How would you handle this.......I am so mad....

[Heidict]

Anyone who works with the public has to vent sometimes. Most of the customer/patients are great but there are some that you could strangle. However, if you ever feel the desire to vent then you had better be darn sure that you are not in ear shot of ANY patient/customer. To do it where it can be overheard is beyond being unprofessional.

The nurse may have well have been speaking about you. Even if she wasn't though, she should not have said her comments while you were on the line and able to over hear them.

If nothing else, the manager needs to be made aware that the nurse is speaking about patients in this manner where other patients can hear her. It reflects badly on the office and with so many pedi's out there, I'm sure they don't want to loss patients because of one nurses inappropriate behavior.

I would write the office manager a letter and cc your MD on it.

 

[LuvOrlando]

A Dr's office is a business. The patient is a customer. The people at the desk are rarely Nurses, in fact my office made up the term "Clinician" to try and give them more clout. I love my Dr. but I don't always love the office workers. When I like one or if someone goes the extra mile for me I make sure to tell my Dr. BUT if I get hung up on, or ignored or spoken to rudely I absolutely 100% call and speak to my Dr about it. Once I even had a back-up Dr accuse me of drug seeking behavior over my migraine medicine (2 tablets) when I was away on vacation, then he told me I wasn't fast enough and then he hang up on me cussing as he did... oh yes, it hit the fan the next morning when I got my Dr. on the phone and the kooky Dr. was never heard from again

The way I see it is I am a healthy adult woman with a voice, if someone treats me badly and makes me feel unsure about seeking care how should I expect that person would make an elderly patient feel, or a person with a thinner skin than me? So, not out of spite but because of all the other people without a voice I always use my own.

 

[m&m's mom]

Sorry.... but NOT funny...

If I ever heard my son's Karate/baseball/whatever coaches going off about 'crazy mom's'.... I would not find it funny, or acceptable.
Perhaps he should not be involved in coaching children....
Just as this lady should not be employed in a professional medical office, handling calls from concerned parents.

The lady in the OP was in a supposedly 'professional' work environment.

And, let's not forget HiPPA privacy laws!

Like I said, I wouldn't personally be all mad and offended...
I would be able to look at it more calmly and rationally.

In any case, this was not professional conduct. Not by any stretch.

I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say that calling someone "friggin crazy", which we are no even sure she did- is not a medical diagnosis and therefore no HIPPA protection.

ETA- If the coach is a VOLUNTEER, they get a huge break from me and absolutely, there are crazy Mom's out there.

 

[mhsjax]

Sorry.... but NOT funny...

If I ever heard my son's Karate/baseball/whatever coaches going off about 'crazy mom's'.... I would not find it funny, or acceptable.
Perhaps he should not be involved in coaching children....
Just as this lady should not be employed in a professional medical office, handling calls from concerned parents.

The lady in the OP was in a supposedly 'professional' work environment.

And, let's not forget HiPPA privacy laws!

Like I said, I wouldn't personally be all mad and offended...
I would be able to look at it more calmly and rationally.

In any case, this was not professional conduct. Not by any stretch.

Actually it is funny, I think some of you are perfect, I guess you have never ranted about another person in your life. And if you have ever coached, you would know that there are some real nut jobs out there. Also Hippa applies to medical info and if she is talking to staff, they can be in the know. I guess you think all medical discussions happen behind closed doors in a Dr's office, they don't. No it wasn't professional, but non of us are perfect.

I also agree that she could have been talking about someone else, I know that when I worked in a Dr's office it wasn't unusual for me to be taking care of 2 different situations at the same time.

 

[mhsjax]

A Dr's office is a business. The patient is a customer. The people at the desk are rarely Nurses, in fact my office made up the term "Clinician" to try and give them more clout. I love my Dr. but I don't always love the office workers. When I like one or if someone goes the extra mile for me I make sure to tell my Dr. BUT if I get hung up on, or ignored or spoken to rudely I absolutely 100% call and speak to my Dr about it. Once I even had a back-up Dr accuse me of drug seeking behavior over my migraine medicine (2 tablets) when I was away on vacation, then he told me I wasn't fast enough and then he hang up on me cussing as he did... oh yes, it hit the fan the next morning when I got my Dr. on the phone and the kooky Dr. was never heard from again

The way I see it is I am a healthy adult woman with a voice, if someone treats me badly and makes me feel unsure about seeking care how should I expect that person would make an elderly patient feel, or a person with a thinner skin than me? So, not out of spite but because of all the other people without a voice I always use my own.

So you actually "call back" to speak to the Dr. Don't you think he has more important things to do than talk to you on the phone about his employees, That would best be handled by a letter or to speak with the office manager.

 

[FireDancer]

Parents are crazy!

Oh God yes they are. My first job as a kid was umpiring little league games. You'd think calling a ball or strike was analogous to sentencing someone to death. I once ejected a parent and told them I was doing so for the simple reason that the way they were screaming about something so insignificant in the grand scheme of life was an embarrassment to humanity. I got quite the chuckle out of the other parents.

 

[RadioNate]

I guess I'm dense today because I can't even figure out what the nurse said.

My initial thought was how does the OP even know the nurse was talking about her? She overheard a tiny snippet of a conversation between the nurse and an unknown.

Call the office manager if it'll make you feel better but there are too many unknowns for me to be overly upset about the situation.

 

[Schmeck]

Agreed !! I worked for an attorney for a few years, and we were always venting about clients....out of earshot of course !! While I was there I always had great stories to tell my friends about stupid things people would say/do !

Wouldn't telling 'your friends' (assuming they do not work in the same office and have access to the same clientele) be violating the lawyer/client confidentiality?

To the PP who talked about patients stories, isn't that a violation as well?

 

[mhsjax]

Wouldn't telling 'your friends' (assuming they do not work in the same office and have access to the same clientele) be violating the lawyer/client confidentiality?

To the PP who talked about patients stories, isn't that a violation as well?

NOt if you don't give the patient name, you can say 50 yr old female or 30 year of male or we had this man or woman. That could be anybody.

 

[FayeW]

Wouldn't telling 'your friends' (assuming they do not work in the same office and have access to the same clientele) be violating the lawyer/client confidentiality?

To the PP who talked about patients stories, isn't that a violation as well?

Only if you "named names". Repeating something "some crazy lady" said does not disclose who the "crazy lady" is!

My stories usually start with "My Nutty Client...."

 

[Stacerita]

I would let it go. you don't even know for sure if she was talking about you. And even if she was, sticks and stones. My only concern would be that my child got proper care. Other than that I wouldn't care.

 

[XYSRUS]

It's HIPAA-not HIPPA. Anyway I wouldn't waste my time with that complaint. The OP doesn't really know who the "nurse " was referring to b/c she wasn't there and she didn't ask the person she was talking to. PS...parents are crazy when it comes their snowflakes!

 

[laurie31]

Agreed. She could have been talking about her babysitter, her child's teacher, her crazy neighbor, her mother-in-law, or even her cat. It's possible she was in the middle of a personal conversation with a co-worker when you called and just resumed it when she thought she put you on hold.

I can't see anything you did that would make her think you were a "friggin" anything. I hope your DD is fine.

 

[Carly_Roach]

My daughter had fallen the day before yesterday. She had a very bad headache yesterday and her regular doctor was on vacation so we saw someone else in the practice. All fine and good. The nurse was a bit strange, but whatever. We were there to see the doctor who ordered a CT to be sure.

Well, today I just called for the results (normal....thank goodness). I asked the nurse if she could run a question by the doctor and she put me on hold......and connected with who she thought was the doctor (but it was still me on the line). She said something to the effect "that she is a friggin something or other" (probably since I asked to run a question by him rather than taking her answer.....but I don't know that for sure). I kept quiet and she switched the lines and presumably actually talked with the doctor.

When she got back on the line, she relayed the doctors message. Then I told her that she should be careful what she says when a patient is still on the line and that she wasn't very professional and I will be talking to the office manager. She claimed she didn't know what I meant and I said to her that she knows exactly what she said. I hung up and called back to speak to the office manager who is out until Monday (as is my regular doctor).

I am so mad. It is uncalled for and very unprofessional of this nurse. It makes me question the ethics of their practice if they talk about their patients in this manner.

I am not sure what else to do. I plan on talking to the office manager on Monday and maybe the regular doctor, but each doctor has their own nurse, so I am not sure I should even say anything to him. I am fuming......

How would you handle this unpleasant situation? I really don't know her or that doctor, so I doubt saying anything to that doctor will do any good. Why do people have to be like this when you are only trying to do what is best for your family? It sure makes for ill feelings.

If you have to ask other people if you would be out of line taking an action, then chances are that the answer is yes. I would let it go if it were me.

You got the answer you requested from a doctor/nurse who isn't your doctor/nurse. When you accused the woman on the other end of the phone of being unprofessional, said she didn't know what you meant. You should have repeated what she said and waited for an explanation (or an apology) instead of simply saying, "You know exactly what I mean" and expected her to read your mind. And now you're thinking about making an issue out of something that you're unsure of whether or not you're right to make an issue out of it.

It's your life and it's your doctor. Anything we say isn't going to change how that practice and the people who work there are going to feel about you based on YOUR actions. But if it were me, I'd have either handled it at the time it happened or let it go as something not all that important.

 

[creativeamanda]

I honestly would let it go. There have been plenty of times as a teacher that I have gotten a letter from a parent who has been aggravating me and wants to hear it "straight from the principle" (misspelling of principal intentional) and I go to the principal and vent my frustrations about the parent. We all do it at work.

And for the person who said something about coaches venting--I am a volunteer cheerleading coach for recreation ball. Last night I had a parent come up to me and curse me out in front of the other cheerleaders (34 of them--ages 4 to 9) because I had the audacity to leave her child with another coach when she did not show up in time to pick her snowflake up. Forget the fact that I had other obligations that I had to do. Forget the fact that I am donating my time to these girls with nothing in return. Some parents are crazy--that other coach was my husband of all people, and he had a football practice going on with 2 other adults and a cheermom agreed to stay behind. But was that good enough? NO! She decided it was okay for her to curse in front of those little girls instead of taking her concern to the recreation director. So yes, I will as a coach vent about parents because sometimes they are just ignorant in their actions. Everybody vents.

This nurse was not giving inaccurate information or giving a medical diagnosis without a license. She was venting. Hurtful, yes, but probably something the op needs to learn that she needs to "get over". After all this is not her normal doctor or the normal nurse she deals with, so odds are she will never talk to her again.

 

[Keli]

I'm glad to hear so many people saying let it go since that's exactly what I was thinking. I know this made you angry and that's motivating you to make a formal complaint but I think that's not the wisest course of action.

I have to say I think if I were involved in a situation like that, my boss would probably tell me to be more careful and make sure I have the person on hold before saying anything that could be considered unprofessional (no matter who I was talking about).

But I'm pretty sure he'd think more negatively towards the person calling back to complain over so minor an issue and what we can expect in the future from them than he would my lapse.

 

[C.Ann]

How do you know she was talking about you? Maybe she was having a conversation with a co-worker while waiting to be connected to the doctor, and it had nothing to do with work at all!

I'd let it go. She wasn't talking to you. She may not have even been talking about you.

It's simply not worth the angst to even care about this issue for a second longer.

I guess I'm dense today because I can't even figure out what the nurse said.

My initial thought was how does the OP even know the nurse was talking about her? She overheard a tiny snippet of a conversation between the nurse and an unknown..

I agree with the above posters.. From what you said in your original post, my very first thought was that the person on the line was talking about someone else..

Personally, unless you are 100% certain that she was talking about you, I would let it go..