Customer Service in Healthcare? And a Surprising Twist to an Oldie but Goodie

The day turned out to be full of new customer experiences, and hardly what I was prepared for. Today it's off to Georgetown University Hospital for a visit with a specialist I see a few times a year. About 24 hours prior to the visit I can feel my mood drop just a tad, Like a barometer before a storm. Pretty much this hospital, while full of very capable and brilliant physicians and clinicians is usually an affront in every other way to human decency and civility. So.... you might say I'm not biased. No foregone conclusion here,..... noooooooo. So how did I fare with my predisposition? It's a mixed bag trending up.

The visit started out just okay. The hospital physicians office building is itself pretty depressing. You can't help but notice the peeling paint, missing molding, all around unclean feeling. But I digress. I decided to try my "we are neighbors and colleagues, doing business with neighbors and colleagues" attitude with the young woman at the specialist's reception desk. She wasn't buying it. No greeting. No acknowledgement and a general attitude that seemed to convey 'you're lucky we let you come here today'. GRRRRR.

The doctor was great. Great listener, took time to explain the new health records system, and efficient and caring. A nice discussion with the nurse and then its back to the checkout. For my second at bat with the front office receptionist, same thing - no acknowledgement, no greeting. I was happy to head out of there and down to the lab when I realized that the DR ordered a follow-up visit and one was not scheduled. So I headed back in to mention that I needed an appointment. More of the sense that I was troubling the receptionist.

Onward to the Lab area. Surely this would plummet my grade of the experience at Georgetown into the toilet. And there are a few things that warrant it. The antiquated system for calling people to the lab is pretty bad. But they no longer require you to fill in any paperwork, thank goodness, we're finally in the 21st century. The Lab waiting area is interesting. The level of cleanliness is pretty poor and I couldn't help but wish that I could wrap myself in a giant prophylactic to avoid the cesspool of germ filled chairs that seemed to fill up the room. I was ready to rend my verdict when I came face to face with my phlebotomyst. Well lo' and behold, we had a great chat. She was quite hilarious, made me feel right at ease, hardly noticed the quart of blood being deftly removed and then even hung out for an extra 4 - 5 minutes chatting. I'm reminded,... 'neighbors and colleagues, doing business with neighbors and colleagues'.

I still am not crazy about Georgetown. Clean it up. Brighten it up. Bring it into the 21st century. Please re-train the front office staff - PUHLEASE. Otherwise, nice job GA-town staff.

B- GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL

So this next visit will most likely have you losing all faith in my customer service sensing skills. This company is routinely mocked for it's disappointing customer service. And perhaps that would have been my experience had I not found myself parked at Kinko's on 14th and Church at least 2 - 3 times a month. And have gotten to know the Manager quite well and she sees to it that my experience there is always FIRST RATE. She usually assists me herself, sees my request through to completion. She is first rate. As I walk in the door, she calls out from behind the counter "Hi, Melissa". And that pretty mush is an indicator for the rest of my visit. They could use another FedEX shipping machine, as it is they can only assist one customer at a time wishing to send packages.

A- Kinko's at 14th Street NW and Church