Maintaining Professional Relations with Patients When Unexpected Things Happen: The Case for Service Recovery

Background There are bound to be cases where cost, delivery, or outcomes differ from what the patient had expected. It also happens that patients do not always live up to dentist’s expectations.Methods A large general literature shows that service recovery can vary from the protracted and expensive to well-managed cases where patients and professionals emerge with even more positive relationships than they had before the error occurred.Results Five steps in managing service recovery are presented: (a) have a policy of prevention and preparation, (b) clarify your role, (c) listen, (d) agree on the best available mutual path forward, and (e) learn from the experience.Conclusions Available service recovery strategies range from practice development to service recovery, to mediation, to arbitration, to litigation, and even to loss of license.Practical Implications The ultimate service recovery strategy accepts some errors as inevitable and manages these through continuous quality improvement.