Customer satisfaction and consumer responsibility: toward an alternative model of medical service quality

In the increasingly competitive environment of medical services and patient care, physicians feel a strong pressure for increasing efforts to improve patient satisfaction with the goal of creating a loyal patient base. These steps to promote patient satisfaction have typically involved developing new programs and services, as medical offices seek to attract and keep their patients by continually enhancing service features. While patient satisfaction is a worthy goal, this paper argues that we often make mistakes and incur expensive costs in pursuing satisfaction as an end unto itself. This paper proposes an alternative model, based on creating a doctor-patient therapeutic alliance which has the dual benefits of enhancing patient satisfaction while improving the critical personal relationship between doctors and their patients, so necessary for the delivery of optimal care.