The customer is ALWAYS right!

The health care industry is a very peculiar thing. It is part corporation and humanitarian organization. After all, the major goal of any health care organization is to maintain and improve the quality of health care available to its patients/customers and the community in general. This means that the health care industry must be mindful of providing the best "product" available while maintaining strict financial guidelines. Such challenges are unique and only seen by the health care industry as their actions directly affect the quality of human life. This is made even more difficult because humans tend to have varying opinions regarding the same situation. Cultural, financial, ethical, and moral beliefs always come into play when an individual gives their own personal opinion about an organization or process they have been affected by. To put it lightly the same exact event may happen to 10 similar individuals, but these same individuals may have 10 very different opinions.

As health care professionals we must understand that quality improvement is directly linked to an individual's perception of our "product". While others may believe we have delivered a "quality product" the stark reality is that there will always be someone who translates this product to an adverse event in their life. This means that as health care professionals we have to strive to treat the entire community while paying attention to the individual for one reason:

-The community is made up of individuals.

For health care quality to continue to grow, we must begin to diversify our understanding of health care delivery and realize that one type of plan, process, or technique simply will not suffice for every individual. Instead, our health care system needs to concentrate on treating the whole individual and having them take part in their own health care. For this to occur the patient must pay attention to the physical and psychological aspects of their health, physicians must listen more intently to the all the needs of the patient, administrators must find ways to allow physicians to accomplish their work to the best of their ability, and policy makers must understand that health care is a personal choice, not a community decision.

Quality is a perception of the individual and as a result we must treat the entire individual. If we do not, we most certainly can expect the community to flounder.