Does this aggravate you???

[SaraJayne]

SaraJayne, I do understand what you are saying, but leave me give you a good example of what PrincessSuzanne may be trying to say.

I work in an office with 4 peds and 1 NP. The one doc is ALWAYS late. I am talking walking in the office 30-45 minutes after her first patient of the day arrives. The doc is a partner, not an employee, can't be fired. And her patients love her. Has been talked to MANY times about this, scheduled to start later because of arriving later, etc, doesn't matter, always late!!!!

It drives everyone in the office batty!!!! ANYONE who is her regular patient knows she doesn't run on time. EVER!!!! But they still book with her. I swear, her patients WORSHIP her!!!Well, we will have parents come out of the room and get snipey with any employee they see, asking when is the doc coming. We check with the doc's assistant. Then inform them if they are next or where they are in the order.

Now, when the doc finally makes it to the room, the parents act like she walks on water and the Red Sea is about to part. So, instead of voicing your concerns to the person that is the cause of the problem, they smooze her and give us employees the backlash.

So, instead of being able to assist my doc, I am now trying to find out how long it will be before they are seen.

I love this doc as a person, she is a good doc, but I would never take my children to see her because of her poor time management. My time is more valuable than that!!!

One other, prescription refills. When you need a refill, you are told it may take 24-48 until it is ready. This is not a new policy, has been this way forever. Well, you have some people that call in because they just used their last pill and need it NOW. Now, depending on what the med is for, we try to accommodate getting it done right away. But that involves the employee that takes care of refills being away from her desk waiting for a doc to come out of an exam room, explaining the situation, and getting the rx signed (or OK'd if it can be called in to the pharmacy). So now, because the parent doesn't call in for the refill at the proper time, the employee is now pulled away from her desk and incoming calls to take care of something the parent should have been on top of in the first place!! When we do this, we do remind the parent that they need to call in several days before they are out of their meds. But, some people never learn and are repeat offenders.

That docs behavior is totally unprofessional and she'd ony leave me waiting twice before we took our business elsewhere.

Forty eight hours for a refill? That's crazy. I've never had to wait more than a couple hours for a prescription.

Our doctor sends the initial prescription to the pharmacy of our choice over the computer while we sit in front of her, in the exam room. If there is a refill needed, it's written on the initial script and it is up to the patient to get it refilled. The doctor has nothing to do with refills.

 

[wdwmom2]

That docs behavior is totally unprofessional and she'd ony leave me waiting twice before we took our business elsewhere.

Forty eight hours for a refill? That's crazy. I've never had to wait more than a couple hours for a prescription.

Our doctor sends the initial prescription to the pharmacy of our choice over the computer while we sit in front of her, in the exam room. If there is a refill needed, it's written on the initial script and it is up to the patient to get it refilled. The doctor has nothing to do with refills.

I agree about the late doc, so you are preaching to the choir. But, as I said, her patients thinks she walks on water. So they are willing to wait. But, occasionally one will come out and wonder where she is. My opinion, if you don't like waiting, book with another one of the docs, they are great too!!! But, her schedule is always full!

The doc has EVERYTHING to do with refills. Once your origional script runs out of all the refills, you must get a new script. If the refill script is not signed by the doc, the pharmacy will not fill it. Or, if it can be called in to the pharmacy, the doc must OK it. And in case we are not on the same page, I am talking about refills called in over the phone, not refills given while you are at the appointment, sitting in front of the doc. Those are done immediately.

Most ADD/ADHD meds can only be written for 1 month. Must be signed by a doc, picked up at the office, can not be call in. And no, you can't put refills on them. There are many highly controlled drugs like this.

 

[MickeySP]

I can't stand when doctors, dentists or any other office have the entire office staff take an hour lunch with no one to answer the phones. I understand people need to eat, heck I worked in an office setting for 8 years, but we ALWAYS took our lunches in shifts so that someone was always on the phones. I can't understand for the life of me how a Dr could be open from 10-4 and have their phones closed for an entire hour. It drives me crazy. Ok, rant over..but am I the only one who feels these types of places need to keep someone on the phone while they are open???

And this is why I have changed physicians. I let my Dr of 20yrs know that if he wanted to do that it was his option and mine was to leave with my family and go elswhere.

Yeah, same here. They make no bones about it on their message, "if you have an emergency, call 9-1-1, otherwise leave a message for a call back." The phone never rings in the office. Actually, they do most everything by e-mail now, appointments, prescription refill requests, etc.

So you should tie up a police officer(since most dept require one to respond with an ambulance, 2 EMT's , an ambulance and the ER because the DR office can't be bothered to answer thier phones for paperwork or lunch!! REALLY?

Excuse Mrs Adams we don't have an ambulance to send for your heart attack, it is busy with little Billy's nosebleed.

911 is for REAL emergencies, not a catch all for lazy or understaffed Dr's offices.

I agree. If your office is so hectic that you must basically close to customers for an hour in the middle of the day to catch up, it sounds like you're short-staffed. At my place of employment, our customer service staff staggers their lunches, as do our admins, so there is always phone coverage. Seems to work for us.

I can imagine if we did that at a police dept. "Sorry we are unable to answer your call as we are at lunch or doing paperwork." Dr's office are not the only places that deal with paperwork. If their time management is that poor maybe they should consider more staff or a different career choice.

 

[tlbwriter]

Our doctor sends the initial prescription to the pharmacy of our choice over the computer while we sit in front of her, in the exam room. If there is a refill needed, it's written on the initial script and it is up to the patient to get it refilled. The doctor has nothing to do with refills.

The doctor is always involved with refills at some point. Even if they write a prescription that gives you a year worth of refills, they have to approve the new refills when that runs out.

BTW, we used to call the doctor for them, but now they all say to go through your pharmacy and have the pharmacy contact the doctor. Anyone else?

 

[PrincessSuzanne]

And this is why I have changed physicians. I let my Dr of 20yrs know that if he wanted to do that it was his option and mine was to leave with my family and go elswhere.




So you should tie up a police officer(since most dept require one to respond with an ambulance, 2 EMT's , an ambulance and the ER because the DR office can't be bothered to answer thier phones for paperwork or lunch!! REALLY?

Excuse Mrs Adams we don't have an ambulance to send for your heart attack, it is busy with little Billy's nosebleed.

911 is for REAL emergencies, not a catch all for lazy or understaffed Dr's offices.



I can imagine if we did that at a police dept. "Sorry we are unable to answer your call as we are at lunch or doing paperwork." Dr's office are not the only places that deal with paperwork. If their time management is that poor maybe they should consider more staff or a different career choice.

Wow, you really don't get it do you? The message said "if you have an EMERGENCY call 911, otherwise leave a message and someone will call you back. A nosebleed is not an EMERGENCY and can wait until afterlunch, and why would you all a doc for a nosebleed, can't that be managed at home by the parent.

A police dept is a completely different situation than a doctors office. And let me tell you, if the police department was an efficient as they think they are, boy would this be a better place. Don't get me started on police departments.

I don't understand where this sense of entitlement comes from. This is not a new thing for doctors offices, but everyone seems to be in such a hurry these days that they expect everything to be done their way and they want it right now. Things in the medical world don't work that way and not all doctors are high tech and can't scan your prescription in directly to the pharmacy.

 

[PrincessSuzanne]

The doctor is always involved with refills at some point. Even if they write a prescription that gives you a year worth of refills, they have to approve the new refills when that runs out.

BTW, we used to call the doctor for them, but now they all say to go through your pharmacy and have the pharmacy contact the doctor. Anyone
else?

Nope, my doctor gives me a 3 to 6 months prescription, then I have to make an appt to f/u with her to get a new one and f/u on what is going on with me. But, I only take allergy meds and Nsaid's for my feet. If you are going to run out before your appt, you call the office and they get the ok and call it in for you.

All of the doctors I have ever seen or worked for did it that way and that was the preferred way.

 

[MickeySP]

Wow, you really don't get it do you? The message said "if you have an EMERGENCY call 911, otherwise leave a message and someone will call you back. A nosebleed is not an EMERGENCY and can wait until afterlunch, and why would you all a doc for a nosebleed, can't that be managed at home by the parent.

A police dept is a completely different situation than a doctors office. And let me tell you, if the police department was an efficient as they think they are, boy would this be a better place. Don't get me started on police departments.

I don't understand where this sense of entitlement comes from. This is not a new thing for doctors offices, but everyone seems to be in such a hurry these days that they expect everything to be done their way and they want it right now. Things in the medical world don't work that way and not all doctors are high tech and can't scan your prescription in directly to the pharmacy.

You obvioulsy have never answered 911 calls. Calls range from CPR on the roadside to I locked myself out of my car, so please don't assume that people can distiguish a true emergency.

People just have an expectation that when you employ a DR, that is what you a doing, since I pay his salary. I should be able to reach them for my medical needs. Yes I am entitled to recieve the services for which the Dr is well compensated.

Nobody likes the police until you need them. If you have a problem with them next time call the DR, if he answers the phone.

 

[NotUrsula]

I don't understand where this sense of entitlement comes from. This is not a new thing for doctors offices, but everyone seems to be in such a hurry these days that they expect everything to be done their way and they want it right now. Things in the medical world don't work that way and not all doctors are high tech and can't scan your prescription in directly to the pharmacy.

It comes from living in 2011. Do you remember "banker's hours"? When is the last time you did business with a bank that only did business from 10 am to 2 pm on weekdays? (And I don't mean counter hours, I mean ANY business.) We have had ATM's for doing banking business since about 1970, and now we can access our accounts online to do most routine transactions. American banks that don't offer these services are no longer viable businesses.

The same goes for physician's office functions. It's 2011, and businesses need to either automate their clerical functions or die. Many insurance companies are starting to mandate that many of these transactions be done electronically; because manual paperwork is not cost-efficient in this day and age. I know that the DEA only just recently started allowing electronic scrips for controlled substances, but I believe that it won't be long before use of such systems is no longer optional for those meds -- I know that law enforcement in my state is pushing for it, because we have a huge oxy abuse problem here, and the trend to e-scrips is really helping to stop patients from forging scrips for it.

 

[PrincessSuzanne]

You obvioulsy have never answered 911 calls. Calls range from CPR on the roadside to I locked myself out of my car, so please don't assume that people can distiguish a true emergency.

People just have an expectation that when you employ a DR, that is what you a doing, since I pay his salary. I should be able to reach them for my medical needs. Yes I am entitled to recieve the services for which the Dr is well compensated.

Nobody likes the police until you need them. If you have a problem with them next time call the DR, if he answers the phone.

No, never answered 911 calls, but I can imagine the calls you get. But, I can't see an ambulance being sent out for a nosebleed. I work in the ER area of a hospital, so I hear about some of these calls.

I understand what your saying about being able to reach a doctor when you need them, but they do have a right to a break as well and so does their staff. A doctor can't be available to you 24/7, they have hundreds of patients that need them and they are one person. And no matter how well a practice is managed, they can't always be available. And it is not always about staffing or customer service. You can't blame the office staff for the protocol that the doctors sets his/her office up by.

Entitlement is what it sounds like to me. There was a day when there was only 1 doctor for the whole town, still in some communities around us there still is only one or two doctors, most of the clientele are uninsured and they don't make the money to have the kind of staff to have the office open all the time.Not all doctors are "rich" and can afford to cater to their patients in the way that is being asked here.

I don't like the police in our area for any reason, they are incompetant and only if you "know" them do you get any assistance, otherwise don't bother. Their policy here is "If we didn't see it, it didn't happen", great way to take care of the community.

I have zero respect for a police officer that has a cell phone glued to his ear and gets in your face when you are trying to get to the hospital to be with your mother that has just had a massive heart attack in your home. He always has that thing glued to his ear, no matter where he is or what he is doing, you can't serve and protect that way.

 

[PrincessSuzanne]

It comes from living in 2011. Do you remember "banker's hours"? When is the last time you did business with a bank that only did business from 10 am to 2 pm on weekdays? (And I don't mean counter hours, I mean ANY business.) We have had ATM's for doing banking business since about 1970, and now we can access our accounts online to do most routine transactions. American banks that don't offer these services are no longer viable businesses.

The same goes for physician's office functions. It's 2011, and businesses need to either automate their clerical functions or die. Many insurance companies are starting to mandate that many of these transactions be done electronically; because manual paperwork is not cost-efficient in this day and age. I know that the DEA only just recently started allowing electronic scrips for controlled substances, but I believe that it won't be long before use of such systems is no longer optional for those meds -- I know that law enforcement in my state is pushing for it, because we have a huge oxy abuse problem here, and the trend to e-scrips is really helping to stop patients from forging scrips for it.

I don't see it working around here. Most of the doctors in this community are older and newer ones aren't opening practices here. These set in their way docs aren't going to sink that kind of money into something like that. One of our hospitals runs a residency program, but when those docs are finished they go to larger towns where the money is.

 

[SaraJayne]

I agree about the late doc, so you are preaching to the choir. But, as I said, her patients thinks she walks on water. So they are willing to wait. But, occasionally one will come out and wonder where she is. My opinion, if you don't like waiting, book with another one of the docs, they are great too!!! But, her schedule is always full!

The doc has EVERYTHING to do with refills. Once your origional script runs out of all the refills, you must get a new script. If the refill script is not signed by the doc, the pharmacy will not fill it. Or, if it can be called in to the pharmacy, the doc must OK it. And in case we are not on the same page, I am talking about refills called in over the phone, not refills given while you are at the appointment, sitting in front of the doc. Those are done immediately.

Most ADD/ADHD meds can only be written for 1 month. Must be signed by a doc, picked up at the office, can not be call in. And no, you can't put refills on them. There are many highly controlled drugs like this.

I call the pharmacy for a refill and they call the doctor. Less hassle for me, as a patient.

 

[wdwmom2]

I call the pharmacy for a refill and they call the doctor. Less hassle for me, as a patient.

I don't see it as less hassle. It's one phone call either way. You either call the pharmacy, or the doctor's office. I fail to see how one has benefits over the other. Calling the pharmacy just means that the pharmacy has to get the OK from the doc. Either way it is done, there is no refill until the doc gives it the OK.

 

[tlbwriter]

I understand what your saying about being able to reach a doctor when you need them, but they do have a right to a break as well and so does their staff. A doctor can't be available to you 24/7, they have hundreds of patients that need them and they are one person. And no matter how well a practice is managed, they can't always be available. And it is not always about staffing or customer service. You can't blame the office staff for the protocol that the doctors sets his/her office up by.

I don't believe anyone said people don't deserve a break, so that's not really a relevant argument. People just expect to be able to call a business during their lunch hour. And again, if that business is so completely chaotic that they have to shut down for an hour or more in the middle of the business day or else no one gets a break and/or they get too far behind, they seem to have a staffing problem. What else would it be?

 

[disfan07]

This wouldn't work for appointments for most people, but do most doctors still not use email as a main source of communication? My doctors all use email to answer questions, concerns, and prescriptions (most will at least). Most are required by the hospital/medical group to do so.

I mean, maybe that's why I don't find it as frustrating because I have other means of communication. If I have a question that's not urgent...I can email. My regular form of contact with my allergist, derm., GYN, internist and cardio is via email. And if I email them about a problem and they want to talk to me about it, they ask me when I am free (not in class) and they call at that time. Usually ends up being between 6 and 8 when they are returning phone calls from the day.

My doctors have always told me that if I have trouble making appointments, just email them and they will figure it out.

I don't know if it's my doctors, the hospital/medical group or my relationship with my doctors that makes this not as annoying to me or what but maybe that's why I don't understand why it's such a problem.

 

[tlbwriter]

This wouldn't work for appointments for most people, but do most doctors still not use email as a main source of communication?

None of mine do.