A Patient's Lesson

I went to the doctor yesterday. Seems I overdid it a bit last week, with moving one room of furniture into another room (but the apartment looks swell!) and hitting a large bucket of golf balls with several practice swings in between. I'm a perfectionist, I know this. My streak of must-make-it-right led to sore ribs that wouldn't respond to ibuprofen so I requested an appointment with my Internist. I wanted to make sure I hadn't done any serious damage, or that I didn't have a TUMOR. After all I work in Oncology and that sort of thing crosses my mind about once every twelve minutes.

I was in more pain than I wanted to admit and I hadn't slept well. I approached the reception desk and gave my name. The pleasant woman behind the desk handed me a clipboard and asked me to sign in. Odd. The sign-in sheet was like the back portion of one of those magic writing tablets we used to have when we were kids - the kind that you lift up the top sheet and everything disappears because you're really only making an imprint on the wax underneath. Hmmm. I thought it must be some kind of patient privacy thing, signed my name and the time I arrived and handed back the clipboard. I settled into an uncomfortable chair for what I anticipated would be a wait. In the past I'd always waited an hour to see my doc. He's busy, but he's worth it.

I flipped through magazines and the newspaper. I watched the drug reps come in and out. After an hour and fifteen minutes, I was the only one in the waiting room. Something was not right. The receptionist asked me who I was waiting to see. Uh oh. He'd left the building.

I heard his nurse ask if I'd checked in. Then I knew what had happened. The "magic clipboard" was supposed to have paper on it. Shit! I heard the nurse say, "Who would do something like that? Couldn't she see how to sign in?"

Sore ribs or not, I came out of my chair. I told her that I could hear her. I told her that I was embarrassed to have filled out the form incorrectly - such as it was. I also told her that I had been sitting in the waiting room the entire time, that if she was concerned that I hadn't shown up for my appointment, all she had to do was look for me, she knows me. I told her that I am a medical provider and above all else that I would not want my patients to hear me talking about them in the manner she was talking about me.

Obviously angry, but still holding it together, I told her that I would happily reschedule my appointment. My doctor was, however, on his way back to the office.

I was seen, I was diagnosed and I was treated. I learned a huge lesson in humility and I hope that it will stay with me for a very long time. I think what happened yesterday was a combination of me (the patient) not asking when I was unsure of the check in procedure, and them (the office staff) not following through when a long-standing patient wasn't accounted for. This is a tough thing that all too often leads to patients not getting what they need. I consider it an opportunity to change my practice. This is a good thing.