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Bad administration is bad business!
By Lauren | August 27, 2008
A friend of mine (let’s call her Louise) recently came to town with her five-year-old daughter, who’s about to start kindergarten. On the recommendation of a mutual acquaintance, Louise took her daughter to a local pediatrician for her pre-school physical, about two weeks before the school enrollment deadline. That first visit was pretty traumatic for the little girl, involving blood tests and vaccinations, but it had to be done so the child could start school. Louise was delighted with the doctor, who seemed exceptionally capable and personable. She thought two weeks would be plenty of time for the doctor’s office to complete her daughter’s medical forms.
A week went by, and Louise heard nothing. She called the pediatrician’s office, and was told that the doctor was on vacation that week and to call back in a few days. Louise wasn’t too worried, because she still had another week before the medical forms absolutely had to be filed. She got panicky, however, when she called the following Monday morning, was told to leave a message on the “nurse’s call line,” heard nothing all day, and ultimately learned from a voicemail message left after close of business that her daughter’s medical file was missing, including all of the test results, vaccination records, and the forms she needed for school.
Louise’s story has a happy (or at least acceptable) ending. The pediatrician’s administrative staff eventually found the file, filled in the forms, and sent Louise on her way to the school registrar. Privately, though, Louise wonders whether she should switch pediatricians. She really likes the doctor, but the snafu with the file has seriously shaken her trust. Louise questions how competent a doctor who can’t train his staff to do something as basic as keeping track of new patients’ records can possiby be.
In my legal practice, I’ve dealt with a lot of professionals who leave “administrivia” to others so that they can concentrate on the more specialized work that they love. (I can sympathize – paperwork has never been something I enjoy.) But administration is a critical element of execution, and bad administrative work reflects poorly on any business owner, professional or otherwise.
Take a look at your own company. If files get misplaced, e-mails languish unanswered, calls go unreturned, or customers walk away dissatisfied, it’s time to give your administrators a shot of enthusiasm. You may tend to underrate the importance of the work your administrative staff does but, to clients and customers, your administrators are your representatives. Make sure they do you proud!
Topics: Business Ethics, business communications, customer relations, ethics |
August 30th, 2008 at 3:24 am
Lauren,
Great discussion. Your post reminds me of a biblical story from the book of Acts. Shortly after the death of Christ, the ministry of the apostles was expanding rapidly. As a result of the rapid expansion, some important non-ministry tasks were being neglected. Specifically, the Grecian Jews felt that their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food, and this was a source of considerable tension between them and the Hebraic Jews.
In response, the apostles decided that whilst it would be wrong for them to neglect core ministry tasks themselves, food distribution was nonetheless important and this task should be allocated to people who could be trusted to perform the role in a diligent fashion.
The point I am driving at is the importance of hiring thoroughly competent and diligent staff for non core tasks, such as office administration.
In the case you mentioned, it is right that the doctor himself was not involved in administration of the files. The doctor should focus on patient consultations, not on file management.
However, the doctor does need to employ a diligent and well organized secretary or office manager. His or her failure to do so does call into question the diligence of the doctor himself (or herself), and rightly so.
Cheers
Andrew
August 31st, 2008 at 6:30 pm
Right on!
Too many doctors pay too little attention to what goes on in the front office. As a patient I’ve left two doctors’ practices because I didn’t like the way their staff treated me. One entailed exactly this kind of incompetence.
September 2nd, 2008 at 8:09 am
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