About the Course

Understanding exactly what Service Recovery is and having a plan for implementation is top of mind for leaders in healthcare across the country. Service Recovery is a communication practice and process (including a set of tools and techniques) that can be used to make things right after something has gone wrong with the healthcare experience. Service recovery, when executed timely and effectively not only improves patient loyalty and referrals, it also positively affects quality and service outcomes.

This course is best for:

• Leaders

• Physicians

• Staff

• Anyone looking to improve healthcare communication

We can all relate to times we have been disappointed by a service, restaurant, travel, or product experience. Chances are, there are instances when that individual or organization stepped in to recover your disappointment, as well as times when no one addressed your concern. How did their action (or inaction) influence your loyalty to that organization?  The reality in healthcare is that recovering disappointments is profound to shaping the memories, referrals, loyalty, quality, and service outcomes. We are a high risk, high emotion industry and despite our calls to serve and missions, we can make mistakes. According to research, 55% of individuals are already worried something might go wrong during their hospital stay. Knowing we must work harder and harder to meet the demands of patients and consumers across our diverse continuum of care settings, evaluating the effectiveness of your service recovery process can pay dividends in creating patient and family loyalty. 

By the end of this 5-part course, you will be able to:

1. Create a culture of responsiveness to patient and family needs and expectations
2. Equip all employees to address a service failure
3. Turn a negative situation into a positive one
4. Prevent a negative situation before it occurs
5. Have the practice, policy, and procedure to address a situation
6. Monitor trends and opportunities to improve

• Lessons:

• 

  Lesson 1

  Becoming Confident with Service Recovery

  Boosting your confidence and that of your team is the first step to successfully identifying and responding timely to a patient or family concern. Every service disappointment holds the opportunity for us as healthcare providers to recapture the trust and confidence of patients and their families. A well-developed Service Recovery plan that includes messaging and actions will build that trust not only with patients but within the healthcare team. (Video Duration: 2min:54s)

• 

  Lesson 2

  Cuing into Service Failures

  As healthcare leaders, physicians and staff we know our “world”, how things work, who works with who and we can form realistic expectations. Our patients and their families are new to our world and can form incorrect expectations without even knowing it, which can lead to service disappointments. By walking in our patients’ slippers, seeing things from their position in an exam gown we can prevent service failures before they happen. Paying attention to wait times, asking questions, anticipating a schedule change and communicating. These are just the surface of the well of opportunities we have to cue into patient needs. (Video Duration: 2min:20s)

• 

  Lesson 3

  Uncovering the Unsaid

  Sometimes despite our best efforts to anticipate service failures, our patients are dissatisfied and silent. We need to take steps to discover and make it safe for patients to voice their concern. Taking the first step in acknowledging a potential disappointment or one that has occurred helps build confidence in our patients to share their concern or hurt. Building strategies to uncover patient and family disappointments provides a platform to confidently approach patients and give them the opportunity to share how we can serve them better. (Video Duration: 2min:37s)

• 

  Lesson 4

  Responding to Service Failures

  Our response to a service disappointment is key to retaining the confidence of our patients and their families. The healthcare experience is the culmination of varied touch points with healthcare providers. Therefore, our opportunity to encounter a patient with a service disappointment outside of our department or control is very real. No matter where or how the disappointment occurred we can use the opportunity to create good will and shape a positive memory for the patient. (Video Duration: 1min:34s)

• 

  Lesson 5

  Service Recovery Conversation

  At the heart of service recovery is recognition that a conflict has occurred, taking swift action to resolve the issue and building trusting relationships with patients and their families. The Conversation Curve is a conflict management communication model that helps you match the conflict with communication techniques and actions that meet the patient and family perceptions. (Video Duration: 4min:07s)