by Tom Urtz
as published in eHealthcare Strategy & Trends

Every marketer’s playbook includes a chapter on customer service.

Remind the public of your philosophy. Recount warm deeds. Highlight delighted patients. And if the satisfaction rating agencies have good things to say, consider going public with the data.

On the tactical front, these moves are all appropriate. But step back and ask the bigger question. Does your organization have a strategy to improve customer service beyond the oft-repeated nostrums of treating patients like family and playing nice with co-workers?

Washington (DC) Hospital Center has one. Count on others to follow its lead.

Mark Smith, MD, chairman of emergency medicine at the 926-bed hospital, sat through a screening of Hate Comes Home,an intense, interactive DVD aimed at overcoming prejudice among high school students. Actors create the environment, then viewers are presented with a series of on-screen choices. How they respond at critical points dictates how the story unfolds.

“I could tell it worked because I had tears in my eyes,” says Smith.

Moved by the power of the tool, he met with James F. Caldas, president of Washington Hospital Center, urging him to subscribe to the same immersion approach to customer service.

Caldas agreed, and the hospital engaged Potomac, MD-based WILL Interactive, Inc., the creator of Hate Comes Home,to develop a hospital-specific video program to expose employees to the consequences – good and otherwise – of their choices. The result is The Anatomy of Care,a dramatic portrayal of life in a hospital, where viewers make choices and witness the responses.
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WILL Interactive, Inc. and Washington Hospital Center Collaborate on
New Simulation Learning Game, “Anatomy of Care”

WASHINGTON, D.C., March 28, 2007 – Potomac, Md.-based WILL Interactive, Inc., a leader in virtual experience behavior modification gaming, is partnering with Washington Hospital Center, the largest hospital in the District of Columbia, to create a Virtual Experience Immersive Learning Simulation® (VEILS®) addressing the critical area of customer care for hospital staff.

“Anatomy of Care is a proactive and effective tool to help today’s hospitals enhance customer care, the ambiance of caring that is the foundation for patients and their families at a time of need,” said Sharon Sloane, CEO of WILL Interactive. “WILL is pleased to have created this simulation training in partnership with Washington Hospital Center.”

Anatomy of Care is designed to educate all hospital staff from doctors to nurses, clerical staff to patient transporters and environmental services employees, as it demonstrates how their actions affect patient care and the overall image of a hospital.
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