why i dislike hospital schedulers right now...

somehow I had a feeling the whole "post a thought a day" thing was more of a good idea than it was actually practical with my class/work schedule these days! But it was a good idea for the weekend! So maybe my new goal should be to write on weekends....:)

But, my thought for the day is how much I dislike the medical world. I know, I know, it's vital to our society, and I am incredibly thankful for the ways I have benefited from the various treatments, medicines and procedures I've had throughout my life. Plus most of my extended family is employed in some way, shape, or form by the medical field (5 nurses, 1 physicians assistant, 2 doctors, 1 former military medic, 1 cousin in med school, 1 headed to nursing school, and a partridge in a pear tree...). So really, I get that it's important. What I do not get is how incredibly inefficient and unpractical and frustrating it is to get things scheduled.

I got a call today from a hospital scheduling person saying they needed to schedule my pre-op appointment for Thursday at 9 AM because of my surgery scheduled for Friday. My what scheduled for when?? Yes, I am needing to schedule a procedure, I was told however, it would be in November and that someone would call me to discuss possible dates. In my mind, that does NOT translate into "we'll arbitrarily pick a day, forget to call you to check your schedule, and then remember to remind you three days prior." Whatever. So I express my surprise and my frustration that this was not ever confirmed (or suggested) to me. I was then told it needed to happen in Oct. because my insurance was lapsing on Nov. 1st, so the procedure couldn't wait until then. My what was lapsing?? Nice of my insurance company to tell me that! So I hang up with the poor, confused pre-op scheduler, call my insurance and ask why in the world they would say it was lapsing. It's not. I just only pay once per month and so they could only confirm that I was paid through Nov. 1st. Excellent. So I call poor pre-op woman back, say that yes, I still have coverage in Nov. but if I'm already scheduled for Fri. let's go ahead and do that, but could someone please tell me when on Friday I'm having this supposed surgery? "I'm sorry, that's not our department, I just needed to tell you to come in at 9 on Thurs for tests." Excellent, my first exam of the quarter is Thurs. at 8. So I beg her to move it to Thurs. afternoon. She'll call me back. Meanwhile I still have NO idea why/when/where I am having surgery on friday. I call the scheduling department at the hospital like pre-op person suggested. "I"m sorry, we don't take care of that, you need to call your Dr's office." So I do. They are closed for lunch. I leave a message. No one ever calls me back. I call again after lunch, get ahold of the receptionist and am told "I'm sorry, we don't do his surgery schedule out of the office here, you need to call over to the hospital and ask for Lisa, she does his scheduling." So I call and ask for lisa. I get a woman named Martha. Close enough. I tell Martha I need to talk to Lisa and am met with, "oh so you're scheduling a urology appointment?" Um...no. But I need to talk to Lisa. I am told by Martha, "no, you need to talk to Cathy." At this point, I lost it. I'll admit it. "Cathy? I'm sorry but who the hell is cathy??" Cathy is his physician's assistant. Fabulous. Cathy is also not available. I couldn't help it, I cried. It worked though! Martha got Cathy to call me right back, apologize profusely for forgetting to tell me I was having surgery, and promised to explain everything in person at my pre-op appointment Thursday. Excellent. In the midst of all this I had to make poor Chuck clear his day for Friday since he is my driver/nurse for the day. Thought for the day..."seriously people, there HAS to be a better way to do this..."