Beirut, October 5, 2022: As part of their continuous efforts to remain service leaders in the healthcare industry, the Lebanese American University, the LAU Medical Center-Rizk Hospital and LAU Medical Center-Saint John Hospital have launched a 2-years-long patient-centric training program targeting all its internal community including head nurses, registered nurses (RN), practical nurses (PN), and all staff members across the two hospitals.
The objective of this program is to accomplish the mission of healing with compassion and to enhance the delivery of compassionate care to every patient for a better life.
The program was launched in August 2021 and is planned to continue through 2024. It incorporates different adapted modules that employ several training methodologies, including interactive videos, role plays, and real-life case studies. The comprehensive customer care program revolves around understanding patients’ needs in order
to exceed their expectations and provide them with the best customer service in an ongoing and sustainable manner.
The instilment of a remarkable customer care culture at the hospitals revolves not only around the provision of exceptional medical service by the physicians, but also through the adoption and demonstration of various healthcare-related values such as humility, integrity, helpfulness, kindness, compassion & discretion by all the medical community, including nurses and staff members when dealing with the patients and their families.
The trainings reinforce the importance of appreciating customer care fundamentals in the health care industry, namely: knowledge, values, and health-service related behaviors, in ways that positively affect the patient overall experience at both hospitals.
Dr. Maya Farah, Associate Professor of Marketing and Chairperson of the Marketing Department explained: “The Customer Care Program is designed to reiterate to those who work both at LAUMC-RH & LAUMC SJH the worth of their patient care standards and skills, as those are put into practice to continuously exceed patients’ expectations, especially in the context of the current crisis situation in Lebanon.”
“For us this has been an incredible journey, as we met outstanding nurses and hospital staff who shared with us their personal stories and different acts of compassion with patients and their loved ones. We are so honored to have been bestowed upon this great task as we give back to our alma mater,” affirmed Dr. Zahy Ramadan.
The program was very well received by the participants and some attendees expressed their gratitude stating: “A lot of the subject matter relates directly to my area of work, so it helped me to understand it a lot more. It was an interesting experience. The presented material was detailed and relevant. In addition, the practical exercise and the consequent feedbacks were constructive; would’ve been great to have more of these.”
“When everything is wrong especially in light of the crises affecting all sectors… this is the time we need to excel in customer care, when the patient is most vulnerable”. I will use this sentence as an encouragement to sustain a motivated attitude in these trying times.” (Quality Assistant)
So far, 150 participants have benefitted from the program, and the plan is to train a total of 750 staff members across the two hospitals.