Doctor Office Etiquette

[d_squared431 0]

I never said they don't deserve treatment. You and many others might find me and other people in the medical field cynical with what I posted and heartless but you could not be more wrong. If a person knowingly smokes 1-3pks a day refuses to see it is harmful to them and gets pissed at us because there is nothing we can do to prevent them from being short of breath, then they need an eye opener.

With smells, you have no clue how bad patients smell. I mean weeks month no showers because they won't and no deodorant...one patient uses lysol instead of showering. These odors in a small room with no window ......makes me nauseous just thinking about it. Pee and poo stained clothes with sweat.....ewww

But I'm sure you are just here to jump my ass about my views on this topic. So go ahead..... I have to go back to work .....

TPM Sister#130ONTIG#1
I love vodka.I love vodka cause it rhymes with Tuaca~LisaH
You having a clean thought is like billyvance having a clean post.iluvtofly

[iluvtofly 0]

I hope that was supposed to be sarcasm.

[ryoder 1,398]

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As I stated: It was his PHYSICIAN ASSISTANT.

Was it THE physician assistant?

Different Dr.
The hand specialist has a dude PA.

It's the ENT/Plastic surgeon that has the two smoking hot female PA's.

"There are only three things of value: younger women, faster airplanes, and bigger crocodiles" - Arthur Jones.

[Andy9o8 0]

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Bare with me

How you doin'?

[rnicks 0]

No, I certainly don't want to jump your ass!! But your post did come across as quite cynical. I suppose I have a pet peeve with people who choose to work in the medical field and then don't have compassion. (Not saying you don't, but I only had the one post to go on.)

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If a person knowingly smokes 1-3pks a day refuses to see it is harmful to them and gets pissed at us because there is nothing we can do to prevent them from being short of breath, then they need an eye opener.

I've never met anybody who blamed their issues from smoking on anybody other themselves. Yes, they are pissed for being sick, but not pissed at me.

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With smells, you have no clue how bad patients smell

Trust me, in my line of I've seen (smellled!!) it all. But I not only choose to work in health care, I also choose to work with the public. Just comes with job.

Again, NOT jumping your ass!! Just friendly debating.


To iluvtofly: No. I don't see how any of my post could have been construed as sarcasm. I'm a HUGE pt advocate.

[theonlyski 3]

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I also want to add that when patients come into be seen don't bring a damn shopping list of everything under the sun for the MD to address. 2-3 main issues at one visit or the doc won't ever get to the next patient.

Well, shit... guess I need to make a bunch of appointments, at $25 each.

"I may be a dirty pirate hooker...but I'm not about to go stand on the corner." iluvtofly
DPH -7, TDS 578, Muff 5153, SCR 14890
I'm an asshole, and I approve this message

[missbrz 0]

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But I not only choose to work in health care, I also choose to work with the public.

What do you mean you work with the public?

[rnicks 0]

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But I not only choose to work in health care, I also choose to work with the public.

What do you mean you work with the public?

I'm not quite sure what you're asking?

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/public

With that as the definition, my job would certainly entail working with the public. (I'm a nurse.)

[missbrz 0]

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But I not only choose to work in health care, I also choose to work with the public.

What do you mean you work with the public?

I'm not quite sure what you're asking?

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/public

With that as the definition, my job would certainly entail working with the public. (I'm a nurse.)

Exactly. Everybody who works in healthcare would work with the public. How does that make who you work with any different than who I work with?

[rnicks 0]

I'm confused?? Did you miss speak? You did edit your post so I can't read what you originally wrote.

In a previous post, I insinuated that all health care workers CHOOSE to work with the public.

[rehmwa 2]

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I never said they don't deserve treatment. You and many others might find me and other people in the medical field cynical with what I posted and heartless but you could not be more wrong. If a person knowingly smokes 1-3pks a day refuses to see it is harmful to them and gets pissed at us because there is nothing we can do to prevent them from being short of breath, then they need an eye opener.

With smells, you have no clue how bad patients smell. I mean weeks month no showers because they won't and no deodorant...one patient uses lysol instead of showering. These odors in a small room with no window ......makes me nauseous just thinking about it. Pee and poo stained clothes with sweat.....ewww.....

and they wonder why they are sick......

I really hate ER rooms, 90% of the people are filthy. Medical pros have to deal with this every single day.

a couple other things:

A doctor friend of mine worked ER and obese people come in and have onset of (lots of stuff) - she honestly tells them to simply lose weight and it'll fix their issue. Most of them reply, "no, I'd rather just have medicine to deal with it than that". disgusting

Lastly - medical pros that are fat or smoke. C'mon people, claim you're busy or not, but why is this so prevalent? you should be examples since you know how harmful that is.

...
Driving is a one dimensional activity - a monkey can do it - being proud of your driving abilities is like being proud of being able to put on pants

[missbrz 0]

no I edited it just to fix the formatting not the words. I accidentally deleted a [ so it didn't put the pretty little line.

It sounded as if you thought you worked with different people than we do, as if we didn't work with the public. I know we choose to work with the public, but that doesn't mean I have to be happy if a person chooses not to shower. Am I cynical? Towards some of my patients, yes I am. Those are the ones that always lie to us and make up excuses. They "got lost" for 40 minutes even though they've been here several times and are munching on some fresh mickey D's. Lost, uh huh. Sure. But for the most part, I like my patients. They're nice people with cute kids. It's the 15% of my patients that frustrate me so. They basically suck. But I'm not allowed to tell them that b/c it's my job not to. So I deal with it by venting to other people like here. Just because we sound cynical when we vent, doesn't mean we're heartless.

[rnicks 0]

I'm glad you like your pts.

[PhreeZone 15]

My favorite was showing up for a 8:15 appointment at 8:00 only to sign in and see there are 4 other people on the list that said they also had an 8:15 appointment and 4 people that said they had an 8:00 appointment when they opened. I was usually getting called into the room around 8:50 and seen around 9:30. This happened every week for a month straight since it was for a PT appointment so I know they were just stuffing as many people in as possible to make as much $ as they could.

Yesterday is history
And tomorrow is a mystery

Parachutemanuals.com

[theonlyski 3]

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They basically suck. But I'm not allowed to tell them that b/c it's my job not to.

When I get fired at my current job, I'll give you my resume.

I could easily go a whole 6 more years not telling people how much they suck. Even have about 10 years experience in it!

"I may be a dirty pirate hooker...but I'm not about to go stand on the corner." iluvtofly
DPH -7, TDS 578, Muff 5153, SCR 14890
I'm an asshole, and I approve this message

[missbrz 0]

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They basically suck. But I'm not allowed to tell them that b/c it's my job not to.

When I get fired at my current job, I'll give you my resume.

I could easily go a whole 6 more years not telling people how much they suck. Even have about 10 years experience in it!

lol! except you dont want my job. You make a lot more than me right now. Keep your job.

[theonlyski 3]

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They basically suck. But I'm not allowed to tell them that b/c it's my job not to.

When I get fired at my current job, I'll give you my resume.

I could easily go a whole 6 more years not telling people how much they suck. Even have about 10 years experience in it!

lol! except you dont want my job. You make a lot more than me right now. Keep your job.

Well, I could be unemployed in 6 months, or in the middle east, HoA or whereever else they deem I'm needed in 72 hours, for however long they want me there.

Its not exactly a stable job.

"I may be a dirty pirate hooker...but I'm not about to go stand on the corner." iluvtofly
DPH -7, TDS 578, Muff 5153, SCR 14890
I'm an asshole, and I approve this message

[kallend 1,647]

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Ok...this reply is not to any specific person (twoply, you just happened to be the last person who responded).

How many of you complaining about the service at the Dr.'s office have ever worked somewhere that you had to provide customer service? Be it retail, restaurant, or say, a Dr's office. Or have you ever worked in the medical field? Well, I've done both. In the service industry there are a million factors unseen by the customer that affect the service. Most of them aren't even the fault of the specific person you're dealing with. More than likey they're just as frustrated as you that things are not happening at a timely fashion like they should. Also, especially in the medical field, there are stupid laws that require you to ask a person their birthday 50,000 times. And as for copying the insurance card and keeping it on file, same thing. There are LAWS that require you to see the physical card everytime. Bitching, complaining and whinning are not going to help you at all. If anything they will get you shittier service cause you pissed off the person who was trying to help you the best way they could. So please be patient and try to understand that more than likely it is not the persons fault and there isn't anything they can do about it. Granted there is the occasional dimwit receptionist who should have never graduated the 6th grade let alone high school or heaven forbid college, but that is very rare.

An EFFICIENT operation forsees that the unforseeble will happen and allows for it. That excuse is totally lame.

When my wife was dying of cancer I saw more doctors' offices than I care to remember. Without exception they were always running late, sometimes very late.

...

The only sure way to survive a canopy collision is not to have one.

[iluvtofly 0]

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An EFFICIENT operation forsees that the unforseeble will happen and allows for it. That excuse is totally lame.

When my wife was dying of cancer I saw more doctors' offices than I care to remember. Without exception they were always running late, sometimes very late.

Unfortunatley at times there is only so much you can do. When I lived in Pennsylvania and worked as an EMT and dispatcher at times there was nothing we could do. Example: one day we were expecting a very bad ice storm. So we called in every available EMT and Paramedic. The storm came and so did the calls. At one point, while I was dispatching, we literally ran out of ambulances to send out on calls. My boss was driving to the minor inicidents in his pick-up truck to triage until a crew could get there. There's not a whole lot I could do in that situation. I was triaging the calls based on what people were telling me over the phone. I had to deal with one guy yelling at me wondering why he had been waiting 2 hours for an ambulance. I had to explain to him that he had a broken finger and simply didn't want to drive himself to the hospital, I needed to first send the ambulances to EMERGENCY calls. I know it's not a Dr's office but similar extreme circumstances can happen. Now if it's an office where it happens all the time than more than likely it's thanks to shitty management and it's time to get a new Dr.

[david3 0]

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An EFFICIENT operation forsees that the unforseeble will happen and allows for it. That excuse is totally lame.

When my wife was dying of cancer I saw more doctors' offices than I care to remember. Without exception they were always running late, sometimes very late.

Unfortunatley at times there is only so much you can do. When I lived in Pennsylvania and worked as an EMT and dispatcher at times there was nothing we could do. Example: one day we were expecting a very bad ice storm. So we called in every available EMT and Paramedic. The storm came and so did the calls. At one point, while I was dispatching, we literally ran out of ambulances to send out on calls. My boss was driving to the minor inicidents in his pick-up truck to triage until a crew could get there. There's not a whole lot I could do in that situation. I was triaging the calls based on what people were telling me over the phone. I had to deal with one guy yelling at me wondering why he had been waiting 2 hours for an ambulance. I had to explain to him that he had a broken finger and simply didn't want to drive himself to the hospital, I needed to first send the ambulances to EMERGENCY calls. I know it's not a Dr's office but similar extreme circumstances can happen. Now if it's an office where it happens all the time than more than likely it's thanks to shitty management and it's time to get a new Dr.

I understand your need to vent. My girlfriend is the office manager for a dentist and I here it all the time.

Would you say that generally people coming to your office get to see the doctor within 10 minutes of their scheduled appointment time? Is 90% on time? 75% on time? Less?

Regardless people should not act like assholes but can you appreciate their frustration?

[squirrel 0]

so if i wait more that an hour, will the doctor pay me for my wasted time?

i have gotten used to waiting that long, so i bring a book to read.

________________________________
Where is Darwin when you need him?

[missbrz 0]

My doctor's office is now usually about 80% on time. We used to run behind alot because of a shortage of space. Now we are in a new location with a lot more space so we generally don't run behind anymore. When we do it's usually due to being short staffed b/c someone called out or b/c of an emergency.

I can appreciate their frustrations b/c I've sat & waited @ doctor's offices too. And yes it sucks. But no reason to be rude about it. & yes most people aren't rude about. Just recently I've had a string of extremely nasty people so I got annoyed & started the thread to vent.

[david3 0]

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My doctor's office is now usually about 80% on time. We used to run behind alot because of a shortage of space. Now we are in a new location with a lot more space so we generally don't run behind anymore. When we do it's usually due to being short staffed b/c someone called out or b/c of an emergency.

I can appreciate their frustrations b/c I've sat & waited @ doctor's offices too. And yes it sucks. But no reason to be rude about it. & yes most people aren't rude about. Just recently I've had a string of extremely nasty people so I got annoyed & started the thread to vent.

Let it all out.

[missbrz 0]

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My doctor's office is now usually about 80% on time. We used to run behind alot because of a shortage of space. Now we are in a new location with a lot more space so we generally don't run behind anymore. When we do it's usually due to being short staffed b/c someone called out or b/c of an emergency.

I can appreciate their frustrations b/c I've sat & waited @ doctor's offices too. And yes it sucks. But no reason to be rude about it. & yes most people aren't rude about. Just recently I've had a string of extremely nasty people so I got annoyed & started the thread to vent.

Let it all out.

based on your other thread I'm guess you mean boobies

( . )( . )

[mswallin13 0]

I have to agree with Kallend on this issue. If you were to compare doctor's offices to say restaurants, the issue is pretty striking. A restaurant that consistently took reservations (appointments) and then sat people 45 to 60 minutes later could expect a rash of complaints and then customers not patronizing anymore. And the way that restaurants deal with this issue is to either staff up so that they can keep reservations running on time, or they tell patrons "I'm sorry we don't have a table at that time".

The majority of doctor's offices I have dealt with routinely make patients wait 20 to 60 minutes for their appointment. Without an apology or explanation of any kind, as though it is so common that they don't even notice they've inconvenienced the paying customer... I'm a professional too, and my time is also valuable. If I showed up 30 minutes or more late to 20% of my client meetings, I'd start losing clients. It would seem to me that if you can't see patients on time, you need to schedule less appointments.

Matthew Wallin
C-37899