Tips for Calling or Writing a Healthcare Organization After a Problem in Your Care
Before contacting anyone, it’s a good idea to write down some notes so you can keep track of what you want to say and what you need to ask.
Plan to talk about what happened to you, what you feel went wrong in your care, and the ways in which you have been harmed. You might try writing down a timeline: what happened, when it happened, and who was there.
Share how you felt about your care, the effect it has had on you and your loved ones, and how your experience may change the way you interact with the organization, healthcare, and its people in the future.
Consider starting with a short summary (1-2 sentences) about what happened and how you were hurt—so that the person has a sense of what you’ll be talking about—and then share more details.
List your questions, the problems you’re having, and the kind of help you want. Often, people who were harmed want to understand what happened and why, and what changes will be made so that the same thing doesn’t happen to someone else. But there may be other things that you need—be sure to ask in case there are ways the organization can help you.
Ask for detailed contact information of the person you are in touch with (e.g., name, direct phone number, email address), and ask when you can expect to hear from them again.
Ask how long it will take for them to look at what happened in your care and how they will share that information with you.
Take notes during all phone calls and meetings, or better yet, ask a personal representative to take notes so that you can focus on the conversation. Follow up the verbal conversation with an email that summarizes the conversation and commitments by all parties.
This work © 2023 by the University of Washington is licensed under the Creative Commons AttributionNonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
