Tuesday, January 29, 2008

New requirements to be a doctor...

So I'm going to vent a little bit...When we moved I had to find a new pediatrician and then the end of last year our insurance changed and so I had to find yet another pediatrician. My old new pediatrician that I got when we first moved wouldn't see my kids until they had all the medical records transferred from the previous pediatrician. It was quite the experience trying to get the records tracked down and getting the kids in the computer before they could be seen. Since it was a fairly nasty experience I have been putting off making my first trip to my new pediatrician. Well, Ashley has been battling some kind of illness for 1 1/2 week so it got to the point where I had to go to the new pediatrician yesterday. So I made the dreaded phone call. I was put on hold initially which is to be expected on a Monday morning. So I listened to the elevator music for about 10 minutes. Then I got to talk to the scheduling nurse who obviously was not happy about it being a Monday morning. When I told her that Ashley was a new patient, she asked me if she was in the computer. Well, her records have been transferred to your office. "Well, that doesn't mean she is in the computer." Okay then.. So after some grumbling on her part about me not knowing if she was in the computer and about having to check and see, I was then transferred to the front desk because evidently the scheduling nurse can't put Ashley's information into the computer. The front desk lady was in a much better mood. She must of had a better morning before she arrived at work. So we got Ashley "put in the computer" which basically meant putting her name and birthday in their database. Then, since I needed to schedule an appointment, she had to transfer me back to the scheduling nurse. And so I got put back in the que and got to listen to some more relaxing elevator music for 10 more minutes. Fortunately (or maybe unfortunately, I'm not sure) I got the same scheduling nurse. Now that Ashley was in the computer we could get her an appointment. Well, I guess it wasn't that easy because since she was a new patient she had to have a longer appointment time and "well, since we've had so many calls this morning (while I was on hold for 20 minutes) I'm not sure if we have a slot for her." Fortunately, Deb the nurse was in a "good mood" and got her in that afternoon. Now I was ready to give Deb a little piece of my mind and the whole time she was complaining about finding Ashley an appointment time, I was formulating a response in my mind. Fortunately, since it took her awhile, I was able to calm down a little and simply asked Deb "I have three other children. Is there something I need to do with you to get them ready in your computer so that when they are ill you can be prepared for them?" Deb's response: silence. Seriously, I thought she had hung up on me. So I ask the question again adding "It seems like there was something I was suppose to do before Ashley got sick that I didn't do." Deb's voice returned "Oh no, there wasn't anything you were suppose to do. We'll just have to put each of them in the computer when they get sick." So evidently the new rule in medicine is: I can't be a doctor if I don't have a computer.

3 comments:

Alissa said...

Hey Karen,
Are you sure you weren't calling someplace like a city-county building? This conversation reminds me so much of my lovely encounters with those folks ("we're on the 2nd floor...you need to go to the 3rd floor...that's one floor up from here.") it's eerie. If getting a driver's license and a doctor are such joys in this lovely state, I wonder what sitcom material a jury summons will bring. I think you should plan on taking the video camera. ;)

Anna said...

Karen! That's crazy! I'm so sorry - too much stress to deal with when you already have a sick child!

And, BTW, how's Ashley?

The Bullhorn said...

Not to be overly political on what is a normally non-political site, but if this is what it's like now, just wait until the "McCain-Clinton-Obama Bi-Partisan Health Care Crisis Solution Act" passes Congress with the election of the next president.