Several years ago, I was more than 45 minutes late to see a patient who was also a good friend. When I came into the exam room, he was livid and said to me, “Neil, would you go to a physician like you?” Not getting the drift of his question, I asked him, “What do you mean?”

He said, “Would you go to a doctor who keeps a patient waiting for 45 minutes for a routine appointment?” I said that I wouldn’t like to wait for the doctor. He told me that he didn’t appreciate it either and said that he wanted a copy of his records and would take his urological care elsewhere with a doctor who respected his time. No matter how many apologies I offered and promises not to be late again, his mind was made up, and he left the practice for a new physician.

I was devastated and decided that I would not let this happen again and was going to develop a patient-centric practice.

I began by developing moments of truth (MOTs) analysis. The first MOT is not when the doctor is eyeball-to-eyeball with the patient. I identified interactions between the practice and our patients and tried to make those interactions as positive as possible for the patients.

Instead, it is usually the telephone.

That is where most patients develop their first impression of the practice. We now have a script on each phone that asks the receptionist to smile and be enthusiastic as the smile can be heard on the other end of the line. To encourage the receptionist to smile, we have a small mirror in front of the phone. Now the receptionist can receive feedback that she/he is indeed smiling.

Send the patient a welcome to the practice package. This contains the practice brochure, a map with directions to the office, suggestions for parking, the website address, and a letter from the physician and the office manager. This personalized letter emphasizes the importance of obtaining authorization from their primary care physician, and that failure to have this authorization will significantly delay their visit to the office. We also ask them to complete their demographic form and health questionnaire before their visit. The receptionist tries to find out the purpose of the visit and will include educational material related to why the patient is seeking an appointment.

New patients taken to the exam room will watch a 5-7-minute video of the practice that introduces the doctor and the office staff. This way, the patient meets the physician and other staff members involved in his/her care.

Even after the patient leaves the practice, we try to manage the MOTs.

The patient again receives a letter from the office manager thanking him/her for being a patient, and additional educational material is included in the letter.

Bottom line: I find it interesting that the Golden Rule that was given to us more than 2000 years ago still applies to today’s health care delivery. We all need to answer the question, “Would we like to be treated by someone the way we are treating our patients?” If the answer is no, we must look at our practices and the way we care for patients and make the necessary changes to give each patient a positive health care experience.