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Yesterday, my son fell during physical education in school and injured his left ankle.
When he got home, we noticed that he was limping around the house and applied cold compress on his ankle. We also instructed him to go to bed early in order to rest his ankle. Yesterday, when he woke up for school, he found that he was unable to get out of bed. His ankle had swollen to the size of an orange and we had to get him a crutch to give him some mobility, no matter how limited. We waited till the doctor's office opened and brought him straight to see the orthopaedic surgeon.
As we were walk-in patients and had no appointment due to the nature of the injury, we expected to wait. However, we did not know how long we had to wait. As such, I thought it only prudent to postpone my only patient's appointment to another day so that she did not have to put up with any uncertainties.
When she was contacted, the patient said that she had taken a full day of leave to get her teeth done and she was upset that we had to postpone her appointment. She gave the ultimatum that "by hook or by crook" she expected to be seen today. She even told us that we must understand that she had taken leave for her dental appointment
Here's my dilemma:
1. Should I have left my son alone in the hospital to manage his own affairs so that I could give this patient a good customer experience and be branded as a "bad father"?
2. Should I have stayed with my son until his situation is resolved and disregard the patient's demand and be accused of giving "bad customer service"?
3. Is the customer always right?
I invite comments, feedback and suggestions as to how I should have managed this situation.
Thank you.
When he got home, we noticed that he was limping around the house and applied cold compress on his ankle. We also instructed him to go to bed early in order to rest his ankle. Yesterday, when he woke up for school, he found that he was unable to get out of bed. His ankle had swollen to the size of an orange and we had to get him a crutch to give him some mobility, no matter how limited. We waited till the doctor's office opened and brought him straight to see the orthopaedic surgeon.
As we were walk-in patients and had no appointment due to the nature of the injury, we expected to wait. However, we did not know how long we had to wait. As such, I thought it only prudent to postpone my only patient's appointment to another day so that she did not have to put up with any uncertainties.
When she was contacted, the patient said that she had taken a full day of leave to get her teeth done and she was upset that we had to postpone her appointment. She gave the ultimatum that "by hook or by crook" she expected to be seen today. She even told us that we must understand that she had taken leave for her dental appointment
Here's my dilemma:
1. Should I have left my son alone in the hospital to manage his own affairs so that I could give this patient a good customer experience and be branded as a "bad father"?
2. Should I have stayed with my son until his situation is resolved and disregard the patient's demand and be accused of giving "bad customer service"?
3. Is the customer always right?
I invite comments, feedback and suggestions as to how I should have managed this situation.
Thank you.
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