Remember that feeling when your Mom didn’t yell like you expected her to, but simply turned away and said, “I’m just disappointed in you. You know better.”? Well, now I know how my mom felt. I feel the same way about my hosptial care. After 1 good day ~last week when we eliminated my constant pain, there was again a dissappointment. Nothing major or harmful, just disrepectful in general and annoying. The absolute abscence of customer service- accept for the nice nurse who carried my coat for me from the waiting room. I didn’t get his name but he was a cute african american gentleman in the interventional radialogy dept. at Northwestern hospital. I was there for a sight check just to make sure my wound was no longer infected and healing nicely.
I was there for 90 minutes before anyone saw me and I had to ask twice. My team the weds before advised me it would be a quick in and out 15 minutes tops, ” just pop in when you can no appointment needed”, not so much. Maybe 10:30 was too close to lunch time. The Doctor, not one I’ve seen before spent a total of 45 seconds with me. He asked if I had any questions and I said / wrote “Why was I here waiting 90 minutes for this?” At least he had the good graces to apologize. It turns out I found out later I did have an appointment for 9am except no one told me ~ I had said I could be there after 10am the week before and was told that was fine. Perhaps I am asking too much. I just don’t think common courtesy is too much. Lesson learned.
For now I have a new plan for any and all appointments proported to be 15 minutes or otherwise…
1) Pack a lunch or a snack
2) bring your MP3 player and a book
3) bring a note book just to record your impressions of the wall art if nothing else
4) ALWAYS BRING AN ADVOCATE, my bad: I didn’t think it was worth the fuel for anyone to join me for a 15min appt.
5) Be demanding or at last reconfirm the timeline when you arrive, if you don’t have one ask for one so at least they know you are watching the clock
6) Try to come back for check ups when the team you worked with before is there, familiarity breeds better service
I think hospitals have gotten lazy and we the patients have let them be lazy. We go in scared and unsure, our identity in the world mysteriously abscent in their enviroment. We HOPE we are taken care of, we HOPE there are no mistakes, we HOPE we are in good hands. It’s a morass of uncertainty, and the strong become meek. I say it is our right to have great customer service. It’s our right to have questions answered and our right to be seen in a timely fashion. It’s become a pet peeve of mine but I absolutely hate it when a Doctor or nurse is there to take care of me and asks me why I am there; “Don’t you know?” I ask on my note pad. I have an appointment so why don’t you know? Who’s managing my care anyhow?
I am baby I am. I’d just really like an attentive partner who knows medicine to support me with that, ya Know?
