(Providenciales, Turks and Caicos Islands – Monday, May 22nd, 2017): Patient Service Assistants at TCI Hospital are receiving special courses from a leading local trainer in the hospitality sector on the knowledge, skills, and competencies required to strengthen customer service and increase patient satisfaction. The first session was held on Saturday, May 6th and additional sessions are underway.

Popular hospitality sector figure, Blythe Clare was ideally selected due to her expansive track record in the fields of education and customer service training with public and private organizations. Healthcare delivery, similar to tourism, is a service-centered industry and patients expect to be treated with compassion and sensitivity during their most vulnerable moments.

Customer service in a medical setting has a unique set of challenges. Some of these challenges were thrashed out during the course. PSA’s are an essential component to patient satisfaction and these frontline employees are often the first point of engagement for persons in need of healthcare services, and bear the responsibility of shaping first impressions.

Patient satisfaction surveys continuously reveal that attitudes, manners and amenities encountered during patient experiences at medical facilities are equally important as treatment processes. Therefore, health care management teams at TCI Hospital are re- emphasizing that health care, from the patient’s perspective, are as much consumer- focused as other service industries and should be delivered with the same regard. Customer Service Training is also facilitated by the Education Department at TCI Hospital as part of mandatory training for all employees, year-round.

Commenting on the special courses facilitated by Ms. Blythe Clare, Chief of Medical Services, Dr. Denise Braithwaite-Tennant said:

“Effective customer service optimizes the patient experience and reduces their anxiety about the unknown. One of the simplest, least complicated, yet often overlooked aspects of delivering health care is practicing good customer service skills. How we communicate with our patients from the first point of contact and even after they have left the hospital is an important part of the continuum of care. Patient satisfaction survey results internationally support the importance of effective customer service in health care on patient engagement and satisfaction.

TCI Hospital – InterHealth Canada (TCI) Ltd is committed to a great patient experience and to this end, we have begun to strategically supplement our existing customer service training program with support from recognized local leaders in training. It was during the TCI Care workshop where we were attendees, Ms. Blythe Clare offered us her training services and we were delighted for the opportunity for partnership. We are thankful for Ms. Clare for her comprehensive, energetic, interactive and contextual training that was well received by our Patient Services team.”