&*^$&^*((*&!!!

[flutterby]

So, today I was supposed to have a forearm exercise test done by my neuro (Dr L) at 3pm. I arrived at 2:45. Noted that 2 people who checked in at the same time as me also had 3:00 appointments with Dr L (we had all ridden the elevator together from the parking garage, too). Was taken back to an exam room with only a Sports Illustrated and Hoop magazine in it at 3:20. Dr L came back at shortly after 5pm and asks me why I'm there.

*blink*

Long story short, Dr L doesn't do the forearm exercise test. Techs (don't know their correct title - they might be PA's) do them. And the tech only does them on Thursday because that's when he has an assistant (it seems to be more involved than what I originally thought). Dr L apologized profusely, said the office staff is "screwing up again", and asked the nurse to get the guy who does the test so I could schedule directly with him - and bypass the office staff. Nurse says he's going in to see a patient and will come in after. I told her that I had already waited over 2 hours to essentially schedule an appointment and that I really didn't want to wait any longer. She got the guy and I am scheduled for Thursday.

So, 40 minute drive there (gas at $4/gallon), PLUS pay to park, THEN sit in the doctor's office for 2 hours and 45 minutes, and almost an hour and a half drive home thanks to rush hour, to come out with an appointment for Thursday.



Dr L did decide today that he wants to do a sweat test to test for small fiber neuropathy, but I couldn't schedule that because by the time I left the office staff was gone.

 

[KTMom91]

Wow...I would have totally gone off. You'd be able to hear me screaming at YOUR house.

 

[P-nut2004]

I have to agree with KT, I would've lost it and cussed someone out, that's just ridiculous!

 

[elizabrary]

When I go to the doctor if they are 15 mins late I go out and tell the receptionist I will leave if I am not seen in 15 mins. and I will NOT be charged for the visit. I have left before and wasn't charged. I have also left them my cell number and tell them to call me 15 mins before they are ready for me and I will come back then. Usually they actually do that, which I can't really believe. I'm sorry, but the doctor's time is not any more valuable than mine, so I refuse to be treated like that. It's so annoying!!! Sorry it happened to you.

 

[flutterby]

This kind of wait is par for the course with a lot of specialists, especially at OSU. I don't mind waiting because I know he is squeezing in patients. After my first visit in March, he wrote that he wanted to see me again in May, but his first available appointment was in August. So, this kind of scheduling is what they do to get patients seen. I'm just frustrated that I waited that long to, essentially, schedule another appointment. I'm frustrated that I've waited at least a month for this test only to find out it was never scheduled. And I'm annoyed about the drive and money.

 

[Wiped Out]

So very frustrating!! I would have needed to come home and punch a pillow a few dozen times!

 

[TerryJ2]

OMG, what a waste of a day.
I would have been furious, Heather.
At least the dr apologized and told you to circumvent the nursing staff. That certainly tells you that their mgmt and organization are nonexistent.

Fingers crossed for Thursday!

 

[ML]

I'm so sorry. What a frustrating day. I hope Thursday is a hundred times better.

 

[flutterby]

I think part of the problem is that this test isn't common. When I was told that Dr L wanted me to have this test, after the repetitive stimulant and single fiber emg's, the lady didn't know what the the test was. Dr L was out of town and she said she was going to ask another doctor and get back with me. A couple of days later she (I don't know if she's a nurse or a secretary or what) left me a voicemail saying that the test was scheduled with Dr L on 5/16 at 3pm.

Apparently, she didn't speak to the right people or guessed or just screwed up scheduling. It wouldn't have been so bad if gas wasn't so dang expensive, if I didn't have to pay for parking, and if I didn't sit in an exam room for 2 hours and 15 minutes of my time there with nothing to do. And what really gets me is that when you are having a procedure or test done, you have to go through registration prior to going into the office. The lady at registration didn't know the billing code for a forearm exercise test, so she called over to the neurology office. Something should have tipped them off.

 

[Star*]

Send them a bill. I'm not kidding. I did - (you think I'm kidding?) last time my doctors office pulled **** like this on me? I sent them a bill - I itemized it for time missed from work, my gas - my aggrivation - and while I didn't get paid....I sure as H didn't sit in the waiting room EVER again - EVER more than 4 minutes. EVER. NOT ever. Tell me again - how invaluable I am. Go ahead - send them a bill. I was never EVER late to a single appointment, never missed one, never missed a lab test - and I got treated like that? PHOOEy - Send them a bill.

 

[ski10]

I have been left sitting in a room for an hour or so before, not now, I wait 10-15 mins and then I'm asking what's happening, my appointment was at blar blar and I have another apt to go to and I'm going to be late...awful you were sitting there like that.

My extremely calm husband never waits for more that 5 mins, he roams up and down the halls looking for someone.

 

[nvts]

Allright! That's it...You get the name and addresses of the people that screwed this up, I'll get my sister to watch the kids, I'll drive up there, pick you up...we'll wait outside each ones house until all the lights are out...

we'll tip-toe up the walk...

I'll pick the locks...

We'll disarm the security system...

Tip toe up to where they're sleeping...

Shine two big mag-light flashlights in their faces and screeeeeaaaammm...

"LOOK OUT!!! TRUUUUCK!!!"

and we'll run!

Hope that makes you feel a little better!

Beth

 

[flutterby]

Beth, I can't even look at flashlights anymore without laughing.

Thank you for making me laugh.

I don't mind waiting - if something is going to be done. It's the almost 3 hours to schedule another appointment that has me annoyed. I expect to wait at specialists, and especially at OSU. OSU rheumy was 2 hours (the second time there wasn't a wait, but I was the first appointment of the day), and OSU endocrinologist was an hour and a half one time, and 2 1/2 hours the next. They're a research university hospital and they get patients from all over the country.

 

[susiestar]

I refuse to wait like that. I drive an average of 90 min each way to a doctor appointment and there is no way that I can put out that much work, planning, gas money, etc... and time and then wait hours for the doctor. Won't happen. The doctor can at least be as courteous of me as I am of the doctor. That means schedule appts realistically. I see a LOT of specialists with the kids' appts and even at the research hospital for Jessie we don't wait like that. Unless they are having emergencies come in and the doctor is called out to one or they have so many people coming in on an emergency basis there is NO excuse for long wait times. It is just bad management, pure and simple.

Send the doctor a bill for the time, your travel expenses (including drinks for the road, mileage, lunch while you are away from home, etc...) and let them know that you don't mind being patient but you are NOT going to wait like that again. Esp not for an appointment that they mess up. They can confirm the day before and let you know or else they can pay for your trip and time.

Mom and I saw a specialist when I was in high school and he had crazy waiting times. Two and a half hours wait for an appointment was not unusual. It was NOT because they had so many patients to work in each time for emergencies. I later learned that the guy's wife was paying the office staff on a per patient basis and they got paid more to fit in more patients into a day. So they routinely booked appointments for five min or less and double booked those. Then the doctor would NOT be rushed and had no clue that his waiting room was so full. After one particularly crazy long wait, almost four hours, my mother sent a bill for her time at her consulting rate - ended up being over a thousand bucks. It was the first time the doctor had ever heard that he had patients that waited an hour or more for every appointment. Things changed after that because he thought it was ridiculous. He had never gone into his waiting room - his staff was told to direct him away from there. The staff came to get you, not the doctor. He went from exam room to exam room to office and had a private door to the outside.

 

[TerryJ2]

Way To Go, Star! And good for the dr, Susie, to finally look around his ofc. I can only imagine the fireworks when he and his wife got home that night!

I often call ahead when I have a dr appointment to make sure that the dr is "in." If I'm the 1st pt (there is no such thing, there is always a line) I always ask at the window if the dr is "in."
I am still surprised at how many times the staff blurts out, "Yes, but he's in a mtng," or "No, he's on his way, though."
Hey, it works!

 

[AnnieO]

I've been pretty lucky with my family doctor. I think my longest wait was when they did a trial run of no appointments and I waited about 30 minutes. But I told the doctor it was insane. It didn't last long...

Now husband? Goes to the VA hospital - the one being investigated, yes - and it's HOURS. Went to the ER last week and were there 8 hours before someone thought to look at his records. CT scan, xrays, blood work... And it turned out they had forgotten to give him a breathing thing after his surgery. NINE hours we were there.

 

[Steely]

UGH.......so sorry.............
I love NVTS solution - I would kindly join in just for extra affect

Because of similar things that happened to me I have this weird deal now that when I am in a Dr office I refuse to let them shut the door. They think I am weird, but I don't care. Then I sit and listen to all the nurses talk, and make sure I am next, etc. Many times, I have heard them just skip right over my room, and I will go out there, and say oh - did you forget me? Ooops. I guess it is a kind of control thing, I can't stand just sitting and trusting someone's else's ability to get room # 1234 seen in a timely manner.

Still in your case, the sitting was only a piece of it for you. They messed up the WHOLE thing. Grrrrr......Hugs.

 

[TerryJ2]

Steely, I do that sometimes, too. It's interesting to see if the dr goes into the rooms in the order which they were seated. So to speak.

 

[flutterby]

I was told I was next shortly after I was put in the exam room, but the walls are thin enough I could hear him go to other rooms. Around 4:45pm, I went out and asked a nurse if he was still going to see me. Shortly after that, he came in and told me that he had 3 patients to see and I would be second. So, definitely didn't go in order.