Yesterday was an extremely irritating day at work. It seems that patients were just really getting under everyone’s skin. There are certain things that patients do that really are irresponsible and annoying.
1. Don’t call to make an appointment while driving! You know we are going to ask questions that you will need to get things out of your purse or pocket in order to answer. It is not safe to do this while driving. I have literally had patients tell someone else in the car to “hold the wheel while I get my wallet out of my back pocket”. How safe is that? You can wait the few minutes it will take to get to your destination BEFORE calling us to make your appointment. We will still be there.
2. Don’t call if you don’t know what test you are scheduling! How can you not know what the doctor is sending you for? Don’t you ask questions? You would be surprised how many patients can’t even tell me the part of body that we are doing the test on. Don’t they know what is bothering them?
3. Don’t schedule your elementary school child to have a fasting exam after school and be upset with them because they ate! We find it horrific if you think it is ok to starve your child all day for a test. We schedule tests early in the morning and some tests on saturdays. Please make use of these times. It really will be ok if the child goes to school about an hour late. It will be better then starving them all day! I can guarantee that if the parent needed the test, they would schedule it first thing in the morning.
4. Of course you can’t hear me, the TV is on full blast! I am sick and tired of people calling up with the TV or radio blasting in the background and then have the nerve to tell me that they can’t hear me. Of course they can’t. Turn it down before making the call. You don’t need to hear the song or watch the program that bad. If you don’t want to miss a second of it, then call afterwards.
5. Don’t immediately assume that someone speaks the same language as you do. I live in an English speaking country. Yes the area I live in has a huge population of Spanish speakers. However, we don’t all speak Spanish. Please do not assume that we do. You don’t want to know how many times people will call up and immediately start speaking Spanish. Then I have to tell them that I only speak a little. They actually get upset that I only speak a little. Hello!! I am not Hispanic. My parents are from Canada. My grandparents are from England and Scotland. There isn’t an ounce of Hispanic blood in me. Yes I have learned a little. I made the effort. However, most of these people that call can speak perfect English yet refuse to speak it. I don’t mind the patients who call and can’t speak English. They are usually the ones who will try to work with me the most. They will speak slowly and use smaller, easier words. I can usually help those the easiest. However, we have patients (and even employees of other doctor’s offices) who will call up and speak rapid fire Spanish then get mad because I don’t understand them. They will then speak perfect English, but talk to me like I am an idiot.
6. Don’t get mad at us if you doctor’s office hasn’t faxed anything over. Instead of calling us every ten minutes for an entire day. Call you doctor’s office and either have them fax it directly to you or go there in person and pick it up. We are not responsible for your paperwork. We have a very organized system of keeping track of everything that comes in. However, there are many times when it just never comes over. You are an adult. Start to accept responsibility for your own body and what needs to be done.
7. Know your insurance plan! You won’t believe how many people ask us on the phone what their copay is. We won’t know until we call to verify the insurance. However, when you signed up for your insurance, you were given a book that describes in great detail your benefits. If you want to know that badly (where you are going to curse at us because we don’t know), then look it up in your book. Or better yet, call yourself. There is a toll free phone number on the back of your insurance card that will provide you with all sorts of information if you call. Also you might want to familiarize yourself with your insurance company’s website. They tend to have information like that listed there as well. Plus you would be surprised at some of the interesting things you will find there as well.
Ok enough of the rant. I just really needed to get that out of my system!
