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Seriously, I feel like in the last year, I have gotten absolutely SHAFTED when it comes to dr. visits. Almost every single dr. appointment I have had in the last year has been complicated somehow. Some of you may have heard some of these stories since I've posted about them on CS before.
1) Almost exactly a year ago, to the day, I ended up in the ER with terrible abdominal/back pain. I described my symptoms and the first thing they did was try to give me an IV. The nurse tried at least 3 times -- without changing needles, which I didn't know was an issue until recently when I read a thread on CS about it -- and jabbed me repeatedly in my hand, with the same needle. I know IVs can be hard to administer, but I also know that when another nurse tried in the same location a few weeks later, they got it on the first try with almost no pain.
Per the symptoms I had described, they at first thought kidney stones, so they took me in for a CAT scan. After the scan they took me back to my little room and about 10 minutes later a nurse came in and said it was time for my ultra-sound. The dr. had never said anything about an ultra-sound and the nurse refused to explain why it had been ordered. I don't like not knowing what's going on and the dr was nowhere around so I couldn't ask him. Even after the ultra-sound, I asked the nurse if she saw anything abnormal and she got this quirky little grin on her face and said, "You'll see." WTF? At that time, I didn't know what ultra-sounds were used for other than seeing a pregnant woman's child, so I started freaking out.
When the dr. finally came in, he told me I had gall stones and that I was going to meet with a surgeon in a few minutes. Meanwhile, another nurse needed to take a urine sample from me. The box that she gave me with the cup to collect the sample had no instructions included and she didn't tell me that there was anything specific that I needed to do...like wipe three times with the sterile wipes...so after I gave her the sample and they ran it, she told me I didn't do it right and that the dr. wanted the nurse to catheter me to get a clean sample. I begged the nurse for some water so I could just go to the bathroom again, but she refused -- and note, that this was AFTER I had met with the surgeon, who had determined that I wouldn't need surgery that same day, so the nurse was not witholding water for that reason. She was just being a bitch. She cathetered me, and she botched it bad. It took her no less than 4 tries to get the urine sample and by the time she was done, I was bleeding everywhere. I was sore and bleeding for 2 days after that visit every time I went to the bathroom.
By the end of it all, I was in tears and extremely upset. The dr. was a complete ass and told me to get over it and that it wasn't a big deal and why was I crying and so upset? I did contact the director of the ER eventually and gave her all of these details and she assured me things would change for the better, but I still refused to ever go back to that hospital. Thankfully, when I did have my gall bladder removed, I went to a different hospital and the procedure went very well, and that is the one good dr. visit I have had this year.
2) A few months ago, I got a UTI. This was after I had moved to Texas so I didn't have a primary care giver, so I went to a walk-in clinic. The dr. there gave me a prescription for the UTI and also recommended I see a urologist and have an IVP done. Basically an IVP is where they inject a small amount of ink in your veins and then take a picture of your bladder/intestines, and it's to determine if there is anything physically wrong with the bladder/intestines, like if they're damaged.
After the office visit in the walk-in, I immediately went to make the appointment for the IVP. The receptionist called radiology and set up the appointment. She was told at that time that I would need to withold food and water after midnight of the night before the procedure, and that I should show up 30 minutes early so they could prep me. I got no information packet or anything, just the information that the receptionist got from radiology, and gave to me, which she wrote down herself on a form along with the date and time of the appointment.
The day before the appointment, I had some questions about the procedure, so I called radiology. The woman I talked to was very rude and short with me. I told her that I had an IVP scheduled for tomorrow and that I knew to withold food and water after midnight of that night, but I wanted to know if there was anything else I should do. She snapped, "Did you read through the information packet?" I told her I did not have an information packet and, in fact, did not even know that there was one. She said I would have to come into radiology tonight and get it and make sure I had all the forms in it filled out by tomorrow morning. So, that night, my husband and I drove to the hospital and found radiology, and when I told the receptionist what I was there for, she looked at me like I was crazy and told me she didn't have me scheduled for tomorrow. She asked if I was sure I had an appointment and I showed her the appointment sheet that the receptionist had written for me when I first made the appointment, including the info about witholding food and water. The radiologist receptionist said she had no record of any appointment for me tomorrow, and that even if she did, I had not fasted for 24 hours prior to the IVP, so they would not be able to do it anyway. Plus there was some kind of diuretic that I would need to take the day before the procedure which I also had not taken. In short, I was given completely wrong info about this procedure, and they had no record whatsoever about it.
The kicker? I had gotten a call the morning of the day before my supposed appointment from the hospital's billing department, giving me a quote of how much the IVP was going to cost me. Gee, I can really see where their priorities are. Again, I spoke with the director of radiology after all this and he gave me the same spiel that the director of the ER in the above story gave me about how things would change and I should give him another chance. I refuse.
3) I eventually found a primary care giver and have visited her twice in the last couple of months for various things. Both times, the co-pay with my insurance was $15 and both times, I paid the co-pay in cash. My husband remembers since he was with me. I have since been billed for the second office visit, for the $15 co-pay. I cannot find my receipt for that visit and, upon thinking back, I am not even entirely sure I received a receipt. I have no proof of this but part of me wonders if the receptionist pocketed my $15 cash and then just marked that I had not paid the co-pay and would have to be billed for it. I have called my insurance company regarding this to see if there is anything they can do, and it sounds like they will be able to look into it, but they had to wait a certain amount of time from when the claim was given to them, and that time is not up yet, so I am just waiting to see if I can resolve this one.
4) My husband and I just got back from a visit to an allergist. It was just supposed to be an office visit for the two of us, to discuss our various symptoms (I have mainly food allergies, he has mainly pollen allergies.) It was a double appointment since it was for both of us, but it took over 2.5 hours for just the office visit. It took over half an hour for them to check us in. Apparently the receptionist who was working -- alone -- was brand new and had only started last Friday, and had not worked at all yesterday. She was clueless. She did not know anything about the computer system, how to set up profiles for us or get us checked in, nothing. I don't blame her, since it was her second day on the job. But their normal receptionist is on vacation now for a couple weeks for the holidays. Why in god's name would you throw this new receptionist to the sharks with absolutely no training? In the end, the receptionist, the nurse, AND the doctor were all out at the front desk trying to figure out how to set my and my husband's profiles up. None of them knew how to do it very well and they fumbled through every step of the way. They asked for our insurance card, handed it back, then, whoops, they need it back again. It's a $15 co-pay, no, it's a $25 co-pay, no, it's only $15, no, it's $25 because they're a specialist. We need your driver's license, wait, no we don't, wait, yes we do. On and on and on.
Finally when they got everything entered and the dr. called us back to her office...I don't think she could understand us very well. She had a very obvious foreign accent and had to ask us to repeat ourselves several times. She wrote prescriptions for both of us and said she would have them faxed to our pharmacy, a pharmacy that is very close to her facility and is very popular and well-known. She did not have any of their information in her system and would not take the time to look up their phone number to call them so she gave us the written RXs instead. All in all, over 2 1/2 hours for something that the normal receptionist said should take maybe 30 minutes each (so an hour for both of us.)
Seriously, I am about ready to bash my head in here. All 4 of these incidents have been with different hospitals/clinics and different staff, so it's not a matter of finding a better/different doctor. I don't know HOW to find a good doctor because all of them seem to SUCK. I can't really ask anyone who they go to for a good referral, since I don't know very many people down here and the few I do know don't really have a primary care giver. The one female friend I have who lives in the city actually works for one of the above mentioned facilities (not in a medical fashion, though; she works in HR for a school of medicine that is affiliated with the clinic) so she recommended them...but even she admits that she doesn't particularly like being seen at that clinic.
Sorry for the omgwalloftext. I really needed to vent, it is just SO. AGGRAVATING.
1) Almost exactly a year ago, to the day, I ended up in the ER with terrible abdominal/back pain. I described my symptoms and the first thing they did was try to give me an IV. The nurse tried at least 3 times -- without changing needles, which I didn't know was an issue until recently when I read a thread on CS about it -- and jabbed me repeatedly in my hand, with the same needle. I know IVs can be hard to administer, but I also know that when another nurse tried in the same location a few weeks later, they got it on the first try with almost no pain.
Per the symptoms I had described, they at first thought kidney stones, so they took me in for a CAT scan. After the scan they took me back to my little room and about 10 minutes later a nurse came in and said it was time for my ultra-sound. The dr. had never said anything about an ultra-sound and the nurse refused to explain why it had been ordered. I don't like not knowing what's going on and the dr was nowhere around so I couldn't ask him. Even after the ultra-sound, I asked the nurse if she saw anything abnormal and she got this quirky little grin on her face and said, "You'll see." WTF? At that time, I didn't know what ultra-sounds were used for other than seeing a pregnant woman's child, so I started freaking out.
When the dr. finally came in, he told me I had gall stones and that I was going to meet with a surgeon in a few minutes. Meanwhile, another nurse needed to take a urine sample from me. The box that she gave me with the cup to collect the sample had no instructions included and she didn't tell me that there was anything specific that I needed to do...like wipe three times with the sterile wipes...so after I gave her the sample and they ran it, she told me I didn't do it right and that the dr. wanted the nurse to catheter me to get a clean sample. I begged the nurse for some water so I could just go to the bathroom again, but she refused -- and note, that this was AFTER I had met with the surgeon, who had determined that I wouldn't need surgery that same day, so the nurse was not witholding water for that reason. She was just being a bitch. She cathetered me, and she botched it bad. It took her no less than 4 tries to get the urine sample and by the time she was done, I was bleeding everywhere. I was sore and bleeding for 2 days after that visit every time I went to the bathroom.
By the end of it all, I was in tears and extremely upset. The dr. was a complete ass and told me to get over it and that it wasn't a big deal and why was I crying and so upset? I did contact the director of the ER eventually and gave her all of these details and she assured me things would change for the better, but I still refused to ever go back to that hospital. Thankfully, when I did have my gall bladder removed, I went to a different hospital and the procedure went very well, and that is the one good dr. visit I have had this year.
2) A few months ago, I got a UTI. This was after I had moved to Texas so I didn't have a primary care giver, so I went to a walk-in clinic. The dr. there gave me a prescription for the UTI and also recommended I see a urologist and have an IVP done. Basically an IVP is where they inject a small amount of ink in your veins and then take a picture of your bladder/intestines, and it's to determine if there is anything physically wrong with the bladder/intestines, like if they're damaged.
After the office visit in the walk-in, I immediately went to make the appointment for the IVP. The receptionist called radiology and set up the appointment. She was told at that time that I would need to withold food and water after midnight of the night before the procedure, and that I should show up 30 minutes early so they could prep me. I got no information packet or anything, just the information that the receptionist got from radiology, and gave to me, which she wrote down herself on a form along with the date and time of the appointment.
The day before the appointment, I had some questions about the procedure, so I called radiology. The woman I talked to was very rude and short with me. I told her that I had an IVP scheduled for tomorrow and that I knew to withold food and water after midnight of that night, but I wanted to know if there was anything else I should do. She snapped, "Did you read through the information packet?" I told her I did not have an information packet and, in fact, did not even know that there was one. She said I would have to come into radiology tonight and get it and make sure I had all the forms in it filled out by tomorrow morning. So, that night, my husband and I drove to the hospital and found radiology, and when I told the receptionist what I was there for, she looked at me like I was crazy and told me she didn't have me scheduled for tomorrow. She asked if I was sure I had an appointment and I showed her the appointment sheet that the receptionist had written for me when I first made the appointment, including the info about witholding food and water. The radiologist receptionist said she had no record of any appointment for me tomorrow, and that even if she did, I had not fasted for 24 hours prior to the IVP, so they would not be able to do it anyway. Plus there was some kind of diuretic that I would need to take the day before the procedure which I also had not taken. In short, I was given completely wrong info about this procedure, and they had no record whatsoever about it.
The kicker? I had gotten a call the morning of the day before my supposed appointment from the hospital's billing department, giving me a quote of how much the IVP was going to cost me. Gee, I can really see where their priorities are. Again, I spoke with the director of radiology after all this and he gave me the same spiel that the director of the ER in the above story gave me about how things would change and I should give him another chance. I refuse.
3) I eventually found a primary care giver and have visited her twice in the last couple of months for various things. Both times, the co-pay with my insurance was $15 and both times, I paid the co-pay in cash. My husband remembers since he was with me. I have since been billed for the second office visit, for the $15 co-pay. I cannot find my receipt for that visit and, upon thinking back, I am not even entirely sure I received a receipt. I have no proof of this but part of me wonders if the receptionist pocketed my $15 cash and then just marked that I had not paid the co-pay and would have to be billed for it. I have called my insurance company regarding this to see if there is anything they can do, and it sounds like they will be able to look into it, but they had to wait a certain amount of time from when the claim was given to them, and that time is not up yet, so I am just waiting to see if I can resolve this one.
4) My husband and I just got back from a visit to an allergist. It was just supposed to be an office visit for the two of us, to discuss our various symptoms (I have mainly food allergies, he has mainly pollen allergies.) It was a double appointment since it was for both of us, but it took over 2.5 hours for just the office visit. It took over half an hour for them to check us in. Apparently the receptionist who was working -- alone -- was brand new and had only started last Friday, and had not worked at all yesterday. She was clueless. She did not know anything about the computer system, how to set up profiles for us or get us checked in, nothing. I don't blame her, since it was her second day on the job. But their normal receptionist is on vacation now for a couple weeks for the holidays. Why in god's name would you throw this new receptionist to the sharks with absolutely no training? In the end, the receptionist, the nurse, AND the doctor were all out at the front desk trying to figure out how to set my and my husband's profiles up. None of them knew how to do it very well and they fumbled through every step of the way. They asked for our insurance card, handed it back, then, whoops, they need it back again. It's a $15 co-pay, no, it's a $25 co-pay, no, it's only $15, no, it's $25 because they're a specialist. We need your driver's license, wait, no we don't, wait, yes we do. On and on and on.
Finally when they got everything entered and the dr. called us back to her office...I don't think she could understand us very well. She had a very obvious foreign accent and had to ask us to repeat ourselves several times. She wrote prescriptions for both of us and said she would have them faxed to our pharmacy, a pharmacy that is very close to her facility and is very popular and well-known. She did not have any of their information in her system and would not take the time to look up their phone number to call them so she gave us the written RXs instead. All in all, over 2 1/2 hours for something that the normal receptionist said should take maybe 30 minutes each (so an hour for both of us.)
Seriously, I am about ready to bash my head in here. All 4 of these incidents have been with different hospitals/clinics and different staff, so it's not a matter of finding a better/different doctor. I don't know HOW to find a good doctor because all of them seem to SUCK. I can't really ask anyone who they go to for a good referral, since I don't know very many people down here and the few I do know don't really have a primary care giver. The one female friend I have who lives in the city actually works for one of the above mentioned facilities (not in a medical fashion, though; she works in HR for a school of medicine that is affiliated with the clinic) so she recommended them...but even she admits that she doesn't particularly like being seen at that clinic.
Sorry for the omgwalloftext. I really needed to vent, it is just SO. AGGRAVATING.
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