Wellness

[LilacTree]

I have two important questions for my GP.  I called the office and asked to speak to her assistant.  I was told "The doctor is on vacation and her staff is off today."  I said, "oh, that's helpful," and she says "have a good day!!!"

Also, at the beginning of their recorded VM, we are now referred to as "customers," not patients.  "Our staff is busy helping other customers, please hold."

I was distinctly under the impression I had called a doctor's office.  I checked the number.  Yep.  I called my doctor's office.

[Alajane]

I definitely feel that my doctor's office staff totally feel it's all business!  He moved from a single practitioner office about a year ago into an office with a 5-doctor practice.  I understand the staff has a lot of "customers" to handle, but they're not a bit helpful and sometimes downright rude.  I don't want to complain to them because I know I'm at their mercy as far as getting to see the doctor.  The doctor and his nurse are extremely personable and seem to really care about their patients.  I've seen this doc for about 20 years and really don't want to change because he knows all my history, but dealing with his office staff is very difficult--they very said (in a very rude tone) they had called numerous times and left messages regarding scheduling a CT scan.  I checked my home, office, and cell phones and there were no missed calls or messages on any of them.

This past Monday I went to his office for an appointment and was informed he got tied up at the hospital.  I definitely have no problem with a doctor getting detained at the hospital, but I asked why they didn't call to let me know.  The receptionist said thtey only found out an hour and a half previously.  That would have plenty of time to at least try to inform patients, so I missed an hour and a half of work for nothing and had to reschedule to discuss some test results.

I understand business--I've been in industry for many years, but in my office we at least make an effort to appear to care about customer issues, whether we're going through our own issues or not!

[Vickiv]

I need a doctor last week. I was informed my doctor was on vacation and only one doctor on for the week. So four docs on vacation at once. Could not get in so I waited unti Monday and try again. Got in Doctor attitude rude. He was annoyed that he was there. Office help the regular ones all gone. Treat you like you don't exist. You are just a number to them. They don't care if you are sick they tell you to go to emergency room. The worst part is these group of doctors take care of the senior citizens.

[cowboy sam]

I wouldn't want a doctor like that !!No way!

[LilacTree]

I remember a story my father used to tell (over and over again).  He was at his doc's office and complaining about some of his symptoms (some from the various 20 meds he was on, I'm sure).  He was 75 at the time.

Somehow, during the conversation, he must have irritated the doc, who said to him "whaddya think, you're gonna live forever?" 

OMG, my father freaked!  He was always a scrappy Italian guy one did not want to mess with.  That doctor was lucky he didn't end up on the floor!!

And this was in FL in 1988.  So it's always been this way for old people.   

[cndkrick]

As for calling patients customers... thats all up to the state. Every year the state issues what it prefers providers refer to their patrons as. As long as i've been around its gone from patient to consumer to client to customer. It's all about that is going to make the patron feel as "normal" as possible. It is dumb. When I was young it was drilled into my head that every one that walked through our door was a patient. They are sick, they are not here because they are well. Well  my mentor did a great job becuase now I refuse to call anyone other than a patient. Now I can stick to the state  what a rogue I am

[Kachina624]

I've become very concerned about the changes I'm seeing in dental offices. It seems that as dentists retire, they are selling their practices to large corporations who cater to Medicaide patients and hire recent grads to work as dentists. My dentist, who I've seen for 15 years, has done this. I don't know what I'm going to do. I'd no sooner found out about it than there was an article in the business section of the newspaper about it.

[Isobel Archer]

My and my DH's doctors are great.  We can email and generally get an answer the same day.

Appointments are not dificult to get either.  We have Kaiser.

Sorry you're having problems.

[ID2]

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@Isobel Archer wrote:

My and my DH's doctors are great.  We can email and generally get an answer the same day.

Appointments are not dificult to get either.  We have Kaiser.

Sorry you're having problems.

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I have the option of emailing my doctor also. But I found out that his nurse intercepts all emails and he'll not see them if she feels she can answer the question. I went round and round trying to get a message to my doctor via email and he never saw it. So keep in mind the response you get from that email you think you sent your doctor is probably just from his nurse.

[LilacTree]

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@cndkrick wrote:

As for calling patients customers... thats all up to the state. Every year the state issues what it prefers providers refer to their patrons as. As long as i've been around its gone from patient to consumer to client to customer. It's all about that is going to make the patron feel as "normal" as possible. It is dumb. When I was young it was drilled into my head that every one that walked through our door was a patient. They are sick, they are not here because they are well. Well  my mentor did a great job becuase now I refuse to call anyone other than a patient. Now I can stick to the state  what a rogue I am

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My daughter who works as an IT in hospitals, told me that our final designation will be "clients."  We will never again be called "patients" formally, although I can't believe that we won't still be called patients if we're in a hospital setting.

She said it's to facilitate software companies who provide automated voicemail messages for a myriad of businesses, so they don't have to change the wording for specific businesses.  Having worked for attorneys and CPAs almost all of my career, that's not an unusual term for me.  But it is in a medical setting.  Imagine a nurse saying to a doctor "the client in room 300 needs to speak with you."