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People-Friendly vs. Strictly Professional -- Medical Industry
 

Medical industry is one which many of us dread of. In normal days, we don't get a lot of chance to be in touch with it anyway. But when we really do, usually we would first be put off by the thought of seeing the doctor, and then followed by the opportunity to be proven right that our fear is indeed founded.
Dwelling back on the same experience with the dentist, I could still remember vividly how she tempered with my inner fear to a great extent. For a person who has not befriended any dentist from day one (thanks to my childhood experience!), and for a person who has so much confidence over his set of highly presentable teeth (with no major problem so far, except those once-in-a-blue-moon attack while taking ice cream), what would it feel like to tell him that he has got this, this and that problem, all at one go? Yup, not just one tooth, not even two, but a fabulous three!


I looked at her in shock, and her expression has never been more cool --- no smile, no sadness, no nothing! Feeling unbelievable, I fought back, hoping that I could clinched on the last straw which could pull me out of this nightmare. Then I could say, "Phew... thank God! It was just a dream....", sweating all the way to the palm. However, the chair which I was sitting on, the light that shone into my eyes, and the doctor whom I was talking to were all real. And under such circumstances, no sweat was to be found!

 

"So, you were telling me that I had cavity in this pre-molar, and my two lower wisdom teeth were showing sign of decay, and there is yet another out-of-the-place tooth between my bicuspid and premolar which might cause future decay," repeating what she said while pointing at the piece of paper pre-drawn with our teeth arrangement and her 'crossing' ('X') which showed the potential sources of problem.

'Mmhmm..,' she nodded, as if nothing had happened.


Seeing that I was still in a highly confused state, she asked,
'What's wrong with that?'

"What's wrong?! By simple calculation, there is a sudden surge of problem, jumping from a quantity of 0 (nil) to 3! It's a whopping 300% increase, and there was no warning!!!"

/*Note: At that time, I was caught in too much of a surprise that I forgot from 0 to 3 is an INFINITY increase in percentage, in strict mathematical term, instead of just 300%.*/

She finally understood my logic of thinking, yet unperturbed.


'So shall we do the filling now, and let you think about the major operation after this?'


Without much choice, I complied.



Now, let's talk about the way she dealt with my psychology as a patient. Without trying to understand where I was coming from, as in my oral background, she went straight to force it down my throat that there was quite some problem with my set of teeth. Shaken by the new discovery (whose validity has yet to be proven. Second opinions are to be sought from other dentists), she went on to explain what kind of treatment I needed. All out of sudden, I just felt that my set of teeth, which had done me proud all along, was nothing but a piece of burden with hell a lot of problem.

After the session, when I look back, I realize how big a difference it would mean if she started out by complimenting the good ones first, before going into the not-so-healthy one. She could go something like this:


"Aha...., you have a nice set of teeth. Pretty strong and healthy, but there is just a little problem with this and that one. Now, let me explain where you should go from here..."

I am sure I would have felt a lot better this way, rather than to face a bunch of 'criticism' all at one shot. Did she think that I had got a heart of an iron, or a face of a bullet-proof glass that I could stomach all these without shock? Or was she just trying to act professionally, which is supposed not to express any personal feeling or empathy for the patient (lest she lost the gut to perform any bloody operation)?

Of course, I do understand that if the doctor were to feel sad over his patient's suffering, he would probably run into a gloomy psychic (since most people, if not all, only see a doctor when they have any afflicting problem). Having said that, it doesn't stop the doctor from being more human, and hence, more understanding towards his patient. This reminds me of my childhood doctor who would give away some tasty sweet whenever we paid her a visit. How about those who would talk to you to distract your attention when you told them that you have needle fright? And those who would cheerfully volunteer information on how common your problem is, so that you don't feel all alone while facing it. The message that you are not abnormal even WITH the problem, does carry a lot of weight to soothe the patient's anxiety, as well as to boost his self-confidence.

Isn't it true that we need to have a healthy mentality to combat any illness? After all, our body's natural defense is by far the most efficient weapon against many natural diseases, as compared to the dozens of drugs out there. Just look at the treatment for common cold and you would know what I mean. This relates well with the new concept of health science, that of adopting a wholistic approach to heal. So long to the conventional way of treating patient like an animal, or worse still, an inanimate object. The new age doctor would have to be more people-friendly instead of merely acting out of professionalism. No wonder sometimes when there is a stretch of clinics along the same row of shops, some of them thrive on their business while others enjoy killing flies. There is just no magic behind the difference.

Now, when I look at the name card which I collected from the dental clinic, I was surprised to see the ugly logo used by the company. You know what is that? A side-drawing of a person's jaw, with two rows of teeth clearly shown to its root at the bone. Yes, it reminds us well that we are nothing but skeleton deep inside. A professional job well done, to convey the educational message (as if we don't know!). Until the time they start to be more people-oriented (at least come out with a more aesthetically pleasing design for company logo, for goodness sake!), they are going to lose business like nobody's business.

Flipping over, across and underneath the name card, I don't see any email address to which this customer feedback could be sent to. And you call this customer-friendly!

Now I wonder, is there any way we can teach doctors to be more enterprising? ;)

Sharing to advance humanity,
Yin Choon

ps: A simple question: what is the cause of the above problem?

(1) Professionalism does not mix with entrepreneurship

(2) Academia does not have high regards on enterprising spirit

(3) Prestigious professions never want to work with down-to-earth business sense

(4) There are more demand from the patients than the supply of doctor


An observation on a close industry:

Lawyers nowadays are getting more and more entrepreneurial. A law firm in the State ventured into the business world with a dotcom company (holding shares in the start-up), and eventually got themselves rewarded millions of dollars when the company took off. Similar occurrence is taking place in Europe as well. It's just a matter of time when the fever catches on Asia.
If you are unaware, being a technopreneur club, SIFT have been approached by many lawyers, who are one of the early birds who jumped on the bandwagon of the New Economy. We struck our very first deal of MOU (Memorandum of Understanding) with two law firms, one local, another international.

Doctors might be the next group to do so, knowing that 'Life Science' sets to be the next wave of advanced technology.

 

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Updated: 28th May 2000

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