Urgent Care should be called Eventual Care

Wasted another day at the Dr.

Published on May 27, 2005 By JillUser In Misc

This morning my 8yr old complained that his leg hurt so badly he didn't want to walk on it. He had been complaining about leg pain for the last couple of weeks but I thought it was just growing pains. I looked into leg pain in kids and found out that complaint about pain in a localized position is reason for concern. Growing pains tend to be in joints and tend to move around.

So I helped him and his brother to the car after attempting to make an appt with the pediatrician. Her office was only open from 9-3 and it is the day before Memorial weekend so she was totally booked. I decided to take him to Urgent Care since it is only about a mile away.

Things looked encouraging since there were only two people in the waiting room when we signed in. Lots of people kept flowing in and out but they were mostly lab patients gettine blood workd done. An hour of waiting and they had only taken one person in to see the doctor! 15 mins later they took the other person ahead of us. I then asked one of the many nurses standing around chatting if they had any idea of how long we would be waiting. They said we should be next and that was all they knew. I asked if seeing 2 people an hour seemed reasonable to them. They said they usually see up to 4/hr. I don't think they should be bragging about that!

After 1.5hrs waiting we were taken in to a new room to wait. At about 2.25 hrs into our adventure we were finally blessed by the presence of the doctor. Did he or any of the nurses apologize for the wait? No. Did this piss me off...you bet ya!

I felt taken for granted because they know that you will due anything you have to to find out what is wrong with your child. So you will just take whatever service they throw your way and you should just be happy you got it. They didn't even give me any idea of what was going on!

Nothing showed up on the xray but the dr said we should follow up with an orthopedic specialist and get an MRI because there might be vascular problems with his hip and/or thigh. We also should keep weight off that leg and make him use crutches.

Over 3hrs to find out we should go to another doctor. Argh!

Comments (Page 2)

MasonM

on May 28, 2005

Sorry to hear about your son's pain. Hopefully it will turn out to be something minor.

I just wanted to throw in a positive doctor experience. A few weeks after I was released from the hospital following the surgery to repair my shattered pelvis it was time to have the sutures removed. I made an appointment with a local physician who happens to also treat my mother regularly.

When I went in his office was quite busy as he shared it with a couple of other doctors. I was called back at my appointment time (suprised). The doctor came in, asked about my injuries and surgery, examined the medical records I had brought with me from the hospital and proceeded to remove the sutures and examine the scar.

He was quite friendly and chatty during the entire process. He even asked after about the 10th suture if he was hurting me and joked that he should have asked sooner. Afterwards he spent some time talking with me about my progress and prescribed some painkillers for me and told me where the least expensive pharmacy would be to get it filled as he knew I had been unable to work since the wreck and wouldn't be working any time soon. He also knew I had no insurance.

When it was all said and done I went to the nurse's station as instructed and was told by the nurse that the doc had marked the sheet "no charge". I was floored and even protested a bit but she said that was up to the doc. The man had spent nearly an hour of his time with me and didn't charge me a dime. While I was filling my prescription I made a point of selecting a very nice thank you card to send to him.

Daiwa

on May 28, 2005

MasonM -

Kudos to your doctor for his compassion. I like to think that happens a lot more than we know, because just like good news not being news, good experiences seldom provoke us to ventilate in places like this.

Thanks for sharing that.

Cheers,
Daiwa

MarcieMoo

on May 28, 2005

I also have a positive doctors experience...two, as a matter of fact.

First, I will say this: I absolutely hate "Urgent Care"...or...as it is here in Las Vegas: Quick "Scare". The doctor spends all of 30 seconds with me, doesn't answer my questions, doesn't address the concerns I have, and that really bothers me.

The first time I wasn't feeling well I went to a gynecologist that I could see quickly here in Vegas. She was horrible. She couldn't believe that I was a virgin at my age (I'm 24), and wanted to perform tests that I had not 6 months ago that came back clear (a routine Pap). She was in and out in two seconds. She was rude and brash and frankly, the $20 co pay I paid for her services was far too much.

A colleague recommended a different gynecologist and I went to her for my yearly checkup back in March. She was fantastic. I had to wait quite a while, but I do realize that there's not a good facility/doctor/patient ratio here in Las Vegas because it's growing so fast. She was very gentle, and took time to address the concerns I have about my illness and prescribe meds for that illness in attempt to treat it anyway. She also had her nurse (whom I *don't* like) call around to see where I could find one of the medications the cheapest since my insurance doesn't cover it. She shakes my hand and walks me out.

As for other medical issues, another colleague suggested another clinic for things like injuries or illnesses. Ryan went to see Dr. Chung first, and he was very kind and very thorough. He shakes your hand when he first walks in and shakes your hand when he walks you to the door. He spends time answering ALL your questions and making sure that you really have what he thinks you have. He also doesn't just send you off with a kick in the butt and a "good riddance". He's asked for follow-up appointments both times I've seen him because he wants to make sure the medicine is working effectively and that I'm really feeling better. I went in today because there's something wrong with my eye. He thinks I have pink eye, and I'm going back on Tuesday so he can recheck me because if it is something more serious, he wants to make sure that it's taken care of... I can also usually get in to see him either same day or the next day, so if its nothing too bad, I can do that.

It is very, very difficult to find quality medical care in this town that will see you on short notice and will actually take "care" of you. I'm so thankful for my health care providers.

KarmaGirl

on May 29, 2005

I like to think that happens a lot more than we know, because just like good news not being news, good experiences seldom provoke us to ventilate in places like this.

It's a real mixed bag. I can't say for other states, but Michigan has what I call "regional" good service. I have lived all over the state and have seen over 100 different doctors in my life. The best care that I ever got was in the Mt. Pleasant area, which is far from being a wealthy area. Most of the Dr.s there moved there to get away from the "big town" mentality. They wanted to make a community difference, so they moved. Up North Dr.'s are good on the customer care end, but they seem to lack current knowledge. Ann Arbor is top notch in knowledge, but I have only had one Dr. that showed any "care" and she only works part time. Luckily, I live outside Ann Arbor in a small town, so I get Dr.s who moved out to be able to serve a community.

Most of the time a Dr. won't spend more than 5 minutes with you. It seems like the only exception is when you are discussing surgery or you have a surgical follow up. I even had surgery canceled because the Dr. decided to take a vacation (I switched surgeons- I figured that he really didn't care enough about me to be doing my surgery).

Our healthcare system is broken, but I don't see it in the same light as a lot of people. The problem is that the issue of money is the #1 concern. People don't want to pay, and Dr.'s want to make more. Insurance companies have to charge more to cover lawsuits, and Dr.'s have to pay it because they don't spend enough time with patients to even find out what is wrong before they treat, instead they rely too heavily on tests to cover their bases (which raises the cost of insurance since tests cost a lot of money). There used to me a time that Doctors were Doctors because they wanted to help people. Now most Doctors do it for the money and "prestige". Doctors are still one of the highest paid professions, yet I hear Doctors complain about wages all the time. They should be complaining about lack of time to adequately treat patients, instead.

I wish that I could get a Dr. that was as good as the Vet I take my dogs to. They spend an average of 20-30 minutes with my dogs per visit. They ask questions and discuss possibilities. They order tests only when needed and try moderate treatments. They call to ask how my pets are doing, and they try to save me money when at all possible. They also seem to truly care about my pets and our family.

Of course, I may be jaded though, considering that I had been to the Dr. more by the age of 20 than most people are in their whole life.

dharmagrl

on May 29, 2005

Jill:
First of all I'm sorry to hear that your little guy isn't doing so well. I know how hard it is to keep kids off their feet, especially when the weather is halfway decent!

I've had some horrible ER experiences too, there have been times when i've had to wait hours to be seen for something that should have been taken care of right away (like a dislocated shoulder).

This past week provided me with both a bad example of how things should work and a good one too.

I had a myelogram done on Thursday. The radiologist who did it left the building right after the test was done, so when I started running into problems afterwards (I was leaking CSF and in pretty much agony)he was nowhere to be found. It took 5 phone calls and 3 hours for the nurses to find someone to admit me to the hospital, and another 2 hours before I was given any pain meds (by which time I was literally screaming in pain and begging people to please help me). To say i was pissed off was an understatement. I was furious, and I'm making an official complaint about this physician's conduct next week. He shouldn't have left until he knew i was okay, and even when he did leave he should have left a contact number so that they could have reached him.

So, that was a good example of how things AREN'T supposed to be done. However, yesterday was a different matter. After I collapsed in the foyer of the ER, things moved very, very quickly. I was in a bed, with an IV and pain meds on board less than 15 mins later, and the anesthesiologist was in my room performing the blood patch procedure less than an hour after that. She came in on her day off, and stayed with me for 2 hours afterwards to make sure I was doing better. THAT'S the way things are supposed to be done.

I totally understand your frustration. I think that your doc could have at least apologized for the wait; if you're anything like me that would have been all it took to placate you. Basically, you just need someone to acknowledge that you've been waiting there for ages...no-one has to bend over backwards, just a little common courtesy is all that's called for.

Hope your little dude feels better soon!

JillUser

on May 29, 2005

I made a point of selecting a very nice thank you card to send to him.

Good for you for rewarding good service too. I tend to do the same. Unfortuantely, it is human nature to have negative experience stick more sharply in your mind.

JillUser

on May 29, 2005

if you're anything like me that would have been all it took to placate you. Basically, you just need someone to acknowledge that you've been waiting there for ages...no-one has to bend over backwards, just a little common courtesy is all that's called for.

Exactly!

Sorry to hear it took you collapsing for things to be done properly. My one of my worst experiences at an ER was when I had gall bladder attacks. My parents took me to the ER because I wanted to die (no exaggeration). I was writhing in pain and noone even said boo to me for 1.5hrs. My Mom was ready to kill someone so they took me into triage and gave me a shot (without asking if I wanted it or was allergic to anything). I responded "Hey! What the hell was that?!" It was morphine! They hadn't so much as taken my temperature and they just shot me up with morphine!

Well, the morphine didn't do anything but give me a headache. When the doctor finally came around, my Dad told her that he was certain that it was gall bladder since I was reacting the same way as he had a couple months prior and he had to have it taken out. She totally dismissed it and told me I was constipated and to go home and take an enema.

The next day I got in to see a decent doctor. The experience was like night and day. This doc actually asked me what I thought was going on and did the proper test (ultrasound). Sure enough, I needed emergency surgery because there was a stone stuck in the duct and I was at risk of it shooting out and lacerating my internal organs.

We have a wonderful family doctor so I have a good example of what doctors should be like. He always apologizes if he is running late, he listens to what is going on with you and what you think might be going on, he takes the time to really check you out and check your records and most importantly, treats you like a person.

Daiwa

on May 29, 2005

That's how it should be. We can't promise to always make the right call, but we can always treat you with respect and concern.

Cheers,
Daiwa

foreverserenity

on May 31, 2005

Jill I hope your son is doing better. It's scary when they get ill and you don't know what's wrong. Even scarier when you have to go to the ER, the dreaded place!

I've had my share of ER's not a good place I'm sorry to say. The wait is always long and it's always impossible to talk to anyone before you're actually "seen".

It's probably also because a lot of people uses the ER as their way of getting regular medical care and that makes it harder for those who really need urgent care. This has been realized by a lot of hospitals, that people uses the ER for regular routine care - especially when they don't have health insurance, the unfortunate thing is they haven't done anything about it yet.

Dharma, wow, what an experience! I'm glad you're ok and you're right about that formal complaint. That doctor should have known better than just "running off" knowing that a procedure like yours needed to be watched! Doctors shouldn't just go by their training, of course that's very important, but they should also go by their instincts. This should most certainly be an integral part of them being a doctor shouldn't it?

It is terrible that your wait was so long though Jill. That's unbelievable and the doctor apologizing would have most definately been the courteous thing to do, regardless!

Angloesque

on May 31, 2005

I worked in a doctor's office through high school and part of college. The doc I worked for took the time to answer each patient's questions, and if you're the one in the room, you want that kind of care--you don't want an assembly line. He was a surgeon and had the fun job of often telling people they had cancer and going over their treatment options. People in the waiting room would get rude and crass, not knowing that the person coming out had spent the last 20 minutes crying their eyes out because they'd just been diagnosed with stage 3 breast cancer.

You have to wait 45 minutes? Gee, that's too bad. But if you're in a specialist's office, just deal with it. At least we don't have Canada's system.

As for Urgent Care, well, they should have a triage or a 10-minute rule like some hospital ERs have where if you're assessed by a nurse within 10 minutes of your arrival.

bad doctors, they need to take parated2k's philosophy on doing their jobs, yep yep yep

Danny Bassette, I find this generalization about doctors being bad tiresome and untrue--you mention it every time this topic comes up. While there are some bad apples, they're not all.

Daiwa

on May 31, 2005

There used to me a time that Doctors were Doctors because they wanted to help people. Now most Doctors do it for the money and "prestige". Doctors are still one of the highest paid professions, yet I hear Doctors complain about wages all the time. They should be complaining about lack of time to adequately treat patients, instead.

KG -

That is still true today, despite that bit of conventional wisdom. And the lack of time to spend with patients is a constant topic of discussion & concern, both in the hospital lounge and by physician advocacy groups in Washington.

There are some, without question, who now "do it for the money," but they rarely start out that way. The number who embark on a career in medicine for that purpose alone is tiny. There are much easier ways for bright people to become wealthy. You literally sacrifice the better part of a decade of your productive life preparing for the job, and that's after college. Most of my peers who went into other careers out of college were in their third or fourth home by time I could afford my first. Unless you have family money, or marry into it, you begin practicing medicine way behind the earning curve and with a huge debt to pay off. Despite that common belief, you don't go into medicine to get rich. Some end up that way, but usually through years of long hours of arduous work.

Once physicians are thrown into the real world of the "business" of medicine, where noone believes you deserve a nickel for anything you do and actively seeks to avoid paying you for services you've already provided, I suspect attitudes change a bit, at least subconsciously. During my first 2-3 years of practice, about half of my work was charity care, since I never got paid for it - we had a more casual approach to collecting, trusting that insurance companies and patients would treat us fairly and do the right thing, but we were wrong. And this was 23 years ago. In order to stay in business, we had to start acting like Dillard's or Sears on the business side. I've never liked the necessity of it, but there you are - I couldn't raise my family and achieve a decent level of financial security without it. Even now, retirement at 65 looks like wishful thinking - I'm going to need the income.

In an ideal world, I could focus solely on the needs of my patients and do for them what I believe in my best judgment will benefit their health & well-being the most, but we don't inhabit such a world, I'm afraid. There's always hope, however.

Cheers,
Daiwa

Danny Bassette

on May 31, 2005

Angloesque, sorry I offended you. While I do know that not all doctors (lawyers, mailmen, insert profession of choice) are bad, I have had a number of bad experiences with doctors and it does color my view of them. I shall try not to bad mouth them in general, just the ones that have done something wrong.

JillUser

on May 31, 2005

I am with you Danny. I have unfortunately had more bad experiences than good when it comes to doctors. It really makes you appreciate the good ones though!

Dr Guy

on May 31, 2005

am with you Danny. I have unfortunately had more bad experiences than good when it comes to doctors. It really makes you appreciate the good ones though!

As a rule (Read: I know there are exceptions), the Doctor Office Doctor is much more competant than the Emergency room one. That is just a perception, as I am not qualified (despite my title) to judge them empirically.

ParaTed2k

on May 31, 2005

They each passed all the requirements appropriate to their specialties so both are as qualified as their personal motivation and inteligence allows. Each specialty has its own benefits, drawbacks, stressors and rewards. The only difference between the competence of the two (or any other specialty) is the motivation and temperment of the doctor. But as you say, that is only a perception based on one former paramedic's perception.

Welcome Guest! Please take the time to register with us.
There are many great features available to you once you register, including:

Richer content, access to many features that are disabled for guests like commenting on the forums.
Access to a great community, with a massive database of many, many areas of interest.
Access to contests & subscription offers like exclusive emails.
It's simple, and FREE!