PATIENTS have the right to complain but complaints should be made through a health facility’s official channels and not through social media, said Malaysian Pharmaceutical Association president Amrahi Buang.
The 35-year veteran of University Malaya Medical Centre (PPUM) said this in response to a viral social media post that saw a pharmacist at the Hospital Kuala Lumpur (HKL) pharmacy acting unprofessionally towards a patient while using inappropriate language.
“Complaining on social media does not benefit anyone as assumptions can be made and they may not necessarily be true,” he pointed out.
“Saying that the ‘patient is always right’ is also inaccurate as patients make mistakes too and they need to be put right before the patient can seek services from health facilities.”
In terms of patient responsibility, Amrahi noted that a patient must fulfil their responsibilities to the service provider as well and that the cooperation is crucial to achieve a win-win situation for all parties involved.
“Each health facility must come equipped with a ‘complaint mechanism’ with a complaint/suggestion box fitted at the very least. Another method is to set up an e-mail for consumer complaints and suggestions,” he said.
“Each staff must be aware of these methods to be able to relay the necessary information to their patients.” According to Amrahi, miscommunication often occurs when the patient has an underlying ear, nose or throat (ENT), vision-, mental- or speech-related problems.
“It becomes even more challenging when it comes to dealing with patients from various ethnicities who speak different languages. Each staff, especially those at the counters, should be given proper and effective customer communication training.
Furthermore, “difficult patients” need to be dealt with in an orderly manner.
If the staff at the counter were unable to handle such patients, they should be referred to their supervisors or senior management staff.
“The staff can also get assistance from the security personnel should they be mentally or physically threatened,” Amrahi explained.
“It becomes the health facility’s responsibility to protect their staff and to guarantee their safety in addition to ensuring that they are not overly burdened by their responsibilities or a lack of manpower in order to give the best service to their patients.
“Meanwhile, clear and comprehensive standard operating procedures (SOPs) must also be established to deal with patients’ complaints.”
According to Amrahi, health facilities must also be prepared to issue swift and accurate press statements, although a media statement is far from implying that the case is closed.
“The official complaint needs to be followed up with a thorough Root Cause Analysis. The person who made the complaint needs to be called up while the staff must be given a chance to explain his side of the story.
“There must also be corrective actions and preventive actions for the sake of all parties involved. The matter must also be brought to the attention of a Complaints Committee to gauge the effectiveness of the remedial actions to prevent the same thing from reoccuring.
“The case can only be closed when the Complaints Committee is satisfied and after a report has been made to the management team of the health facility,” he concluded. – January 14, 2022
Photo credit: The Star
