Truman Customer Story Column
What a Short Questionnaire Tells Us
We give patients six questions after their surgery. Some fill the space until it runs short; some finish in a few lines.
The subject of today's story was the latter. A short questionnaire with nearly half its boxes left empty. And yet I think these brief answers tell us a great deal. That there was no event worth writing about at length is itself proof that the surgery passed by uneventfully.
The Size of the Worry and the Size of the Reality
Before surgery, what he worried about most was pain.
But after the surgery, he wrote, "There was less pain than I thought." The size of the worry and the size of the actual experience were different. Of course, this was his case, and how much pain one feels differs from person to person. Still, that the vague fear before surgery is often inflated beyond the reality is something we confirm often in the exam room.
What He Did Not Leave Out, Even in a Short Answer
Even after leaving many boxes blank, there was something he did not leave out: that the staff were all kind, and the consultation thorough.
The fewer the words in a review, the more I take the sentences that are written as the ones he truly wanted to leave. Accurately confirming the condition in consultation and explaining the process without omission is also the part we put the most care into.
On the Answer That There Was No Need to Worry Much
As words he wished to leave for those with the same concern, he gave an answer to the effect that there is no need to worry much about the surgery or the pain.
He passed through it more easily than he had feared, but this too is his own experience. Pain and recovery vary with the individual's condition and the scope of surgery, and even whether surgery is needed is something to decide after confirming your own condition through an examination. To those carrying the same worry, rather than saying "erase your worry," I would say: come to the exam room and confirm the grounds for that worry, one by one.
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The Meaning of the Empty Boxes
It was a questionnaire with no dramatic story and no long impressions.
But in a matter like surgery, few results are as good as "it passed uneventfully." So that the next patient's questionnaire can be this plain, too, I will keep practicing in the same place today.
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- Dr. Kim Seok-won, TRUEMAN Gangnam -
