| Magazin

Englisch in der Patientenkommunikation Teil 19

A complaint gets nearly out of hand

It’s Monday morning and the waiting room at Dr. Schröder‘s practice is packed with patients. Karin, the medical assistant, is very busy organizing the consultations. A patient comes up to the reception desk.

Patient: Excuse me, did you forget to call me? My appointment was scheduled for 9 a.m. and now it‘s 10 o‘clock.
Karin: Mrs. Miller, is it? Yes, you‘re right, we are a bit behind schedule today ...
Mrs. Miller: I wouldn‘t call one hour a bit behind. This is outrageous!
Karin: I‘m very sorry, but we‘re very busy today. Please be a little bit more patient.
Mrs. Miller: I can‘t wait any longer. I took two hours off in my office and there‘s a meeting coming up.
Karin: Thank you for letting me know. I‘ll do my very best to call you in next.
Mrs. Miller: How come that half of the other patients, who came way after me to the practice, have already been called and treated? Is it because I‘m a foreigner?
Karin: Mrs. Miller, we certainly do not discriminate against certain groups of patients. The two patients you are referring to were called to the lab and not to Dr. Schröder. Unfortunately, we had an emergency this morning, a patient fainted in the practice and had to be treated immediately.
Mrs. Miller: I see. But still, you should consider emergencies in your scheduling. I’ve wasted more than one hour by now. It‘s certainly been the last time I came here.
Karin: I‘m sorry to hear, that you feel so annoyed about the waiting time. I assure you this is not an everyday situation.
Mrs. Miller: Too late! I‘ll let everybody know about your unprofessional service in the internet rating.
Karin: I can truly understand your discomfort and I hope you give us another chance.

Vocabulary

to schedule – terminieren
behind schedule – verspätet
outrageous – ungeheuerlich
to be patient – geduldig sein
foreigner – Ausländer/in
to refer to – sich beziehen auf
emergency – Notfall
to faint – in Ohnmacht fallen
immediately – sofort
to consider – berücksichtigen
to waste – verschwenden
to be annoyed – verärgert sein
to assure – versichern
discomfort – Unannehmlichkeiten

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