Accepting Complaints

Dealing with complaints is a chore that most people dread. The hue and cry of those dissatisfied with your level of service is something that makes managers and supervisors wish they were somewhere or someone else. But in today's EMS marketplace, the ability to receive complaints and use them to effect positive change may mean the difference between fostering favorable public opinion and a festering loss of public trust.

We know that no matter what we do, complaints will occur. It is impossible to be in any type of business without somehow generating them. What matters most is what we choose to do with the complaints once we receive them. We can ignore a complaint and put it off as a fluke; placate the complainer and do nothing; or use it as a catalyst to move our organization forward.

The first two options ensure that the complaint is lost-maybe nothing bad will happen because of it, but there is no improvement in customer service and care either. The last-and best-option is to accept the complaint and run it through a process that teaches us how to prevent the same thing from happening again. This option will not only resolve the original issue but may also prevent similar incidents from happening in the future. But first you have to ACCEPT it.

Accessibility is Key

Accepting complaints is possible only if your organization is accessible. Every employee, from new hire to seasoned veteran to supervisor, should know how to receive a complaint in a formal way and whom to contact when one comes in. There should be at least two ways to reach each designated contact, with telephone numbers, e-mail addresses or other easily accessible mechanisms, either printed on a business card or posted on a bulletin board. These give the complainant some options in initiating contact. Additionally, everyone should be free of fear concerning complaints, confident they will receive due process, and held accountable for forwarding them to the contact person.

Communication is Essential

The next step requires the organization, through the designated contact, to COMMUNICATE with the person lodging the complaint (and all other parties involved, internal and external). This communication should be protected (confidential) and free- flowing. The person handling the complaint should not try to stop the customer from venting. Permission to vent helps many people get to the important issue: What do they want? They may just want to vent, or they may want the whole world-either way, the organization needs to understand what a customer's desired outcome is. Only by knowing this can you figure out how to move forward, correct the problem and prevent it from recurring.

Part of communication is taking the time to explain the grievance process to the customer; establishing one point of contact; and setting clear times to "touch base," including possible stopping points in your process. This ensures that the customer does not feel batted around like a tennis ball or left out of the process, which can cause the issue to become heated again and any progress made, lost. Your contact person should then check in at those intervals until the final disposition of the complaint. If personnel issues are involved, the customer need not know the specifics, but may be informed that action has been taken.

It must be noted that communication includes dealing with communities of interest-all those who may be affected by the complaint. Besides customers, personnel or others directly affected, these could eventually include the mayor, the CEO, the city or county council, and sister departments or agencies such as the fire and police departments and the hospital. It is better they find out from you than to learn it from the newspaper or a news crew banging on their front doors early one morning. In the initial steps of the process, the information can be limited only to those individuals with a need to know, but expect the circle to expand as the process moves to the next step.

Determining Your Decision

This is when you will EVALUATE the information and come to a DECISION, taking into consideration the facts of the incident, the opinions and ideas of the parties involved and those affected, and the policies, procedures and values of your organization. Any decision you make will be based upon all of these factors, not because it's human nature to get bogged down, but because you need to use everything at your disposal to arrive at a good decision. Remember also to consider the effects your remedy will have on your company and community. Weighing all these issues can feel like procrastination, but a snap decision could alter your agency forever. It's important to strike a balance between not rushing the issue and moving the process along; however, making no decision is a decision to default.

Part of your determination will be to assess whether additional TRAINING is needed to stop repeated similar occurrences. You will need to determine whether this problem can be addressed in-house in a simple in-service refresher, or if a more formal, in-depth training series is required. Either way, you need to document what was necessary and how you performed it, in case of litigation.

Develop an Intervention Plan

However you resolve the issue, the final step is to IMPLEMENT an intervention plan and to continually reevaluate it in careful consideration of the nature of the complaint and the impact to your organization. Policies or procedures may need to be modified or drawn up. This step may be made independently or in conjunction with customers and stakeholders (governing councils, other agencies, etc.). This is how organizations grow-when complaints lead to plans that become policy.

After you have evaluated the complaint and implemented your decision, you need to PUBLISH the results, so that everyone knows the process has been followed through. Publishing the outcome informs employees, all communities of interest and the public at large that the problem has been identified and measures taken to correct it. This validates the complaint process and demonstrates to everyone-both internally and externally-that complaints are not dismissed, but are acted upon in a professional manner.

Teamwork Rules the Day

At the end of the day, you need to remember that you are part of a TEAM. It is the team-employees and supportive resources-that needs to be in the forefront of your understanding that complaints happen, mistakes are made and made again, but that the team will always survive and grow stronger. Employees need to know that they are valued, and not operating in a zero-deficit workplace: Employees are treated fairly and a healing is allowed to take place in the organization. I liken this to a fractured arm: It hurts a lot but the body survives, eventually gaining full recovery. Focusing on these values, your people and your mission should be reinvigorated.

It comes down to one salient point. If a complaint against your organization occurs, ACCEPT IT; follow the process to build your organization; don't tear it down by neglecting the problem. That complaint is a warning sign of something wrong; heed it; fix it and move on.