Customer Service Is Not Dead! We Consider it to be Part of the Product
By Paul Mazurek, RN, BSN, M.Ed., CCRN, CFRN, CHSE-A, NRP, IC
As a flight nurse and healthcare educator, I have spent my career working alongside clinicians and educators who understand that trust, communication, and responsiveness are not optional. They are essential. That perspective shapes the way I think about customer service and the importance of relationships in healthcare education.
Recently, I found myself on the customer side of two frustrating situations. In both cases, I had purchased something with the reasonable expectation that, if something went wrong, someone would help me work through it. Instead, I experienced what many customers experience today: being redirected, being told who was not responsible, being given another phone number, or being left to figure out the next step on my own.
That kind of interaction does more than frustrate a customer. It changes the way they feel about the company.
And that is the part that organizations sometimes forget.
A customer may initially purchase a product because of its features, technology, price, or reputation. But whether they stay, recommend it, or trust it often depends on what happens after the purchase. When something does not go as planned, the customer is no longer evaluating only the product. They are evaluating the people behind it.
That matters deeply in healthcare simulation.
At VRpatients, we are proud of the technology we provide. We believe in the value of virtual simulation, clinical reasoning, learner engagement, and realistic patient encounters. But I also believe that what our customers and future customers will gravitate toward is not only what we can provide from a technical standpoint. It is also our commitment to the experience they receive when they are trying to solve a problem, improve a course, meet learning outcomes, or bring their own vision for success to life.
For VRpatients, customer service is not separate from the learning experience. It is part of it.
Our customers are educators, program directors, simulation specialists, healthcare leaders, and people who care deeply about preparing learners for real patient care. As a flight nurse and Educational Nurse Coordinator for the University of Michigan Health System, I understand that the work our customers do ultimately affects real patients and real outcomes, which is why I appreciate the pressures they face every day. Many of them are already stretched. They are managing curriculum demands, accreditation requirements, learner needs, faculty workload, technology adoption, and the pressure to make education meaningful and measurable.
When they reach out, they are not always simply asking a technical question. Sometimes they are asking, “Can you help me make this work for my students?” Sometimes they are asking, “Can this support the way I teach?” Sometimes they are asking, “Can you help me turn an idea into something that will actually improve learning?”
That requires more than a help desk response.
It requires listening.
It requires responsiveness.
It requires walking with the customer through the journey.
One thing I am proud of is that we try very hard to be responsive to customer needs and feedback when we receive it. We answer phone calls and emails not only during what might be considered regular business hours, but whenever we reasonably can. That does not mean perfection. It does not mean every problem has an immediate answer. But it does mean the customer is not left feeling ignored, dismissed, or passed from one place to another.
That matters.
Because in simulation, the goal is not simply to use technology. The goal is to help learners grow. The goal is to support educators in creating experiences that develop clinical judgment, communication, prioritization, empathy, and decision-making. The goal is to help programs meet their learning objectives while also honoring their individual vision for what success looks like.
That kind of partnership cannot happen if customer service is treated as an afterthought.
I sometimes wonder if customer service has started to feel like a forgotten or archaic concept in the climate we live in today. So many interactions are automated, transactional, or designed around efficiency rather than relationship. Customers are often asked to adapt to the system instead of the system adapting to the customer’s actual need.
But I believe customer service still matters. In fact, I believe it may matter now more than ever.
Especially in education.
Especially in healthcare.
Especially when the product is not just a product, but a tool used to shape the next generation of clinicians.
At VRpatients, our commitment should not end once a customer has access to the platform. In many ways, that is where the most important part of the relationship begins. The question becomes: How can we help you use this well? How can we support your learners? How can we help you build the kind of experience that reflects your goals, your standards, and your vision?
Technology may open the door.
But service builds the relationship.
And relationship builds trust.
I am not sure how many competitors can truly say that they walk alongside their customers in that way. But I know it is something worth protecting, strengthening, and being proud of.
Because at the end of the day, people remember how they were treated.
They remember whether someone answered.
They remember whether someone listened.
They remember whether someone cared enough to stay with the problem until there was a path forward.
That is not archaic.
That is essential.