the appointment from heck
Mar. 17th, 2003 04:27 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
legalmooseI had a 10:30 a.m. follow-up appointment at the West End facility with my doctor. Mind you, this is only the second time I’ve seen my doctor, and I’m a tad miffed already because when I was last in, two weeks ago, blood was drawn for tests including an HIV test. Two weeks for results for an HIV test. The norm for turn around on those is two days, but they couldn't get me an appointment and you have to get those in person, so it took two weeks. So, as I said, I’m already a tad miffed.
Get there at 10:25, have the check written out for the copay, give them the card and copay, and go have a seat. The receptionist hardly says two words to me, much less telling me that the doctor is running late.
At 10:50 (so I’ve been sitting for about 20 minutes, assuming check-in was 5) they call me back for the preliminary blood pressure/weigh-in/temperature check wherein they ask me, again, if I smoke, am a diabetic, or have any allergies to medicine (what, did they not write it down the last time?). At least I had lost 3 lbs since the last appointment.
At 10:55 the nurse (?) takes me back to an interior hallway next to three vacant exam rooms and asks me to have a seat while she finds an exam room.
At 11:10 the nurse (?) returns and puts me in one of the three empty exam rooms. She then mentions that they’re running a little late this morning. Like I couldn’t tell that already, 40 minutes after my appointment was supposed to start.
At 11:25 a med student comes in, introduces herself and we chat for a bit about my test results. Now, I’m hoping that the doctor saw the results and okayed the student coming in to talk about them with me, because heaven help the poor woman had the HIV test come out positive (it was negative). I can only imagine this poor student getting stuck with giving positive results to someone because people weren’t paying attention. Was not pleased that it was someone other than my doctor giving me the results; was less pleased that it wasn’t even a licensed professional.
The student left at about 11:33, and I sat and waited until the doctor came in at 11:50. We proceeded to have a lovely 5 minute conversation, which was all I needed - I got my prescriptions and left at 11:55, almost an hour and a half after I was supposed to come in to see her.
But the fun didn’t stop there. I went down to the pharmacy in the building (their mandatory pharmacy, I might add) and put in two prescriptions, one for some pills and one for a nasal spray for my allergies. They tell me it’ll likely be 1/2 an hour. No problem, that was what it was the last time I was there, and the place was packed.
Fifteen minutes later (12:15 or so) they call me up, I get out the checkbook, and notice there’s only the pills, no spray. So she tells me to have a seat and she’ll track it down and get it to me.
Thirty-five minutes later they call me up again and they finally have the second script. Now, if you’ve even gotten a nasal spray from a pharmacy, it’s a little box that’s sealed by the manufacturer that they have to slap a label on. That’s it. No counting, no measuring, just pluck the box off the shelf, verify the label and the script, stick the label to it, hand to customer, collect co-pay. Not something that had to take 35 minutes, certainly.
So, two and a half hours after my little 5 minute follow up appointment, I finally left the facility. I was, by this point, starving (it was 1 pm, after all, and one of the things I had discussed with them was my recent lack of appetite, which had caused me to have a minimal breakfast this morning), pissed off, and generally unhappy with the world. Calories helped that (falafel sandwich), but I did call the customer help line and let them know, calmly but firmly (after I ate) what the experience was like. I’ll follow up with the written account after I polish it some more and add in some more shocking commentary (one wants to hype these things up with the company, after all).
Get there at 10:25, have the check written out for the copay, give them the card and copay, and go have a seat. The receptionist hardly says two words to me, much less telling me that the doctor is running late.
At 10:50 (so I’ve been sitting for about 20 minutes, assuming check-in was 5) they call me back for the preliminary blood pressure/weigh-in/temperature check wherein they ask me, again, if I smoke, am a diabetic, or have any allergies to medicine (what, did they not write it down the last time?). At least I had lost 3 lbs since the last appointment.
At 10:55 the nurse (?) takes me back to an interior hallway next to three vacant exam rooms and asks me to have a seat while she finds an exam room.
At 11:10 the nurse (?) returns and puts me in one of the three empty exam rooms. She then mentions that they’re running a little late this morning. Like I couldn’t tell that already, 40 minutes after my appointment was supposed to start.
At 11:25 a med student comes in, introduces herself and we chat for a bit about my test results. Now, I’m hoping that the doctor saw the results and okayed the student coming in to talk about them with me, because heaven help the poor woman had the HIV test come out positive (it was negative). I can only imagine this poor student getting stuck with giving positive results to someone because people weren’t paying attention. Was not pleased that it was someone other than my doctor giving me the results; was less pleased that it wasn’t even a licensed professional.
The student left at about 11:33, and I sat and waited until the doctor came in at 11:50. We proceeded to have a lovely 5 minute conversation, which was all I needed - I got my prescriptions and left at 11:55, almost an hour and a half after I was supposed to come in to see her.
But the fun didn’t stop there. I went down to the pharmacy in the building (their mandatory pharmacy, I might add) and put in two prescriptions, one for some pills and one for a nasal spray for my allergies. They tell me it’ll likely be 1/2 an hour. No problem, that was what it was the last time I was there, and the place was packed.
Fifteen minutes later (12:15 or so) they call me up, I get out the checkbook, and notice there’s only the pills, no spray. So she tells me to have a seat and she’ll track it down and get it to me.
Thirty-five minutes later they call me up again and they finally have the second script. Now, if you’ve even gotten a nasal spray from a pharmacy, it’s a little box that’s sealed by the manufacturer that they have to slap a label on. That’s it. No counting, no measuring, just pluck the box off the shelf, verify the label and the script, stick the label to it, hand to customer, collect co-pay. Not something that had to take 35 minutes, certainly.
So, two and a half hours after my little 5 minute follow up appointment, I finally left the facility. I was, by this point, starving (it was 1 pm, after all, and one of the things I had discussed with them was my recent lack of appetite, which had caused me to have a minimal breakfast this morning), pissed off, and generally unhappy with the world. Calories helped that (falafel sandwich), but I did call the customer help line and let them know, calmly but firmly (after I ate) what the experience was like. I’ll follow up with the written account after I polish it some more and add in some more shocking commentary (one wants to hype these things up with the company, after all).
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no subject
Date: 2003-03-17 01:56 pm (UTC)Don't even get me started on pharmacies, LOL!
no subject
Date: 2003-03-17 02:07 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-03-17 02:58 pm (UTC)insurance plans make me want to hurt people. i've had less problems dealing with proper treatment and such since i've been without insurance than when i had what was considered a decent PPO.