Take some personal responsibility to help improve your health care

We are all customers of heath care providers, and sometimes we forget that. It is a two-way relationship with expectations on both sides.

In my last column, I addressed the challenges of trying to offer good service to the often clueless flying public, and this week we move into the hospital.

Recent events in my life have had me flying all over the U.S. and spending time in a Phoenix hospital under emergency conditions. Both situations gave me ample opportunity to see customers at their worst, and service providers being challenged at every turn.

Chances are that you or someone in your family will end up in the hospital in an emergency situation at least once. As a health care consumer, you need to take some basic steps to be sure you are offered the best service:

• Make a list of all your medications and do not expect that your spouse/children/neighbor will have that information at their fingertips.

• Keep a handy list of all important phone numbers in your cell phone or simply written down so you can reach out to your family and friends.

• Know where all your insurance information is so you can streamline the admissions process.

• And if your medical history is long and complicated, type it up and have it with your list of medications. It just makes it easier if you do not have to rely on your memory under crisis.

But even more basic is how to behave as a patient/medical customer. Remember that:

• The nurse does not have a secret connection to the doctor that allows her or him to control when they see you, what orders are left or your discharge date. Badgering the nurse will not make the doctor behave differently.

• The nursing staff is a professional health care provider group, not the cleaning crew, the kitchen workers or your private slaves. Do not treat them as such.

• You are in the hospital to get better, not to have family reunions that keep staff from taking care of you or other patients.

• If a health care professional enters the room to ask you questions, take blood or offer medications, they deserve your full attention. Hang up the phone, turn down the TV or turn it off and focus on the task at hand.

• Your doctor has medical training and degrees, so why do you think it is appropriate to argue with his or her orders and the plan of treatment? Asking questions is great; arguing is not.

• There is no magic pill that will make you better, and yes, you often have a big part to play in your own recovery. That might include radical lifestyle changes that you don’t want to face, but you’d better start.

• If you are placed in therapy or put on a special diet, go along with it. Be an active participant in your recovery. Complaining and resisting accomplish nothing.

• When you are asked a question, stick to the facts and respond. Don’t look to a family member to describe your symptoms. You have a voice and it needs to be heard. But the health care staff doesn’t need to hear a long, rambling story just letting them know you had such a symptom in the past.

• And families, sometimes the best medicine is to simply let your loved one get some rest. Remember, you still need to take care of yourself.

There are volumes written about patient rights, but what happens to our normal polite customer selves when we enter a hospital or rehab facility? Those who serve us have rights, too. Now before you head over to your keyboard to shoot me an e-mail about how physicians treat patients, extended waiting room stints and other service failures in health care, know that I get it. But the way we act borders on embarrassing at times.

So take some responsibility and understand that your hospital nurse is there for your care and not all the other things we seem to think a nurse can do. Check your expectations at the door. Getting healthy again will be easier with the right focus and attitude, so make yourself a patient someone would want to care for.