None of us like getting complaints. Hopefully they’re pretty rare, but they’re inevitable in clinical practice. Whether it’s something whispered to the front desk, an off-hand comment to our face, or - worst of all - a bad online review, negative comments have a way of ruining our day. Nevermind the fact that all the other patients that day were enthusiastic, positive and making great progress, that one complaint is probably all you’ll think about when you get home.

Not only that, but you’ll probably have a good case of l’espirit de l’escalier (French for “staircase wit”, or thinking of the perfect reply too late). “I should have said this, that would have shown them!” I’ve been there, it’s not a fun way to spend an evening.

Whilst there’s no simple quick fix for ruminating all night over a complaint, a better use of your energy would be to ask yourself “What could I have done to prevent this?” If your immediate reaction is “Nothing, they’re just unreasonable” - which I totally get - you might want to think a bit harder.

[Quick side note for the inevitable folks thinking “I don’t get complaints” - have a good chat with your front desk staff. They will be the ones receiving the vast majority, and often they don’t want to upset you by passing them on. Especially if they also feel it was an “unreasonable” complaint. If you haven’t made it very clear to your front desk that you WANT to know whenever someone expresses dissatisfaction, there’s a good chance you’re not being told]

Now, I’m not saying the complaint was necessarily justified - we all have patients with unrealistic expectations, and you can’t please everyone all the time. But, if you plan to only cater to “reasonable” people all the time, you’re in for a frustrating career. You are going to have people coming to you with expectations you can’t realistically fulfill. That’s just a fact (sorry!).

However, that doesn’t mean you should just accept some people will complain - there’s a way around this. But here’s the tricky bit - you have to plan ahead and address it before the complaint is made. By the time someone is disappointed, it’s an uphill battle to change their mind. Anger, defensiveness and justification are setting in (likely on both sides!), and in their eyes “what’s done is done”.

Obviously we’re not mind readers, and you won’t be able to anticipate everything that might lead to dissatisfaction. But I bet that a good 80% of the complaints you’ve had are around the same few topics. If you’re unsure, again ask your staff - are there any recurring themes that come up when people appear unhappy with the practice?

If so, great! This means that you have a clear idea of what you need to get ahead of with your new patients. If you address the topic with someone before it comes up, you can address their expectations before they aren’t met, and alter them. That way, you’ve prevented them from ever being dissatisfied in the first place!

Here’s an example - early on in practice, I’d occasionally get comments about the duration of a treatment. Sometimes someone would say “Is that all you’re going to do today?” Others were a bit more blunt: “That’s a lot of money for 15 minutes!” I’d explain to them about how the treatment was very specific, or that I’d provide as much treatment as the needed at each visit, etc. (All the while thinking “It took me 5/6 years of hard work to be able to do that in 15 minutes!”).

But no matter what I said, by the time they’d said this they’d already made up their mind - I was overcharging, or I was rushing them out to see more patients per day, I cared more about my income than my patients… etc. That was usually their last visit.

So here’s what I did instead: I made it a point to address the length and amount of treatment received at each visit with every new patient at their first consultation. I didn’t wait for them to have the experience and try and change their mind when they brought it up. I got in front of it and told every patient what would happen. Even though the majority didn’t need telling, and might not have even noticed if I hadn’t brought it up. At everyone’s first visit, I’d say something like this:

“Now for visits going forward, I can tell you that we will be performing some adjustments pretty much every time. Those are the core part of treatment at this stage, and as you will probably notice, they’re very quick to perform - taking only a few seconds. At times we might use massage, stretching, acupuncture or other techniques as well, but these are all supporting the adjustments, and might not be necessary all the time.

So some visits may be very quick - you come in, get adjusted, and get on with your day - but others may take longer, and we may be doing more. Just be aware this is normal, and isn’t a reflection on how well you are doing. Count on around 15 minutes for a visit - because it’s very specific we won’t keep you longer than necessary - but that could vary by 5-10 minutes either side.”

For all of those patients who found this normal, it didn’t make a difference. But for those who were expecting a half-hour session every time, I addressed and altered their expectation before I even had a chance to “disappoint” them. And it worked - I’ve never had a patient make a comment about the length of time I spend with them since (to me or my staff).

Also note what I didn’t do - I didn’t try to explain why, justify or defend myself. I just put it out there - this is what you can expect going forward. I also left enough “wiggle-room” to account for visits that were longer or shorter than usual.

This specific example might not be an issue for you, but I’d encourage you to think of where else you could apply it in your practice. Perhaps some patients don’t like the fact that you occasionally run late. Maybe they expect lots of active care at their first visit (or maybe they don’t expect to have to do any at all!). If you have associates, maybe some of them are unhappy that treatment “feels different” from different practitioners. These are all examples that are easy to “get in front of” and address beforehand with patients.

And, this can also apply to things that aren’t even a “complaint” - it might be as simple as patients commenting the decor is out of date, or that the room is cold. They’re all opportunities to improve the patient experience in your office. And that’s what ultimately generates referrals, far more than excellent clinical skills or fantastic treatment results.

So, the next time you get some negative feedback from a patient, think of it as constructive criticism (regardless of if it was meant that way!). Rather than trying to justify yourself, getting frustrated with patients, or just trying to forget about those “unreasonable people” you have to deal with, try actively seeking out complaints. They’re an opportunity to manage future expectations, and provide an even better service.

And ultimately, it’s the patients emotional experience in your office that generates quality referrals - not a discount on their next treatment, not thank you cards, and definitely not the fact that you actually asked them to refer people to you (please don’t do that!).