The Experience in Apollo Hospitals - Dhaka

The Experience in Apollo Hospitals, Dhaka:

My project was to write about a real life service experience and for this project I interviewed Ms. Rezina Nazneen, who is a faculty in Independent University of Bangladesh. I decided to write about her experience in Apollo Hospitals, Dhaka. She had a surgery there and for this surgery she experienced 6 days of service from Apollo Hospitals.

She was expecting her second child and for the infants delivery she chose Apollo Hospitals, Dhaka. There were several reasons behind choosing this hospital. First of all, she had positive views about Apollo Hospitals and so she wanted a safe delivery of the baby. One of the major reasons is that she lives in Banasri and Apollo Hospitals is pretty close to her house as it is situated near Banasri, in Basundhara.

She has been taking treatments in Apollo Hospitals for the last 1 year or so. So not only she experienced the surgery but also she had to go through many check ups and tests during her pregnancy. All these experiences made her mind to come and have the surgery in Apollo Hospitals as she was satisfied with the services they provide.

The day she went to Apollo Hospitals was 11th of May, 2010. The first day she took her brother with her. They reached the hospital at 11 am. She got down from the car and walked to the atrum. She took a seat in the lobby and her brother went to the admission desk. It took around 2 minutes as the cue was not that long to reach the admission desk. When he reached the admission desk he was greeted by the admission personnel. They reserved a room earlier because it is difficult to find a room immediately. They had already deposited an amount. Then her brother talked to the admission personnel about the room they reserved and it took around 3 to 4 minutes to confirm the reservation. After the confirmation they were given with some receipts mentioning the reservation of the room. Then a volunteer or house keeper was called to take them to the room and carry the luggage. The room was on the 6th floor and so they had to take the elevator. There were two lifts and huge lines were there in front of both of the lifts. It took more than 10 minutes to get into a lift. The wait and the crowd inside the lift made her exhausted. After they reached the floor she was relieved. They got down from the lift and the nurses at the desk greeted them with Salam. Then the house keeper opened the room with the key and welcomed them to enter the room. They entered the room and were pleased with the interior and the outer view from the window, also the lobby outside the room. The housekeeper educated them about each and every function of the switches and also said that if she pushes the calling bell anytime, a nurse will appear within 3 to 4 minutes. He showed them the wash room, switched the air conditioner on and fixed the lights as she wanted. And then he left by conveying them Salam.

In Apollo Hospitals only one person is allowed to stay with the patient as an attendant. So her husband stayed with her. They did not had to bring any food with them as outside food is not allowed inside the hospital. The food of the patient and the attendant was provided by the hospital and the menu of the patient was different from the attendant's. They were given food on time. There was a dietitian for the patients. The first day the dietitian came to see Ms. Rezina to set her diet list and figure out which foods are allergic to her and which are not and also what kind of food she likes to eat and what she does not. According to the diet list she was given food each time. The nurse served dinner around 7:30 pm. After dinner she watched TV for a while and then went to sleep as she was going to have her surgery the next day.

The next morning Rezina was served with breakfast. At 10 am the doctor in charge came to see Rezina for a regular check up before the surgery. Around 12 pm the nurses came to get her ready for the surgery. After she got ready she was taken to the operation theatre. She did not use any stretcher although she was asked by the nurses, as she did not need them. Rezina's daughter, husband, parents, and brother were present at that time. The doctors and nurses were very kind to them and told them not to worry. Rezina was also shown empathy before, during and after the surgery to drive away all the nervousness she had about the surgery. The surgery was successful and she gave birth to a cute little baby boy with no complications.

After the surgery she was kept in the labor room or post operative with her new born baby. They were then shifted to their room around 5:30 pm. Her family and some relatives came to visit her and the new born baby. They left at around 7 pm.

Rezina was given special meal at dinner, lunch and breakfast following the diet list as she just had a surgery. Along with the food of the patient her husband was also given proper meal each time with no delay. Although Rezina brought cloths with her as she had to spend 6 days in the hospital, she did not need to use those cloths. Because, the hospital provided her with special wear, which was specially made for patients and each day for 2 to 3 times the nurses came to her to dress her up. So she did not need to worry about washing the cloths and wearing them by herself. Rezina got discharged from the hospital on 17th of May after her physician notified in her medical record and wrote a discharge order. The hospital's discharge coordinator provided her with a copy of Provisional Bill and asked them whether they require any transportation. The discharge arrangement was done within an hour. When the final bill was ready the ward secretary informed Rezina's husband and provided her with the Billing Clearance Slip. He also asked the patient attendant to go to the IP Billing Counter located in the main lift lobby of Level 1 or Level 7 to settle the bill. Her husband paid the final bill at 12:30 pm. The floor doctor then explained the Discharge Summary along with other instructions. Although they were done with their bill payment at 12:30 pm, the baby was discharged after 3 pm. The reason behind this delay was the pediatrician. He was supposed to check the baby and give him a discharge order at 12 pm, but he was busy doing something else and no one could find him in the hospital till 3 pm. After 3 hours he discharged the child writing down a discharge order. This delay was way down than their expectation level making them dissatisfied. Just before leaving a staff member asked Rezina to fill up a Patient Satisfaction Survey form. One housekeeper carried their luggage to their car and they left the hospital at 3:30 pm. When she was leaving all the nurses and housekeepers who were taking care of her these 6 days wished her and her child a happy life.