Are the people we serve ‘patients’ or ‘customers’?
Names: A practical difference?
Does what psychiatrists call those they serve make any practical difference? Perhaps not, but evidence suggests that the attitudes that doctors take toward patients affects economic success and malpractice risk.
When they have choices about where they can seek health care, medical patients value physicians’ competence, but they also consider nonclinical factors such as family members’ opinions and convenience.23 Knowing this, the federal government’s Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services publishes results from its Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems to “create incentives for hospitals to improve their quality of care.”24
Nonclinical factors play a big part in patients’ decisions about suing their doctors, too. Many malpractice claims turn out to be groundless in the sense that they do not involve medical errors,25 and most errors that result in injury do not lead to malpractice suits.26
What explains this disparity? Often when a lawsuit is filed, whatever injury may have occurred is coupled with an aggravating factor, such as a communication gaffe,27 a physician’s domineering tone of voice,28 or failure to acknowledge error.29 The lower a physician’s patient satisfaction ratings, the higher the physician’s likelihood of receiving complaints and getting sued for malpractice.30,31
These kinds of considerations probably lie behind the recommendation of one hospital manager to doctors: “Continue to call them patients but treat them like
customers.”32 More insights into this view come from responses solicited from Yale
students, staff members, and alumni about whether it seems preferable to be a “patient” or a “customer” (Box).33
Bottom Line
When patients get injured during medical care, evidence suggests that how they feel about their doctors makes a big difference in whether they decide to file suit. If you’re like most psychiatrists, you prefer to call persons whom you treat “patients.” But watching and improving the things that affect your patients’ “customer experience” may help you avoid malpractice litigation.
Related Resource
• Goldhill D. To fix healthcare, turn patients into customers. Bloomberg Personal Finance. www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-01-03/to-fix-health-care-turn-patients-intocustomers.html.
Disclosure
Dr. Mossman reports no financial relationship with any company whose products are mentioned in this article or with manufacturers of competing products.
