Twenty Four Seven Medical Care

It has always aggravated me that if you get sick on a weekend you either wait until Monday to see a doctor or end up at the Emergency Room which is the wrong place to be unless it is a true emergency. And the horror stories of the surgical errors over the weekends because the only surgeon on call was two hours away.... I will admit that this has improved in recent years with the advent of more walk in clinics and longer hospital hours. But, we get sick and stay sick 24/7/365.

And the worst is having to wait all weekend for test results. Why can't someone read the damn test results and tell us on Saturday instead of making us wait until Monday for an answer? Any cancer person is familiar with this issue

Forbes Magazine wrote an article recently on New Year's Resolutions The Key Players in Healthcare Should Make. This issue shows up on the third page, after recommendations for doctors to improve their practices and synching electronic medical records.

So why do hospitals essentially close down on weekends? I completely understand administrative offices working a five day work week and the convenience of having all the staff available at the same time for better communication, yada, yada, yada. But why do medical staff also work only Monday-Friday? We don't just get sick between 8 and 5 on Mondays to Fridays?

There is always the complaint about too many patients coming in. But what if the hospital hours for medical care were stretched over seven days instead of five? The staff could still work the same number of hours but just over a longer period of time. And if you get a medical test, you don't need to wait for someone to read the damn report. If you were admitted over the weekend, you don't need to wait until Monday for surgery to be scheduled. I can go on.

'Bankers hours' medical care should be a thing of the past. The only people who benefit from being hospitalized over the weekend is the hospital - they get to bill the insurance companies for more nights' stays. Wouldn't it be better for the patient to be operated on over the weekend and then get out of the hospital?

What if hospitals were open for care half the time instead of a quarter (five nine hour days = 45 hours/week or 26.7%) of the time? What if hospitals were open 7am-7pm Monday - Sunday? Waits for appointments would be shorter. More patients could be treated. Patients who work full time could see doctor's at more convenient times. This is only 50% of the time, not 24/7/365 but its a big step toward more access.

I know this would require more staff but then hospitals would have less down time and would operate more efficiently and their expensive testing and surgical equipment would get used more and therefore be more profitable. And the patient's would be better treated and less stressed - quicker access to care and more information on their conditions.

Just an idea... I'm just a professional patient who hates waiting to find out the answers.

I got fired by my eye doctor

I consider myself a proactive and vocal patient. With my health I see so many doctors and spend a lot of time trying to make sure everyone is on the same page. They all need to be aware of my ailments, medications, and allergies. I have so many ailments that I often present issues to all my doctors they do not see every day. My medical care is important to me and I want a medical team which cares about me.

I have never been a huge fan of my eye doctor. I started going to them because of convenience. I have never felt they had the patient's interest in mind, they were really out for the money. At every visit I felt like I was part of a cattle call.

When you arrive, you stand in line and are greeted by one of four receptionists. They are okay not great. Never very social and treat you as just another number. Then you go sit in the big waiting room, unless you are there for contacts which has a different waiting room or for the other doctor who is on the first floor. Then you sit and wait to be called. No one talks. Every one sits there quietly. Its not fun. And you always have to wait for a good while before being called. Its just a pain in the butt.

Once they finally call you, you get your eyes quickly checked by a tech and then sit in the hall. Then another tech finally calls you again and you are seen for a few minutes. Your vision is checked and eyes are dilated if necessary. Then you go back and sit again. Finally you see an eye doctor for about five minutes.

I know they have to wait for your eyes to be dilated. But all the waits add up. I have never been out of there in less than 1.5 hours. And I never feel like I got individualized care while there.

My most recent visit was earlier this month. I was pretty peeved. I arrived on time and greeted by an uncaring receptionist. Then I went and sat down in the first waiting room for half an hour. I went to ask if they were running late as I had been waiting so long and their response was 'you are the next one to be called'. I asked if they always ran late and they just said 'you are the next one to be called'. I asked if they ever told patients when they checked in that they were running late and they said 'you are the next one to be called'.

I gave up and went back to the waiting room and said loudly something along the lines of they didn't seem to care if patients waited a long time. The woman next to me said quietly 'you always have to wait, they are double booked'. I said that's just rude.

So when I saw the first tech, I said something to her and she said she wasn't aware of any delays. Then when I saw the second tech, I asked her and she said she would speak to the office manager. Finally when I saw the doctor, I said something to him. He seemed surprised that waits were that long and said he would look into it.

As always, I review everything, especially things that annoy me. So I Yelped it and gave them 2 stars. Then I got a follow up email from them and a call from their operations person. She did ask me why I was upset and said she would look into it. She mentioned something about the eye doctor was concerned I had written an online review. I thought that was resolved.

Then yesterday I got a letter in the mail stating that I should look for a new ophthalmologist. So I updated my Yelp review and gave them 1 star.

I was ready to find a new eye doctor after my unpleasant last visit. And they are just forcing my hand in this. But I still do not think they are about their patients.