. Staff must be prepared for this type of patient, because they will come with all the results that they learned on the internet, and this patient will start telling the staff what they have and be convinced that they have what they searched on the web. Question: A patient arrives in the ER and states they are convinced they have a brain tumor because of the headache they are having, and they demand that costly x-ray how do you address this issue if the ER Physician refuses to order the test?
The Narcotic Seeker This particular patient will arrive in the ER stating they are having chronic pain, and out of their narcotic medication. They arrive at odd times; especially when the Doctor s office is closed, and at times the patient will come in full acting mode about their pain. This particular patient will visit several Emergency Rooms to get a huge supply of drugs, and the staff is familiar with the drug seeker and the symptoms. Staff must be able to deal with The Narcotic Seeker, and be able to Brand their experience no matter how many times the patient arrives in the ER seeking drugs. Question: A patient arrives in the ER several times in the week, and each time they give a different diagnosis about their pain. How do you Brand the patient experience and deal with this issue?
Emergency Petition Patient This particular patient was forced to come to the ER, and they are not happy about being in the ER. In this case they were escorted by the police in handcuffs, and they are dealing with some type of mental issues or drug issues, and were forced to be in the ER. This particular patient is very angry and they refuse to give up any information, and will lie about everything from their name to their date of birth. The staff in the ER becomes very irritated with an emergency petition patient, because they can t get what they want from this patient, and at times might register this patient as a John/Jane Doe. Question: A patient arrives in the ER, and they are angry, because they were forced to be here how can you brand their experience in the ER?
Conclusion The Emergency Room is a place that s very busy and the staff in the ER will deal on a daily basis with the top 5 Reasons that Patients visit the ER. There are laws that the ER must follow and that s the EMTALA law. The ER can t turn patients away or refuse to treat any patient no matter how many times they visit the ER. The staff must be able to deal with this and make sure with every visit, with every registration, with every Triage that they are Branding the Patient Experience