Tuesday, October 10, 2006
Why Some Doctors Get Sued And Others Don't
If you've read Malcolm Gladwell's book Blink, you'll have heard of this already. If not prepare to be amazed.
"Medical researcher Wendy Levinson recorded hundreds of conversations between doctors and their patients, to find out why some doctors get sued and others don't.
"The answer was three minutes. It turned out the surgeons who had never been sued spent three minutes longer with their patients than those who were sued (18.3 minutes, versus 15 minutes).
"More importantly, they were far more likely to make comments that involved the patient in what was happening, such as "First, I'll examine you, and then we'll talk the problem over". They listened actively and laughed more than the doctors who were sued. The quality of medical information they gave wasn't any better. It was the way they interacted that differed.
"It gets stranger: recordings of doctor-patient conversations were made and the words were removed via computer. All that was left was intonation and inflection - the rise and fall of the voices. Independent judges were asked to rate these doctors for warmth, hostility and dominance, knowing nothing about them but the sound of their voice - not even the words they spoke. They accurately predicted which doctors would be sued and which not."
Jurek's View:
As a patient I can understand that. When you are fragile, you need to feel that you are with someone who cares, someone who takes the time to listen to you, not just someone who is technically excellent. Fortunately, I picked the right type of surgeon.
Now that my health is improving, I'll put on my customer service hat and ask, "What's this got to do with you and your customers?"
Tune in to how you yourself and your team talk to customers and ask yourself, "Is there room for improvement?" Do you take the time to really listen? Is your whole purpose whenever you are with someone, customer, colleague, friend or family, to make them feel better about themselves as a result of being with you? It's a great objective. Give it a go.
I read the extract citing Malcolm Gladwell's best selling book Blink in the ECustomerServiceWorld newsletter. Refer http://www.ecsw.com/.
