I recently was out to dinner with my wife, and since we were in a hurry to catch the next movie show, we sat down at the bar to get quicker service. While sitting at the bar, we struck up a conversation with a pleasant gentleman sipping some red wine. We were able to decipher that he was a recently retired Chef from a high scale restaurant. I then proceeded to tell him that I was a podiatrist in Edison, NJ. He asked if he could ask for some medical advice, and started going over his most recent visit to a Primary Care Physician. He complained that he waited for 60 minutes, and saw her for less than 3 minutes. He continued to say, he did not like her because she did not shake his hand to say hello or goodbye, or ask if he had any questions before she “stormed” out. He continued with his disappointments, and vented as if I was partially to blame. He finally ended by saying, “I will never go back there again.”

This was an easy lesson learned in Marketing 101. Obviously, the doctor did not have a great bedside manner, but to leave a patient’s room before answering all their questions, is just plain rude. Now, it is easy to see how one bad visit can effect the reputation of a physician, case in point, this gentleman proceeded to ostracize the physician to me, and anyone else that would listen. Just by asking the patient if they have any questions before leaving, could actually have bought her new patients instead of losing one. There is a saying that a person will tell three people about a good experience, and ten people about a bad one.

By Dr. Varun (Ben) Gujral