Medical People

Gotta love 'em.  Gotta hate 'em.  Just saying.  Been taking care of my 82 year old (going on 13) Mom, who has COPD and CHF.  Getting old is not for wussies.  Don't you hate it when you tell the receptionist at the Doc's office who you are, who the patient is, and their first question is "Last Name?".  Don't you hate it when someone with 1/4 your education and technical skills puts you on hold indefinately?  Don't you hate it when they can't return a call?  Or treat you like cattle?
 
Don't you love it when you find someone who really cares, sees that you do too, and partners with you to make it right?
 
A roller coaster ride of an experience thus far.  But it did generate two songs - "Don't Moon Your Proctologist", and Bifocal Blues".
 
Just venting into open space.  Obviously, this is the right place to do that...

I routinely initiate or answer a phone call by introducing myself and listening to the other persons introduction... if any is offered.

I'd say a receptionist that doesn't have the skill to receive a phone call and note the caller's name the first time it is mentioned is lacking in the skills required for good reception.

It wasn't so long ago that we actually had schools to train people in the skills required to perform that sort of job competently.

It's almost like when you walk up to the counter at Macdonalds, after waiting your turn patiently, and saying "Hi... I'd like a Big Mac, small fries and a Coke" and the cashier replies "may I take your order?".

I can figure out what's going on there in the first few words. ;-)

Good Luck MNorman!

best regards,
mike

Just venting into open space. Obviously, this is the right place to do that...

 
Yep. I love my doctors but I hate the current state of "modern medicine" and the parasitic billing conglomerate that has attached itself to medicine. I suppose that's politics to some degree but it's unavoidable. That low wage phone answerer that screws up your situation is nothing more than a information finder that doesn't know how to find the information if it's even there yet.
At least your Mom has something to do.

Not gonna get too deep into this, since it is an obvious rant by someone who is emotionally vested in it, but, claiming that the receptionist has "1/4 your education and technical skills" might be part of the problem.

I have performed the role of receptionist in a doctor's office. Attitude can be discerned over the telephone in the the first few words, and if the person on the other end is talking down at me, I might find it more difficult finding your records, taking your information, etc.  If you know what I'm sayin'.

And I will bet my "education and technical skills" are at the very least equal to yours.

Later
Albert

Spoken like a true receptionist.

LOL

Not gonna get too deep into this, since it is an obvious rant by someone who is emotionally vested in it, but, claiming that the receptionist has "1/4 your education and technical skills" might be part of the problem. I have performed the role of receptionist in a doctor's office. Attitude can be discerned over the telephone in the the first few words, and if the person on the other end is talking down at me, I might find it more difficult finding your records, taking your information, etc. If you know what I'm sayin'. And I will bet my "education and technical skills" are at the very least equal to yours. Later Albert

gamblerschoice

Guess if you knew me you'd know I don't talk down to anyone.  And your last sentence, to someone you don't know, is rather telling.  And this was hardly a rant.  I just object to being talked down to.  If she thought she was talking to a doctor, her attitude would no doubt be different.  Why?  This was my point, not that I deserve more, but that I don't deserve less.  Noone does. 

My Dad had dementia combined with PTSD from combat in WWII.

It wasn't pretty... in fact it was horrific... he made it all the way back to the horrible 2s.

That is just the facts.... I would have settled for a 13 year old.

My friend Kevin just hosted his MOM for the past month... she lives in New York with his sisters mos of the year. He brought her out for a visit and she seemed lovely and kind, but asked me how many times a year I use my Table Saw to cook Bar B Que.

I took the OPs statement to mean that his Mom is in a similar state.




With regards to doctors... 3 years ago I made an appointment with what I had heard was our towns best eye doctor. My insurance denied it and sent me to their HMO system provider.

1-1/2 years later, after seeing 9 eye doctors and a neurologist I finally got to see the doctor I had originally asked to see... he looked at my eye for 5 minutes, said my cornea was scarred, and told me to come back in the morning and he fixed it.

The system farmed a boat load of revenue off of my eye in the interest of saving money by denying me access to the best doctor for the job.

In fact, doctor number 8 mistakenly accused me of working the system in an effort to get a prescription for contact lenses. The previous doctor had actually suggested contacts because he noticed a small deformity on my cornea. I had been calm and well mannered up to that point, but after not seeing well through that eye for 2 years, and finding myself being accused of simple vanity because doctor number 8 didn't understand doctor number 7's diagnosis... I flipped out and started screaming... "What do I have to do to see a real doctor? I have CASH!!!" and they immediately got me an appointment, ironically, at the place I had, as a lowly consumer, identified as my best choice.

I still don't no how long you are supposed to be nice in the face of incompetence.




My father in law passed away last year of respiratory fibrosis... he had all the resources required to get great help. He had regular care and great relationships with his doctors.
5 years prior when he sensed something was wrong he started asking questions. 3-1/2 years in to it, after crisscrossing the country and going to Mayo clinics and other specialty clinics someone came up with a diagnosis and the famous words, "you really should have had this checked out earlier"... now this was the kindest gentlest man you can imagine... and he's getting chastised for starting too get help too late by someone who doesn't know he's been at it for 3-1/2 years.

So, that was treated like a death sentence. He lived in a town with a hospital that had a great lung replacement program but every doctor he knew told him he was too old and didn't qualify.

So at the very end when we sought out a good place for his final battle (My wife and I moved down for 1-1/2 months to help manage the situation) we found that his regular doctors couldn't practice at the best place we could find for him to get 24/7 care. We weighed our choices and accepted that short term comfort was paramount... so we are introduced to a new pulminary specialist type doctor. He had a formal relationship with the primary doctor. He seemed kind and very optimistic about a dismal situation.

BTW, When you are near death your insurance gets wiggly, because no one wants to spend money just keeping you alive for an extra week... once everyone says you can not get better they start to show you the loop holes. :-(

Well, anyways... 3 days out just as our father is facing the hardest decision he would ever make... the pulmonary doctor says the cruelest thing imaginable... "It's shame you didn't come to me sooner, I interned over at the lung replacement center and I could have certainly gotten you a lung replacement" and with that our father, whom had started anticipating enjoying heaven, fell in to 3 days of deep despair.

It was known to us that all of these doctors knew each other and that they consulted amongst them selves on our father's case... but it turned out no one really gave a **** enough to make anything happen.


I could tell you about my mom, but it's simply too horrific.... twenty years of the medical system harvesting money off of some of the best medial insurance in the USA... and not once did anyone attempt to actually cure my Mom of what made her sick... they just sold the insurance company her treatments, medicine and finally a new kidney.... which required even more medicine.


When people speak of attitudes of entitlement I think of the staff at all those medical facilities I've visited in recent years. Punch the clock workers enjoying HVAC and a office chair that swivels.

I met some really good people along the way... but they are rendered helpless by the inertial weight of the self serving androids that seem to dominate the system.

It is indefensible.

Mike, thanks, you get it.  Albert, saying my Mom was going on 13 has nothing to do with her character, only what the illness, and the idea of it, are doing to her, and to the family.  Actually, for the family, it's an affectionate term.  Perhaps you've never had to deal with this.  In any case, am not sure why you want to pick a fight with me - I have no desire nor energy for fighting.  Wrote what I thought was a gentle jab at folks who exercise power over others, simply because they can, simply because there is little accountability for their actions.  In some respects, you helped me make my point.  You might have missed that I also praised the ones who get past that, and really care about the patients.  I guess I also wanted to learn a bit more about the folks who hang out here.  I did...

Very sorry to hear about your Mom.  I agree with your use of the word "sometimes".  The majority get the fact that they are in a profession that has the honor and privilege of serving humanity. 

I definately need to dust off the Proctologist song and post it.  There's a pronounced shortage of humor in this thread....

I'm a nurse, though obviously i live in the UK, work for the NHS, and we don't have to worry about the inequities and iniquities of the US health'care' system....

gotta say most of my colleagues are very friendly, competent and interested, there are some people who are less so as in every job, and given we do it in a very stressful, money-strapped profession, it's amazing really. 3/4 yrs training (for nurses), 5 for docs, ongoing post-qualifying courses for both (i have done seven 3 month modules in the 5 years since qualifying), the need to pay £75 a year just for the privelege of working as a nurse, working a 365/24/7 job and we get a pay freeze for 2 years as 'thanks'...

but hey, we all know someone who got a rough deal at some point in their experiences with the health system.

Trying to avoid the more sensitive issues presented so far, I will apologize for any comments I made the were out of line, although I would consider the inhearant problems of faceless, annonymous text only communication partly to blame for misunderstandings.

The horror story directions that most posts have taken are obviously the reason for the general distrust and dislike for the medical profession that permeates here. All I can say is that, from recent personal experience, past experiences for myself and family members, and friends through the years, I have never had these types of problems. All of the relationships I have had with my doctors, medical professionals I have been in contact with, and the insurance companies that have I have been connected to through employers have been good. I have never had problems with diagnosis, treatment, supplies or payments, ever.

I have quite a few relatives in medicine at various levels, also relatives who work in insurance claims and adjustment roles. They are all decent, honorable people.

The comment about the diminished intelligence was probably the point that caught my attention, since I have just spent two years and $12,000 going to college for medical assistant/medical coding classes to try to maintain employment in this economic downturn. Maybe I took it too personal, but at my age, then add the recent cancer scare, it hurts to be lumped in with every incompetent milkshake jockey to mush mouthed telephone operator after the investment of time and energy that could have been used just sitting here waiting for the next check....

Like I said before, I give up, you win.

Later
Albert