Doctors' Offices Employees

amontro

I wasn't sure I should start this thread, but I've put up with a lot of nonsense all my life with people who work in doctors offices.  Now that I'm Stage IV, it's important to me that they get things right.

I've had problems with billing, appointments, and treatment, nurses almost giving me the wrong treatments!  It's a good thing that I'm at a stage where I can monitor them and ask them what they're doing. 

What brought this thread on this time is that at my last onc visit, I explained to my onc and the pertinent medical and office people about my vacation and made a list of visits that my onc and I agreed on, including my next CT Scan.  I just received in the mail a list of appts. made for when I'm away also including the CT Scan.  So I wrote a detailed letter to the person who did the scheduling and spelled it all out.

It's a good thing I had practice in the past. There were certain doctors that I or my family visited that just never got it right.

 Anyone else have to monitor their correct treatments, appointments, bills, etc.?

ktym

amontro, just fired off a letter complaining about this very thing

Junebug40

I did monitor mine. My last Herceptin was Aug of 2010. With surgeries chemo and other medications I topped 1 million dollars in treatment in over a year and a half. For those appointments I had to lie (yep......I admit it) about why certain appointment times would not do. I won't apologize for that. I was the one with cancer! Sorry if the time I could get to the appointment was inconvenient. For the most part they were understanding. Occasionaly I would get somebody B#$@^& (rhymes with 'itchy) but not often. It was a large hospital with a large cancer center. If everything went as planned then Cancer NEVER would have been one of mine

amontro

Again, I have to monitor my own treatments.  I usually ask what they're giving me through my port and, sometimes, it's a different answer.  Sometimes, I have to remind them that I'm getting my Zometa today.  Sometimes, I have to remind them that I'm getting triple Herceptin today.  Sometimes, I'm being told that I"m not supposed to get Zometa every treatment when, in fact, that's what I was told a few months ago.

At least, I got rid of being billed for office visits when I wasn't there.

Junebug & kmmd, I think doctors should remind their "people" that they are dealing with women/men who have been through so much that keeping track of the little slip ups can be aggravating - because our lives depend on it.

Anonymous

Just another perspective.  I've been to three Onc's and three cancer facilities since my diagnosis.  These three places are very different from each other based on how they choose to run their businesses - and these are businesses make no mistake about it.  Some of these differences are very obvious and some are very subtle. They all differed in how tight their procedures were - a real indicator of how many mistakes they will likely make.

For instance, the second chemo center had huge billing problems - I had to have BC/BS intercede many times to get bills straight - once I had three months worth in appeal at one time.  BC/BS would initiate a three way call - the only way I found to settle a problem with this particular institution.

The second chemo center was also very chaotic - very much like a trip to an asylum twice a month.  It was different from the other two in a couple of key ways.  It was the only one of the three that share a pharmacist with the hospital which could frequently hold up chemo sessions. Also, the second facility had two very good oncology nurses, 2 average oncology nurses, and one total nitwit.  The difference between a 5 1/2 hour treatment and an 8 1/2 hour treatment was the nurse you drew on the rotation. 

These organizations decide what is important to them and run their businesses accordingly.  They may decide to run with a shortage of nurses or cna's because they make more money that way.  They may also decide to take people without appointments.  This inconveniences the crap out of patients with appointments but again they make more money. They may decide to share the pharmacist with the cancer floor because again they make more money that way.  Running a facility with loose procedures and a shortage of staff leads to problems.

I would advise that you stay on top of everything like you are doing but if it gets to bad, go somewhere else - don't let it stress you.  Over time, you really know what to look for - the first question I had for the third facility was "do you have your own pharmacist". A newbe wouldn't even know to ask that.

amontro

Where I go, they have a big file on me and they write down what my treatment is supposed to be.  It is updated, as necessary, with the current treatments on the top page. 

If they would look in the file, they would see what my current treatment should be.  How difficult is that?  No matter how busy they are, just look in the file. 

Right now, I have my senses about me but I feel bad for those women who are weary, sick and tired when they come in for chemo. Why add another stress?

amontro

Here we go again!  Sorry to be so redundant, but I'm at  my wits end. Since I started this thread, I've been to the same office twice more.  You can see above the results of the last visits.  Yesterday, I was very uncomfortable.

First of all, a nurse sat next to me with the swab, cold spray, needle and tape.  Before she did anything, and before I even looked at it,  I had to remind her that I took a 1" needle. She brought the wrong size and had to get the right one. It's in my chart, and I hate being stabbed over and over with a short needle.

While I'm getting a 3-bagger of herceptin, all of the nurses asked me if I'm due for zometa that day. I kept saying that they're the ones with my chart with my oncologist's directives. After asking me a few more times, someone looked it up. They've almost made mistakes with this before. Once, they pulled the port needle out to let me go and I had to remind them that I was supposed to get zometa also.  Another time, I was due for zometa, but someone didn't write on the chart the last time I received it. My onc told me to skip that one just in case.

As I was going through treatment, I told them I was wondering when my onc would see me that day. No one answered.  After waiting 1/2 hour after my treatment, my onc's nurse passed by and when I asked her, she said I didn't have an appointment that afternoon. This also should have been noted in my treatment folder, but none of the nurses knew. 

The icing on the cake: I was told by my BS not to use band aids because I'm allergic to the adhesive, so my chart says paper tape only.  When they removed the needle from the port, on went the band aid.  I was too upset to fight it.

I agree with you all about being my own advocate.  I feel better about re-reading this thread. Instead of tattling on them to my onc, I'm going to ask them every question pertaining to my treatments and bombard them with questions.  Forewarned is forearmed. Nurse-ann, as I'e noticed in other areas of life, the grass isn't always greener on the other side.

Thanks for reading my tirade. It  made me feel better.