Tuesday, November 8, 2011

Turns out I'm just grumpy, entitled, and possibly elderly

In this revealing article, Jordan Rau notes the hospitals across the nation with the highest and lowest patient satisfaction rates.  I'm going to tip my hand a bit and say that I was treated in Manhattan.  Manhattan's rated in the bottom six (though that includes more than the hospital I attended). 
No one has proof why New York does so poorly, but everyone has a theory. It could be all the old, cramped hospital buildings that make patients shack up in double rooms. It could be the cranky mix of lots of poor patients in especially bad health and wealthy, entitled patients. It could be the frenetic environment of teaching hospitals with a plethora of residents and specialists poking at patients.
Well it's certainly true that the building itself isn't terribly comfortable but notice how quick Rau is to blame the patient.  In fact, take a look at the opening line: 
Not all hospital patients are alike. Some are harder to satisfy.
 Yes, that's right.  It's not that I had to drink phlegm, or that I was turned into a human pincushion, or that I never got a moment's privacy.  It's that I'm entitled, cranky, poor, wealthy, elderly, and eager to be nasty to people.  Every hospital delivers completely identical care: it's the patient that's the variable.

Why don't you try it for a while, Rau?

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