I work in the front office of a medical clinic. Some days are diamonds, some days are stones... There are four medical clinics in our little town. One of them has been closed all week, one was booked to capacity, the other was open, but the doctor was out, and there is our clinic. For some strange reason, folks seem to think we are sitting there just waiting for them to call for an appointment. They try every other clinic, then call us thinking we can fit them right in. All week, for some reason, we have been booked with no openings all day every day. Today was no exception. This morning, I spent probably a solid hour just answering the phone and taking messages of people requesting to be seen. It was unreal how many calls were patients of other doctors thinking we would fit them right in. I can't remember turning down so many new patients in one day. We try very hard to "work in" our established patients even when we are booked solid, and at times we even try to work in other doctor's patients, but this morning was just crazy. There are those who beg to come in, you tell them "ok, be here at 11:00 and we will work you in before lunch." They show up at 1:00 trying telling you that they were told 1:15, because they had their own agenda or simply because they want their own way. And don't get me started on people we've never seen who just walk in the door expecting to be seen, and can't understand why we say we can't.
Now I'm not above waiting till the last minute to call the doctor's office on occasion. I understand how sometimes time just gets away from you and you forget to call for a refill on your meds, etc. And I understand that your child gets up that morning running fever and pulling at his little ears. Those are the ones we work in no matter how busy we are. But adults who say "I've been sick for a week and I just can't shake it." It's 4:00 on a Thursday afternoon and they are leaving for Florida in the morning and need to be seen. Give me a break.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
5 comments:
I'm SO glad I don't have to deal with the phones much. Those who do call me usually get transferred to our corporate office because I'm getting leftover calls for the other two co-workers who left over 6 months ago. They call our sister company, are transferred to me after being told I "replaced" one or the other said co-workers, and then I tell them, "No, I haven't replaced them. They do all the X company print ads out of our corporate office now. Here is their contact info." That's bad enough. I can't imagine answering phone call after phone call.
That reminds me of when I worked in Labor and Delivery---moms would come in all the time at 2:00 am after they hurt all...day...long and never called their doctor. But, all of a sudden, at 1:30 am, it becomes emergent! Or...the moms that sought prenatal care in LR b/c they didn't want to have their baby in PB. Theeeen, let them go into labor, and LR is just too far! Sucks for them b/c if none of our staff physician's provided the prenatal care, then her clinical history wasn't on file, and therefore, she got no epidural for liablity reasons. Ouch!haha
Yuck...I am on the phone a lot during the day being an ins. underwriter but I'm so thankful I don't have to answer phones in our front office. I don't know why people wait to the last minute to do business...sick or otherwise!
Ahhh, I see you all understand exactly what I'm talking about. Vindication is da bomb. (Is that spelled correctly LeLe?)
Yes; looks good to me!
Post a Comment