Thursday, March 13, 2014

Doctor's office rant

This post has turned out to be COMPLETELY different from what I thought it would be.  First, I was going to talk about the weather.  Then it turned into a bunch of randoms.  Now, it's a rant on doctor's offices.  Whatever works I guess! ;) 

My first doctor's office.  First, I LOVE my doctor!  He has been nothing but great when it came to my first pregnancy, my miscarriage, and this pregnancy.  However, his back office staff has just totally turned me off on the office.  I know that my doctor is about ready to retire, so I knew that I was going to look for a new doctor anyways.  My first appointment where I had an ultrasound at 6 weeks, I was never told to also make an appointment with the doctor (that's 2 separate appointments).  Is anyone else's doctors office like this?  I swear when I watch "Teen Mom" or whatever baby show it is, that there is an ultrasound machine in the room with them.  Ok off track.  So there was mess up number one.  

My second appointment at 8 weeks was another ultrasound and separate doctors appointment. It went great except my doctor isn't use to seeing the patient at 8 weeks.  Normally a nurse-practitioner does that appointment so that they can go over the do's, don't, and tests throughout the entire pregnancy.  So my appointment with my doctor was pretty much pointless.  He ordered blood tests with his head nurse who was quick to judge me that I was seeing him at 8 weeks and not the nurse practitioner.  The head nurse even asked me what blood tests I had already had. Seriously, how would I know exactly that blood tests I have had, and don't you have a chart of what has already been done, AND aren't all the charts electronically now?!?!!   

12 week appointment we were told to meet with the nurse practitioner, fine whatever, I don't care. Appointment time is 3:40 pm.  Crabby head nurse is once again, crabby and makes you feel so uncomfortable.  We sit in the exam room from 4 pm to 4:25 pm.....every minute that ticked away, the crabbier that we got.  Nurse practitioner came in and asked, "So why are we here today?"  GAH!!!  Chart, LOOK A IT!!!!!!!!  She is OK through the exam part and then takes us to her office.  She then rattles off AS FAST AS POSSIBLE all medical history with the both of us and explains testing, etc.  Thank god I come from a family full of medical field jobs because whew, that was a lot to take in.  She then takes me back to get my blood drawn from the technician and the technician is ticked that its 4:45 pm and she has to take my blood. It then becomes a mad house as the doctor, nurse and technician are trying to get my paperwork and blood all together.  I was wondering if it was all going to get messed up or not. Finally at 5 pm we are about to walk out and they stop us to talk to the billing person.....the thoughts in my head were &!$@%!?!@  5:15 pm we were FINALLY able to leave.  We get a phone call about our test results 2 weeks later from the nurse practitioner and then she says, oh wait, are these your results or not? The names on these papers are so small and hard to read.  Then yells out to crabby head nurse to help her......DUN!  I am done with that office.  

I did manage to call 2 different doctor's offices yesterday.  The first one, not so good.  It came highly recommended, but I was not thrilled with the receptionist.  She wasn't thrilled to answer my questions (just basic ones) and when I asked if we could schedule an appointment, she put me on hold for over 5 minutes.  She then came back and asked when I needed to come in next. I said, around 16 weeks, which is in 2 weeks, but we could push it back a little bit later.  She said he was coming back from vacation that last week of March and would be really busy but had an appointment at 3:30 on the 27th.  I said, when you mean really busy, would he still be at my 3:30 appointment? She said, oh yeah, but he is double booked so it would be a really quick appointment.  Right there, I knew it was not a good fit for me.  I asked if I could think about the dates and times she gave me and if I could call back.  I hung up and literally had tears in my eyes.  All I want is a doctors office that won't just treat me like "ooooh more money, but give bad service".  I LOVED my doctor, but HATED his back office staff.  

I decided to call another office that was recommended to me by a co-worker of my mom's (my mom work's at a hospital).  I called the office and the person answering the phone was SO nice!  She took the time to answer my questions, I never felt rushed on the phone with her, and just had a good feeling about the office.  I stopped by there to see the office and sign the paperwork to have my file transferred over.  So far, I am happy.  First doctors appointment there will be on April 2nd.

I am not looking for a ton of attention from the doctor at all.  I just want a nice office staff, who doesn't treat me like I am a burden, a doctor who is knowledgeable about my chart and doesn't come in asking, "So why are we here today", and a doctor's office where I don't have to see all 8 doctors in case my doctor isn't on call that night....  I don't mind see a different doctor in a practice just in case when I do go into labor and he isn't available, but I dont want to see 8 doctors and asked every time, "So why are we here today".  It's pretty obvious you didn't even look at my chart to notice that I am pregnant!  

OK I am ending my rant.  Here's hoping this new doctor's office is better!!
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1 comments:

Jen said...

Praying the new office is better!!

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