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Dave Gorden

CEO | Dave Gorden & Associates

Knoxville, TN, UNITED STATES

Speaker Hall ofFame member that works with groups who want to provide "Guest Astonishment"

Industry Expertise (3)

Hospitality

Retail

Health Care - Facilities

Areas of Expertise (3)

Creative Management Techniques

Customer Service/Guest Astonishment

Leaders Serve Their Internal Customer

Sample Talks (1)

The Mystery Patient

This describes it better than I ever could: (Editor's note: The author of the following article is using a pseudonym to protect the identity of the facility where he is employed. He is an MT (ASCP) with many years of laboratory experience.) Laboratory personnel are well acquainted with on-site visits of state national accrediting agencies. The stamp of approval gained by their visits gives a degree of assurance that a given laboratory is meeting a designated standard. The role of these agencies appears to be an integral part of the health care system. Yet most hospital employees are aware that such visits and subsequent affirmations have an aura of artificiality - that what they observe and approve is not always typical in the work-a-day world of the hospital. THIS INCONGRUITY is more or less to be expected because on-site visits are usually announced months in advance, and the standards evaluated are public knowledge. Med techs can and should be able to put on their "best face" when the announced evaluators descend upon their workplace. Several questions emerge from this scenario. How well do the conditions existing during an on-site visit represent the actual practices that a consumer/patient encounters during his/her stay in the hospital? How important is accreditation to the typical patient when measured against the treatment the patient personally receives? To what extent should hospitals regard the opinions of their patients as a basis for framing policy and practices? Should patients' opinions be considered a type of consumer accrediting agency? If consumer/patient opinion is to be held in high regard, how should this information be gathered and implemented in improving health care services? THE ADMINISTRATORS of the state and JCAHO-approved community hospital where I am a long-time employee in an AABB-approved blood bank recently used a rather novel method to answer some of these questions. In an effort to initiate a guest relations improvement program, the

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