Patient Satisfaction Scores AI transcript and summary - episode of podcast Re-Mind Yourself

Go to PodExtra AI's episode page (Patient Satisfaction Scores) to play and view complete AI-processed content: summary, mindmap, topics, takeaways, transcript, keywords and highlights.

Go to PodExtra AI's podcast page (Re-Mind Yourself) to view the AI-processed content of all episodes of this podcast.

View full AI transcripts and summaries of all podcast episodes on the blog: Re-Mind Yourself

Episode: Patient Satisfaction Scores

Author: Michelle Chestovich MD
Duration: 00:16:10

Episode Shownotes

Physician coach Michelle Chestovich MD takes on this controversial and stressful topic! Listen in to learn a 4 step strategy to not let patient comments ruin your day or week!Want to get more ReMinders in your inbox? sign up here:https://mamadoclifecoaching.myflodesk.com/remindersComments/ideas? Drop an email at [email protected]

Full Transcript

00:00:00 Speaker_00
You are listening to Episode 171 of the Remind Yourself Podcast. Welcome to the Remind Yourself Podcast, the podcast for physician moms just like you who want to ditch mom guilt, stop yelling, and start enjoying their lives today.

00:00:22 Speaker_00
I'm your host, Michelle Chestovich, certified life coach, family physician, and mom of four. If you want to overcome overwhelm for once and for all, this is the place for you. Hey, Mama Docs, and welcome back. I'm so glad you're here.

00:00:41 Speaker_00
I love that you tune in weekly to get these tips that help you deal with stress on the regular.

00:00:47 Speaker_00
And I want to invite you today that if you're not already on my email list, click on the link in the show notes, and you will receive my email series reminders.

00:00:56 Speaker_00
This is where I not only tell you about the updates of what's going on on the podcast weekly, but I share other tips and tools along with invitations.

00:01:05 Speaker_00
Okay, friends, click on the link in the show notes and get on the emails so you can get those reminders on the regular.

00:01:12 Speaker_00
Today, I'm going to share with you strategies about another topic that I see regularly that causes a lot of stress and consternation for physician women that I work with, and it is this, patient satisfaction scores.

00:01:29 Speaker_00
I literally have had women reach out to me and say, hey, I think I need you to coach with me because I recently saw patient satisfaction scores and they caused me a great deal of stress and I can't stop thinking about it.

00:01:41 Speaker_00
And I said, I'm here to help. So if you also get a sick feeling when you get the scores in your email or however it is that you receive them,

00:01:51 Speaker_00
You are not alone, and I'm going to share with you four simple ways to kind of get back on top of patient satisfaction remarks, no matter what they say. I'm going to start with number one.

00:02:05 Speaker_00
Of course we care what other people think, and of course we want things to be perfect. We have a long legacy of perfectionism as physicians, and we've gotten the good grades all the way through.

00:02:19 Speaker_00
We've gotten accolades for being great helpers, and it feels really good to get all of that external validation. So it is absolutely no wonder that we want perfect scores across the board, including patient comments.

00:02:34 Speaker_00
Evolutionarily, we are programmed to care what other people think because we wanna fit into the group. Our survival depended on it. And as women in our society, we've been socialized to care even more.

00:02:49 Speaker_00
I'm not saying that the men don't care what the patients have to say, of course they do. But I think we as women care even more because that's just how we've been socialized. So when a patient makes a comment like,

00:03:01 Speaker_00
the physician seemed not to listen to my problems today, didn't give me the prescription that I wanted, it hurts.

00:03:11 Speaker_00
Even though if we take a huge step back, we can look and say, wait a minute, they're upset because I didn't give them antibiotics for a viral infection. We can understand that, but we're still hurt that they didn't understand our explanation.

00:03:26 Speaker_00
We think that no matter what, that a patient should be satisfied. And just that is where we've gone wrong. Now, I'm not saying it's not going to hurt, but this is where a dose of self-compassion goes a long way.

00:03:39 Speaker_00
When you get a response and someone doesn't like something that you did, put your hand on your heart and take a deep breath. This really hurts. I feel really bad that this patient had X, Y, or Z to say about me.

00:03:56 Speaker_00
And of course, I want everyone to like me. And that is not going to happen all the time. And this is part of being human. I can't make everybody happy all the time. And now what do I need to kind of get through this moment? How can I be kind to myself?

00:04:11 Speaker_00
Or what do I need right now? Sometimes it's helpful to then, you know, talk to a colleague about it and or, you know, take some time and look at some of the other more positive messages.

00:04:23 Speaker_00
But self-compassion, just realizing, yeah, this hurts, makes a lot of sense. And it gets us away from toxic positivity, like, well, whatever. You know, I don't really care because really, as humans, we do care.

00:04:37 Speaker_00
And I think to just be mindful of that and kind to yourself as you're looking through these can really make a big difference. Secondly, I want you to realize that, of course, your brain perseverates and ruminates on the one negative comment.

00:04:55 Speaker_00
Our brain is wired for negativity, and you've taken your brain to medical school to really focus on all the negative.

00:05:02 Speaker_00
And while that really helps us create a beautiful differential and take great care of our patients, it makes us focus on the negative in all areas of our life.

00:05:11 Speaker_00
So you may get 15 patient comments, and one of them is negative, and that's the only one that you can focus on. This makes so much sense. Of course, the brain focuses on this. So again, a little self-compassion.

00:05:25 Speaker_00
And number two, give equal airtime to the positive remarks, right? Okay, brain, you want to focus on this one negative remark, but how can I remember? Look at all of these other amazing things. But it's really cute.

00:05:39 Speaker_00
The brain keeps wanting to go back to the negative. Again, rinse and repeat. Hand on heart. Self-compassion. Yes, brain. You're focused on this one negative thing. Yes, brain. Not everybody's going to love me. And now I'm going to focus on the positive.

00:05:55 Speaker_00
Thirdly, it's really important for you to decide what makes a good physician. Why are we putting so much credence on these remarks? My thought is, more often than not, the upset patients are going to be the ones who take the time to do this.

00:06:11 Speaker_00
So that's interesting. There's a bias in even who's responding to these remarks.

00:06:16 Speaker_00
But I want you to decide, instead of going up and feeling really good when patients have positive things to say, and then going really down when they have negative things to say, what if we could take all of it with a bit of a grain of salt?

00:06:30 Speaker_00
What if it's most important for you to decide, I'm doing a good job? You're the grader. You need to decide, I am a good physician. I see my patients. I listen carefully to what's going on.

00:06:46 Speaker_00
I come up with an accurate assessment and I share a clear plan with them. What if that's what you thought a good physician is?

00:06:54 Speaker_00
And if a patient's upset because you didn't give them a prescription or they're upset because you were not running on time, whatever their situation might be, you can just realize, oh, That's their opinion, right?

00:07:07 Speaker_00
But I'm going to go back to what I think is really important for a physician. Is it always giving in to what our patients want?

00:07:13 Speaker_00
Heck no, and I know you believe that, and we just hope that our patients fall into line and agree with us, and then there's not gonna be a problem.

00:07:22 Speaker_00
But I'm gonna remind you that other people have their own thoughts and feelings and opinions, and you have yours as well. So this is where I come back to that's their lane, this is my lane, and then there's the universe and God lane.

00:07:38 Speaker_00
Stay in your own lane, people. Validate yourself that you are a good physician. And if some other people have another opinion, again, it may hurt a little bit, but you can just recognize like, oh, they didn't love it. And that's okay.

00:07:52 Speaker_00
That's their interpretation. Because I tell you what, you can have the exact same situation. You can be running 30 minutes behind and someone's going to be really upset about it and another person doesn't care at all.

00:08:02 Speaker_00
You could give the same advice for the same diagnosis. Someone's going to think you're the best physician ever and someone's going to think you're not.

00:08:09 Speaker_00
So again, instead of this teeter-totter back and forth and up and down, vacillating and reacting to what everyone else has to say about you, I want you to decide what is a good physician

00:08:21 Speaker_00
and give yourself the credit that you're doing that on the regular. Which brings me to the fourth and final step, and that's self-validation daily.

00:08:30 Speaker_00
Once you decide what it is that makes up a good physician and other people have different opinions, when you validate regularly, at the end of the day, hey, I helped a lot of people.

00:08:40 Speaker_00
Sure, I didn't solve all of their problems, but they came in and I listened, and I came up with the best and most accurate diagnosis that I could, and I shared with them a good plan, including follow-up if things aren't getting better or taking a turn for the worse.

00:08:54 Speaker_00
Give yourself that validation. Now, this is a piece that many of you do not do because it feels like a participation ribbon. You think that you should only validate if you, you know, diagnose the big zebra out there.

00:09:07 Speaker_00
No, no matter what your area of medicine, no matter if you're in the hospital, the clinic, the OR, I want you at the end of every day to give yourself that validation. Hey, I showed up today. I helped people today. I did a good job.

00:09:23 Speaker_00
This helps build that flame of self-confidence that then, no matter what other people say, it doesn't rock us so much. The reason that we sway so much, some of us just don't have as much internal self-confidence and we expect to get it from others.

00:09:40 Speaker_00
This is an inside job, folks. And when we fan that flame of self-confidence and know that we're doing a good job, we are gonna so much better be able to handle no matter what the patients have to say, right?

00:09:53 Speaker_00
We can take everything with a grain of salt and it's so much easier. That being said, it still hurts to have people say that we're not the best, the most awesome, so on and so forth. I know. I've been there.

00:10:06 Speaker_00
But I want you to know and I want you to believe and remind yourself on the regular, you are doing good work. You are helping people.

00:10:14 Speaker_00
Even if someone comes in and just spews all of their struggles to you and you have to sort through it over the next few weeks, you were there and you listened to them and that alone is therapeutic and healing and you will work together towards coming with a good solution for them.

00:10:31 Speaker_00
So again, my friends, I know this is a big area of stress for you and I've had some people just say like, I just don't look at any of it. or I have my staff remove all the negatives and I only look at the positives.

00:10:44 Speaker_00
I want you to be able to handle whatever comes your way. And I really think that if you utilize this four-step strategy, that it will help you and it won't have to rock your world.

00:10:54 Speaker_00
Now, don't even get me started on how I think that all of this should just disappear anyway, right? Like why are we being graded by our patients? And especially when they're making comments about like,

00:11:03 Speaker_00
scheduling and the front desk staff and so on and so forth, like that is more of a systems issue, but currently that is the way it is. And so I invite you to take a deep breath, look at it with a grain of salt, and give yourself a lot of compassion.

00:11:18 Speaker_00
If it's too stressful for you, and you just don't want to look at it, that's totally fine. Although I do think these coaching tips that I'm sharing will help.

00:11:27 Speaker_00
I will just end by sharing with you that probably about 10 years ago, I received, you know, some information, patient satisfaction information, and my organization used to have money.

00:11:39 Speaker_00
tied to this at the end of the year, that if you had, you know, certain percentage of patient satisfaction, then you got the money that had been pulled aside, given back to you.

00:11:49 Speaker_00
And my organization had a goal set of 97.5% patient satisfaction, which is quite high. And when I got my little report card back, I saw that I had a 97.4% satisfaction rate.

00:12:03 Speaker_00
So the $1,500 that had been sequestered that was given back if you achieved the goal was withheld for me. And I I remember this day very much.

00:12:13 Speaker_00
And maybe I should have started this podcast conversation with it, although it's upsetting me even just to bring it up. Because again, it was about 10 years ago. And I remember getting this folder and pulling it out and seeing in red $97.40 back.

00:12:23 Speaker_00
And I was devastated. I felt like such a failure. I thought I And I was mad. Let's be honest, I was mad. I'm like, okay, so I'm not getting my money back, and I failed. Like, I'm horrible. And this wasn't even a particular, like, comment from a patient.

00:12:45 Speaker_00
It was just like an overall, like, grading, right? And so I decided right then and there, at least that year when I was probably feeling really burnt out, that, like, I wasn't even going to look at this anymore.

00:12:55 Speaker_00
So for me, that's what I did for self-preservation 10 years ago. Again, this was before I understood coaching. This was before I understood that I

00:13:03 Speaker_00
could have different thoughts about it, and that, of course, patients have their thoughts, so on and so forth. But I just remember self-preservation thinking, I'm not even gonna look at this stuff anymore. This is so dumb.

00:13:13 Speaker_00
I'm not going to be so upset by this. And I just put it aside, and I didn't say anything to my husband.

00:13:20 Speaker_00
I was embarrassed and ashamed that I left this money, quote unquote, on the table because I didn't do a good enough job that I didn't get this reward money back.

00:13:31 Speaker_00
Then a couple weeks later, I was thinking more about it, probably on a run, and I thought to myself, this is absolutely actually ridiculous. I had a patient satisfaction score of 97.4, and I'm berating myself and saying I'm a failure? This is so dumb.

00:13:47 Speaker_00
I was 0.1 off of achieving the financial reward. And I don't need to get into all this. I brought it up to my organization many, many times that I thought that it was very not helpful to kind of pull money aside and reward.

00:14:01 Speaker_00
I thought that was very punitive, and I didn't love it. And I still stand by that today. I don't think that that's very helpful. I really believe in focusing on quality. And of course, all of these things, how can we make improvements as an organization?

00:14:12 Speaker_00
But it just felt so punitive. And I thought, damn. 97.4% of patients are highly satisfied with the work I do. That is amazing work. And so from then on, that's what I decided to believe.

00:14:24 Speaker_00
I did continue to kind of have self-preservation and not look at the details of it, but it started my journey of self-validation of I am doing a good job.

00:14:35 Speaker_00
No matter what the numbers say, no matter what the patients say, I know that I show up every day and I do my best. I listen to the patients. I help them with their problems. Okay.

00:14:48 Speaker_00
I just have to let you guys know that I still, even talking about it, I feel the pressure in my chest and the tightness in my throat. So I know how much this affects you because it's affected me too.

00:15:01 Speaker_00
I'm not even sharing some of the personal comments that I've gotten as well that have kind of rocked me because... I know you get them too, right? But I just want you to know that I've been there and I know how much of a struggle it can be.

00:15:15 Speaker_00
And I really do think that utilizing these four steps will help you tremendously. If you have further questions or concerns, please feel free to reach out. My email is in the show notes.

00:15:26 Speaker_00
And again, if you're not already on my email list, click on that so you can get weekly reminders from me. I'm here to help support you to navigate this journey of motherhood and medicine, and I'm here for you.

00:15:41 Speaker_00
All right, my friends, that's what I have for you this week. And until next week, peace and love to all of you. Are you ready to take control of your life and put these tools into action? I'm here to help.

00:15:53 Speaker_00
I offer free consultations for physician moms to see if my one-on-one coaching package is right for you. You can sign up for a free consult at www.MamaDocLifeCoach.com