Thursday, February 5, 2009

Frustration, frustration....sigh!

Have you ever considered that really you don't have to accept things just because. Perhaps one day you decide...you know...it's my time, my money & my choice.

Last week I received a card in the mail to schedule our annual eye appointments. I called to schedule my & the boys appointments and requested them all on the same day because why should I make 3 trips when I could make one. They told me that they "do not schedule 3 appointments at once". Now this I know is not true because I schedule them this way every year. The lady tells me that she would have to talk with the doctor, who wasn't availble at that time, to see if it was ok. I told her that was fine, whatever she had to do, but she needed to understand that I was not making 3 trips to do these appointments, when I've never had to before. The next day she called me back to let me know that they would schedule the appointments. Surprise, surprise!

Today I called to see if Clay could go in to see the doctor because he has a sore throat. I was told that a nurse would have to call me back to see if he's sick enough to come in. I'm not sure how they can determine that over the phone but ok. After the nurse calls me back, she so intelligently tells me that I should "just give him Motrin & Tylenol (which I already have been doing this, & I don't even have a nursing degree...just common sense) and that if he's still feeling bad tomorrow to call back at 8 a.m. because they don't schedule sick appointments ahead of time, they are only scheduled when you call"..which is what I did today...but again ok. Then she tells me that "if he's still sick this afternoon, that I should take him to the after hours clinic but they don't open until 6". Sounds like great health care to me. Am I missing something here?

I suppose my frustration is that while I do like my doctors, they are not the only doctors in our area. I am sure I could find another one I like just as well. Perhaps they don't realize that. Perhaps they don't realize that we are keeping them in business. Perhaps they don't have a clue. Perhaps they don't care. Perhaps the problem with health care is that there are not enough doctors. Am I the only one out there with these frustrating feeling? Perhaps I'm just griping but ultimately it all boils down to my time, my money, & my choice!

1 comment:

~~Kerri~~ said...

Stephanie, no you are not th eonly one that is frutrated with this entire system....
And another thing that really burns me the wrong way is that when you ahve an appointment and you are ten minutes late they won't see you; but when you are on time they don't mind you sitting 30 minutes to wait on the doc...
No I don't think we are missing anything, I think they forget they arent the only docs in the area..
Have a good day!!!