Oct. 21, 2008 at 9:13am

Got a minute, doc?

Posted by Kathleen Deakins in Advertising, Practice Management
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A passenger who sees a dirty tray table, an airline CEO once remarked, is likely to question if the engines are maintained properly. That’s because consumers use cues to judge quality. I was reminded of this lesson just now as I reviewed the results of interviews, focus groups and surveys conducted by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation in 14 communities around the country.

It’s the relationship

In fact, treatment just didn’t come up much in the research. When it did come up, it was when something had gone very wrong.

Time = quality

The patient-provider relationship is especially important to women. Women said the main health care quality problem they see is not having enough time with their doctors. It’s not surprising then that quality cues for women include:

• Time to ask questions

• Time to build rapport

• Time to understand their own health condition

• Time to learn how to take care of themselves

Using quality cues in ads 

So the next time I use a patient testimonial in an ad to make the point about quality, I’ll put the focus on the relationship and time. I’ll avoid presenting the doctor as an aloof expert in an esoteric treatment, and I won’t fool myself into believing that a quality award — no matter how much I paid for it — will change many minds.

Note: Special thanks to Diane Giese of the Puget Sound Health Alliance for sharing this research.

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