The Three A’s of a Hospital

There is an old saying that the success of a healthcare institution is founded upon three A’s: availability, affability and aptitude. They are important in precisely that order.

When can they see a doctor?

Availability is of paramount importance in healthcare. Efficient operational structures are key to this. Service must be timely and resources must be in line with demand of the community served or the practice will face a backlog of patients. Here in Abu Dhabi, Mubadala Healthcare has been building a network of world-class specialty healthcare facilities including Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi, to ensure that patients have access to doctors with the specialized skillset they require.

What’s more important than the structure is the mentality of Caregivers. To a true Caregiver, patients are never an obligation or an annoyance. I am incredibly proud to say that I’ve never met a Cleveland Clinic physician who has not managed to see patients in need of care ? 98% of the people that request a same day appointment at Cleveland Clinic get one. This is a core tenet of what we are replicating at Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi.

Who will consider all of their needs?

Affability isn’t just about whether or not you smile at your patients. It’s about delivering care with empathy and an understanding of holistic needs.

With insights gleaned from Mubadala Healthcare, we are localizing the Cleveland Clinic patient experience to meet the specific needs of the Abu Dhabi community. Knowing that families play an important role for UAE Nationals, Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi’s inpatient rooms were designed with space to accommodate extended family members.

We’ve come to understand how many environmental factors, from greetings received at the reception desk to quality and delivery of food services, drive patient experience. This recognition empowers our Caregivers to understand the impact of their individual role on the patient experience.

We are bringing Cleveland Clinic’s best practices for patient experience to Abu Dhabi in order to provide compassionate, patient-centered care of the highest quality, complementing the UAE’s evolving healthcare industry.

Is this the best care available?

While this may be most critical from a healthcare perspective, aptitude has historically been hardest for most patients to assess, as sometimes a job well-done can only be determined after the fact.

The good news is that Caregiver aptitude is becoming much easier to evaluate. In the US, for example, an online search for a specific physician will yield a number of websites which now provide overviews on individual physicians’ qualifications, as well as feedback and ratings received directly from patients.

The institutions themselves must also take responsibility in setting new standards for quality metrics. In the interest of full transparency, many healthcare institutions are now publishing clinical outcome books to allow more comfort and trust in quality of care. Cleveland Clinic began publishing outcome books about 20 years ago and Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi will do the same.

Patients come to Caregivers at a vulnerable moment and instill trust in someone who may be a stranger. The privilege of that trust inspires me daily to ensure that all of our Caregivers are performing at the highest level.

These three words – availability, affability and aptitude – drive most service-based businesses, but the ramifications are so much larger in healthcare, when people are in need of care.

When we effectively apply these terms, patients can feel confident and at ease. They know they’re in the right place and that they can focus on getting better, not managing the people around them.