aaaaaaaugh
Oct. 16th, 2001 02:15 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rootofnewtlast tuesday, my doctor called to tell me that my b12 levels were normal and i didn't have to come in for my appointment if i didn't want to. i thanked her and asked what i was supposed to do about the foot pain. she said she was going to refer me to the pain management clinic. i told her that was okay and asked for a number so i could make an appointment.
well, i called the clinic. they told me i could not make an appointment until my doctor faxed my records. so i called the doctor's office back. i asked if they could make sure my records were faxed. they said yes, but they weren't sure when. i asked that i get a confirmation call to verify the fax since i could not make an appointment until i KNEW the records were sent. the receptionist said i would get a call.
so, a week went by--no call. i called today. "oh, we sent those out last week." i asked why i didn't get my confirmation call. "the doctor said we didn't need to call you." after sputtering out my incredulity, i asked that the receptionist have the doctor call me and explain this. i have a feeling she was lying--the reception staff has lied before.
i never experienced this when i saw a doctor who had a private practice. my current doctor is part of a large hospital network. i like her a lot. i like her nurses, but her desk staff is incompetent and unprofessional. i've had the same experience with many other departments of this hospital, with the exception of neurology. the neurology staff seem to have their heads screwed on properly. i would try to find other doctors, but everyone says that i need to see docs at gtown for my health problems.
i realize that working in a doctor's office is a busy, stressful job. i realize that one has to deal with difficult people on a daily basis. i have never been a difficult person. the reception staff there is driving me NUTS. even the RN who works there acknowleges the ineptness of the desk staff. she's offered to kill (jokingly, of course) them for me. they cannot take proper messages, they do not follow through on promises, and they're SURLY, to boot.
what the hell is wrong with this country? i worked in a fast-based office and had to deal with stressed out students, administrators, and parents on a daily basis. i NEVER let my personal feeligns bleed through when i had my professional face/voice on. even when i was too sick to be there and spent my lunch hours napping or crying, i was CIVIL and always followed through on my promises. it was my JOB.
gah. i'm so irate. i can't afford to be this angry. i know the receptionist doesn't care whether i make the appointment with the pain clinic last week or next month, but it's a big fucking deal to me. every day that goes by is one more day that i'm holed up in my house. it's one more day i can't go to the grocery store, visit a friend, or CLEAN because i'm in too much pain.
well, i called the clinic. they told me i could not make an appointment until my doctor faxed my records. so i called the doctor's office back. i asked if they could make sure my records were faxed. they said yes, but they weren't sure when. i asked that i get a confirmation call to verify the fax since i could not make an appointment until i KNEW the records were sent. the receptionist said i would get a call.
so, a week went by--no call. i called today. "oh, we sent those out last week." i asked why i didn't get my confirmation call. "the doctor said we didn't need to call you." after sputtering out my incredulity, i asked that the receptionist have the doctor call me and explain this. i have a feeling she was lying--the reception staff has lied before.
i never experienced this when i saw a doctor who had a private practice. my current doctor is part of a large hospital network. i like her a lot. i like her nurses, but her desk staff is incompetent and unprofessional. i've had the same experience with many other departments of this hospital, with the exception of neurology. the neurology staff seem to have their heads screwed on properly. i would try to find other doctors, but everyone says that i need to see docs at gtown for my health problems.
i realize that working in a doctor's office is a busy, stressful job. i realize that one has to deal with difficult people on a daily basis. i have never been a difficult person. the reception staff there is driving me NUTS. even the RN who works there acknowleges the ineptness of the desk staff. she's offered to kill (jokingly, of course) them for me. they cannot take proper messages, they do not follow through on promises, and they're SURLY, to boot.
what the hell is wrong with this country? i worked in a fast-based office and had to deal with stressed out students, administrators, and parents on a daily basis. i NEVER let my personal feeligns bleed through when i had my professional face/voice on. even when i was too sick to be there and spent my lunch hours napping or crying, i was CIVIL and always followed through on my promises. it was my JOB.
gah. i'm so irate. i can't afford to be this angry. i know the receptionist doesn't care whether i make the appointment with the pain clinic last week or next month, but it's a big fucking deal to me. every day that goes by is one more day that i'm holed up in my house. it's one more day i can't go to the grocery store, visit a friend, or CLEAN because i'm in too much pain.
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grrrrr
{{{ygg}}}
I hope you can get an appointment soon at the pain clinic and that they can help you. Quickly!
think of yourself
Date: 2001-10-16 12:43 pm (UTC)oh, i hate incompetence. but incompetence AND rudeness is a bad combination. if people are going to be that crap, the least they can do is be pleasant.
What is it with doctor and staff these days
I got to the point where I will suffer for weeks and months before I even try to go to the Dr.'s office anymore, simply because it's such a right pain in the arse. Sigh...unfortunately some ills just don't go away and you have to go deal with the dr.s, staff, insurance, companies and assorted other leperous and insidious creatures. I recently had my own battle royale with a new dr, whom I have christened Dr. Dipshit. (for full info on this, as if anyone were really interested, check out my journal.)
Anyway, the upshot of this is sorry to hear that you're having such a problem with these idiots. Sometimes the only way to really get through to them is convince them that you are so mentally unstable you are entirely likely to come into the office and "go postal." My allergists staff all become very quiet and well behaved when I come in these days, after I spent a month trying to talk the stupidity out of them. (fat chance.) They decided to stop billing secondary insurance, it was now supposed to be my responsibility, however the insurance company said they couldn't accept the billing from me, it had to come from the doctor's office. Lovely catch 22 hmm??? I finally leaned over the counter one day and grabbed the receptionist by the shirt and said very quietly and very fiercely "are you aware that I'm under psychiatric care and prone to fits of violence?" I let go of her and started SCREAMING in a waiting room full of people how STUPID they were being about this insurance problem...cleared the waiting room in 1 1/2 minutes flat.
They started billing the insurance company.
Sometimes being insane can be to your benefit, if you work it right.
BTW, loved reading your husband's journal, thanks for providing the link to it. He's as humorous to read as you are!
((hugs))
Date: 2001-10-21 07:20 pm (UTC)It pisses me off and I often don't have the energy to be as persistent as I'd like to be, but sometimes it pays off to be a pain. Seems like this a common theme all over the medical world as doctors and nurses have to spend more and more time dealing with billing and insurance than medicine. It's a real shame.
Good luck with getting into see this pain management clinic! I really really hope they can help you some.