My prime complaint right now about docs and their nurses, is NOT returning calls. I know there are more important things to whine about…but when you call, and CAN get through to them, AND go to the trouble NOT to bother them…tell them the 10 best times to get you…why can’t they return the call with the information, rather than make you wait and wait, and then walk about the office door? Don’t they understand that this is important at least to you, and you might need an answer. They expect us to be around when they call…why not them?
Okay, I’m alright now…deep breath and hope that nothing else goes wrong today.
Thanks
My Dr has a cell phone just to be answered by his nursing staff b/c of the trouble with the front office! He got how a bunch of us felt and decided to get his own cell phone just for his patients to be able to call him.
WOW!!!
I KNO-O-O-OW…the part about bothering to leave the best times to reach you.
I am happy with my docs and think that they are trying to please and do the best they can, however…
Another thing that is annoying is if I just need an answer to a question…give all the info, including the permission to leave a message if they don’t reach me, they won’t. I know they wouldn’t rather play phone tag but that’s how it seems. I suspect they are too busy to really listen to your message, they just get the call me back part, or they are afraid of the liability of giving directions that might be misunderstood or not followed properly, to an answering machine. It’s frustrating to give them seemingly everything they need…done deal…and it turns into them just calling you back and leaving a message and you have to call them back and so on and so on…
That’s what was going on for the longest. That’s why Dr. D got his own cell phone. Sometimes Drs just get when their patients have had enough. He’s a GREAT man!
I think I will suggest this to mine, as they are so busy and can’t get back. Why not take one hour a day, and just answer calls or e-mails? Some problems can be solved without an office visit.
I wish my Endo had an e-mail…maybe she does…I will have to checK! That’s a great way to communicate, I think…because I agree with this post…I spend more time trying to get a hold of my doc without receiving a call back than it would take for me to go read a book and fix the problem myself! I’m thinking of finding a new Endo though…but if she has an e-mail maybe I will keep her!!
My Dr has a note on every computer in his rooms. STAY OFF THE COMPUTER! He must mess them up worse than I do! LOL!
I wish “change doctors” were a thing you could do, but maybe where you’re located you can’t?
I have a FAX on my printer, so I FAX to the doctor. This puts a written record into the hand of the secretary, whoever takes it off the FAX. And that person puts the written question into the doctor’s hand. He can jot on it for the secretary to FAX back or he can pick up the phone. If I don’t get a call, I phone the secretary. By that time everyone in the office is on my side, wanting me to get an answer. It’s a squeeze play.
Leo, unfortunately, you are right, changing docs is NOT something that is done easily here. We are served by about 25 docs in a 200 mile area. We have LOTS of PA’s and CNP’s but very few docs. So changing is an act of congress. The fax idea would be great for us. However, the fax would go from the secretary to the nurse to the nurse to his nurse, and maybe back again. Phone is best, but hey, my sitting in the waiting room waiting for an answer is pretty neat too.