Sunday, November 15, 2009

A Hospital missed an opportunity to improve its user experience, and gain some bucks

A few months ago I went to a hospital for a routine check: blood tests and the like.

So one of the test was a urine test, and I totally forgot about the need to bring your own cup to the hospital. So I asked if they could provide me with one. The answer was NO. Period.
So I asked "what can I do then?". The answer was "Go to a pharmacy store and get one". Period.
So I asked "so, where can I find a pharmacy around, do you have one in the hospital?". Answer: "No we don't, get out of the hospital, turn left... and you will finally find it... but it might be closed since it's summer time, so you might need to go to this other one".

So I went... and, of course, the pharmacy was closed on vacation. So I had to walk some more to find the other pharmacy... just to find that, of course, it's 8:00AM and they don't open until 9:00AM. So I had to wait for one hour in the street till they opened, buy a €0.60 cup, go to the hospital and finally deliver what I should have delivered more than one hour earlier.

So my questions are... am I the only one who forgets buying the cup before the test? Isn't the hospital missing an opportunity here to server its customers much better? How come don't they provide a small pharmacy inside, even if they charge you a premium for what they offer? I don't know if there's a law that forbids them to sell drugs, but... cups??? Of course I will not ever forget the cup in my entire life again, but is this the way to "teach" customers? Because for what I know, I will never have a test there again...

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