Hospital patients have enough problems with their illness not to confront poor service as well. Bernard J Lachner, president of Evanston (III). Hospital, underscored the problem. Whether the physician, the house staff or the nurse, the waiter, x-ray or emergency room, the admitting clerk is rude; the maid who bumps the bed while cleaning: the parking-lot attendant who is less than helpful when the lot is full; the cafeteria that turns away visitors; the pharmacy that has limited hours for outpatients - all of this suggests that hospitals operate for their own convenience and not that of the patient, his family and friends. Hospitals today are turning to guest-room programs to train and motivate Physicians, nurses and other employees in hospitality. Radford (III). Community Hospital is among the latest of several hospitals to add a further wrinkle-a “guaranteed services” program. Radford set up a fund of $10,000 out of which they pay patients who have a justified complaint ranging from cold food to overlong waits in the emergency room. The “hook” is that any money not paid out of the fund at the end of the year is divided among the hospital’s employees. This plan has added a tremendous incentive for the staff to treat the patients well. If there are one hundred employees and no patients have to be paid by the end of the year, each employee gets a $100 bonus. In the first six months, the hospital had to pay out only $300 to patients.
Questions:
1) Explain the role of service Employees in achieving better customer satisfaction in Hospital Marketing.
2) Discuss some important issues related to Hospital/Healthcare marketing.