“You Have the Power,” I said

I could see disbelief in the eyes of my class. Most of them felt that they were at the bottom of the totem pole. They were the least educated, the most underpaid, and, they thought, the least valued staff in the company. I am talking about certified nurse’s aides or CNAs.

One of my job duties as a nursing home Social Service Director was to provide on-going in-service education to the line staff. My required topics included “Resident Rights”, “Theft and Loss of Resident Property”, and “How to Communicate with the Elderly.”

On this date my topic was “Customer Service Skills.” Why had I chosen that? My intention was to help them become aware that their perceptions about themselves were not true. Rather than being the least valued staff, they were, in fact, the most important.

I had no authority to increase their wages or improve their work conditions. The life of a nursing home CNA is very demanding, physically and emotionally. But I hoped to get across to them that what they did every single day, the type of interactions they had with both the resident and their families, mattered a great deal to the success of the company.

“You have the Power”, I kept repeating. “Customer satisfaction is important. You play a key role in customer satisfaction! You have the power to satisfy our customers: patients and families.”

A nursing home is in the business of providing care to people who can no longer care for themselves in their homes. Just like other businesses, the nursing home owners want to make money. The staff, who usually go into a helping profession because they care about people, often do not realize that they, too, have a vested interest in helping the company make money. They like to be paid, and if the home is to remain open, it must be profitable.

Every day, nursing home staff have to deal with resident complaints. These can range from complaints that the food is cold, medication wasn’t given on time, or call-lights weren’t answered promptly. How these complaints are handled is crucial to improving customer satisfaction.

And like other businesses, much of a nursing home’s business comes from word of mouth. If you know Grandma received great care at XYZ home, you will tell your friends, who will remember when Uncle Joe needs a nursing home. On the other hand, if you had a bad experience with the care at Tip-Top Nursing Home, you will also be sure to tell everyone. And when they, or a loved one, needs some extra care, they will think, “Oh don’t send me to Tip-Top. I’ve heard that you receive very poor care there.” And that begins a ripple effect that is very difficult to get turned around.

The first person a nursing home resident usually sees when they get admitted, besides someone from the admissions office, is a CNA. They are the people assigned to get the person’s vitals, inventory their belongings, and get them settled in. This first impression can make a world of difference in the resident’s perception of their experience, especially if they are only there for short-term therapy following surgery. It is the CNA who will bring them their food, take them to the bathroom, give them a bath, and usually answer their call light.

So I would tell the CNAs, “You have the power to ensure that this experience is a positive one, or a negative one. If you answer a call light and snarl, “What do you want, you are always on the call light?” then the image is going to be negative. It doesn’t matter if the person really does put on the call light every 5 minutes. It is more important that they feel as though their needs are being addressed. The powerful response would be “How can I help you?” and then do whatever is needed to provide that service.

We had one CNA, let’s call her Angela, who totally understood the concept. She received corporate awards for her customer service skills. Angela was promoted to the a unique role we had created, a CNA “Concierge,” would have first contact with the resident upon admission. She did not know the meaning of the words, “It’s not my patient.” If Angela saw a call light, she would answer it and help out. She knew the names of all the residents in the building, not just those on her section. She would go to the laundry to find lost clothing, go to the beauty shop to make an appointment, help family members pack when it was time to go home, and was there when someone needed a shoulder to cry on. She never raised her voice or showed anger towards a resident or family member, although Angela could get as frustrated as the rest of us.

And the funny thing is that, when I looked around the room at the staff that had gathered for the in-service, Angela was always sitting in the first row, ready to learn more. On the other hand,  CNAs that had demonstrated a need to improve their customer skills were notably absent. They did not get, or did not care, that they “Had the Power” to positively impact the lives of the residents in their care.

”As far as customers are concerned you are the company. This is not a burden, but the core of your job. You hold in your hands the power to keep customers coming back – perhaps even to make or break the company.”
- Unknown