Show Impatience to Noncompliant Patients

Sometimes consumer guilt improves customer satisfaction. When a health care provider induces guilt in a patient for noncompliance with instructions, the patient builds respect for and satisfaction with the professional’s technical expertise and communication skills, according to studies at University of Northern British Columbia. This was true for nagging about medication regimen adherence, maintaining lifestyle changes, and keeping appointments. Patients expect negative regard from doctors about noncompliance.
     But it doesn’t work so well if what’s induced is shame rather than guilt. What’s the distinction?

• With guilt, the consumers acknowledge they’ve done something wrong or failed to do something right 
• With shame, the added element is that the consumers believe that others hold them responsible 

     Adults in individually oriented cultures, like the U.S., UK, and Australia are especially likely to bristle at efforts to arouse shame. “Aim to shame me about not following your instructions and I’ll start searching elsewhere for what I need. I don’t like spending my time and money with people who pin me with responsibility when I’ve failed.”
     The best approach, according to research at University of California-Santa Barbara, is to start by showing positive concern for the noncompliant patient and then follow this with an analysis of the reasons for the compliance shortfalls. The health professional’s attitude when showing positive concern should be enthusiasm. The attitude during the analysis and subsequent corrective action plan should be disappointment and impatience, but never blame.
     This works so well because it fits patient expectations. Health care professionals are assumed to be both caregivers and problem solvers. However, expectations can also get in the way. The UCSB study plus another study at University of North Carolina, New York University, and Providence Everett Medical Center found that due to gender-specific expectations, when either the provider or the patient is female, the communications about noncompliance are less decisive and more ambiguous than when both the provider and patient are male. Women are considered to be the gentler gender. Health could suffer as a result. Check for understanding, especially in male-female noncompliance discussions.
     Health care professionals also should assess whether patient expectations are for a promotion-focused or prevention-focused dialogue. The promotion-focused light up with a “What are some things you can do to make sure everything goes right?” approach. The prevention-focused take comfort in, “What are some of the things you can do to avoid anything that could go wrong?”

For your success: Retailer’s Edge: Boost Profits Using Shopper Psychology

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