Patient facing clinical workers (Doctors, Physician Assistants, Nurses) should be required to have at least two years of customer service experience before jumping into their profession.

I work in a hospital as support staff for clinical workers, and it is so easy to tell when some of them have just graduated from med school and just entered straight into their careers. That’s not a bad thing, after all, they’ve worked hard for it, but it’s just so easy to see how they don’t treat patients and sometimes us support staff as people.

They don’t know how to talk to patients and swear everyone must bow down to them simply because they’re making six figures now. I’ve had to be an advocate for patients on numerous occasions and I can definitely understand how dehumanizing it can be to enter a place seeking help only to be talked down to at your most vulnerable. It’s awful.

Customer service (hospitality, retail, etc) gives people the social and communication skills needed to be effective in any situation. The clinical staff really need it.