A couple of weeks ago I found myself in the emergency room with what turned out to be appendicitis.

All things considered; it was a fantastic experience! The person that greeted me in the vestibule before I even really got inside, the folks working triage, the nurse practitioner that journeyed alongside me all the way to the operating room, the ER nurses, the radiology technician, the OR nurses, the anesthesiologists, and the surgeon were all just plain lovely. I suspect, given the track record on the day, the recovery room staff was awesome too, but I don’t remember them even a little. Everyone was kind and compassionate. They were transparent and informative about every next step that was about to occur. They asked questions and listened to my answers. They anticipated my needs and concerns and took steps to address them. They were apologetic about the wait for the CT scan and results and explained the reason for the wait. They didn’t even roll their eyes when I told them I’d been watching Dopesick and had lots of thoughts about what kind of drugs they were giving me. When I went for my post-op follow-up appointment the other day, that office was the same. Conversational, warm, informative, thorough, lovely. I arrived at the hospital around 1:30 pm and left (without an appendix) before 10 pm and my major takeaway from the entire ordeal was–whenever I’m given the choice, I will always choose to go to that hospital.

I feel like ER staff in the middle of a pandemic are at the top of my list of people who have a reason to be grumpy, short, and hurried–but they weren’t. AT ALL. The way it permeated the entire place, every single person, I have to wonder if that is their brand. A concerted effort by the entire organization to ensure patients and their loved ones feel cared for. I imagine a hospital team sitting around a conference table with a brand consultant discussing what emotions they want to evoke when people interact with them–heard and seen, comfortable, important. What words did they want people to use when they talked about them– friendly, compassionate, knowledgeable, trusted. They left that meeting and invested in ensuring these values and ideals were distributed and implemented throughout the entire hospital system. I could feel it.

Food For Thought:

1. Ensuring your company or organization has a plan for a consistent and unified customer/stakeholder experience is an excellent way to build your brand.

2. Ensuring that consistent experience is a positive one is an excellent way to build trust and loyalty with your stakeholders.

If you think the word on the street is less than stellar about your end-user experience or you have a question about what a consistent experience looks like, please reach out!

If you think you have acute appendicitis and want to know what ER I went to, please reach out...NO! Don’t email me-just go to the hospital!

*This is not meant to be a global statement on the US healthcare system. I acknowledge that my experience is not everyone’s and that being white and having access to affordable health insurance impacts my choices and my level of care.