Recognition

I wrote a post a while back, about a training class I went to, about the Number One Complaint, and about being "nice" to patients and their families.  I came away from that class wanting to focus on what we really have to offer out here. Afterwards, I put together a training session for our dept, about focusing on quality customer service.  Some of that was written in my pizza post.

Had a somewhat unusual thing happen this week.

In the obits, a "thank you" notice from the family of a patient.  For our "caring and compassion."

Wow.

So I guess maybe we HAVE been focusing on it.

Thing is, I remember that call.  Have thought about it a lot since it happened.

You know how sometimes, calls are sad?  For whatever reason, you feel for the family.

Well, this one really hit me. I guess there were some aspects to it that I felt personally, more than most.

It is likely that the family felt I was "caring and compassionate" because I really was. That wasn't acting, at all.  My heart broke for them all, and I was concerned about each of them individually.  I still am.

So for a call where really the only thing I had to offer was sincere caring, it was nice to have that recognized.

But it doesn't make it any easier, or any less heartbreaking.