May 4th, 2011 by Lucy Hornstein, M.D. in Humor, True Stories
No Comments »
9:00 pm:
Hello. It’s Mrs. Mumbledimumbler; I need the doctor to call me right away. My hip is driving me crazy. Please call me.
I listen to the message three times so I can sort of make out the name. The problem is that even though I think I can understand it, I don’t recognize it at all. But I call her because she said she needed me to call her right away.
Hello. I need you to call me in some tramadol right away.
“What was your name again?”
She repeats it clearly enough for me to confirm that I really don’t recognize it.
“Have I ever seen you in the office?”
No.
Let me get this straight: it’s 9:00 at night and your hip is hurting, so you call a doctor who’s a complete stranger and insist that they call you in a powerful painkiller without ever having seen you, taken your medical history, or examined you? I don’t think so.
“Um, I’m sorry ma’am, but I really can’t do that unless you’re an established patient in my office.”
Oh, okay; never mind.
I suppose I should count my lucky stars that she didn’t want vicodin.
*This blog post was originally published at Musings of a Dinosaur*
April 26th, 2011 by ChristopherChangMD in Opinion
No Comments »
I read with interest a blog post by Robert Krulwich of NPR fame on why there is so much public resistance to accept changes in truth with new scientific discoveries (some of which was new to even me)…
1) Triceratops with their beautifully placed 3 horns is actually the teenage dinosaur version of the adult Torosaurus (who had ugly asymmetric horns). Now… a decision had to be made regarding which name to stick with. Ultimately, “Triceratops” won out, perhaps because of the “Save the Triceratops” Facebook page???
2) The same unfortunately is not true for the Brontosaurus. It was clear that Apatosaurus is the same dinosaur and as such, the “Brontosaurus” name is no more much to the dismay of many lay public… Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Fauquier ENT Blog*
April 11th, 2011 by Lucy Hornstein, M.D. in Humor, True Stories
1 Comment »
Like many offices, we have a policy of calling patients to remind them of upcoming appointments, usually one to two days ahead of time. With the advent of our new EMR, we have the option of having the system send them email reminders. The vast majority of folks who’ve received these just love them. But there are still several patients a day who get phone calls.
The other recent change in the office, cutting the staff by 50%, means that my one remaining staffer is the one who makes the calls. She has other stuff to do, though — lots of other stuff, actually — so that she may not get around to these calls until later in the day.
Thank goodness our patients are right on the ball: Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Musings of a Dinosaur*
March 27th, 2011 by Lucy Hornstein, M.D. in Health Tips, True Stories
No Comments »
There’s a new scam in town.
Company calls over and over again (claiming to be the phone company, actually) just wanting to “verify your address”. Over and over again they get told we aren’t interested, leave us alone, don’t call. Finally, my solitary staffer gets sick of fending them off and goes through their voice activated “address verification”, during which a mechanical voice asks questions, followed by a command to “Say Yes or No, then press the pound key.”
So she goes through the innocuous questions, including her full name, the office address and phone number, plus several iterations of saying “Yes or No, then press pound.” The calls stop; everyone is happy.
Until I get the phone bill six weeks later. Lo and behold, there is an extra $49.99 charge (plus tax) from a company I never heard of. Multiple phone calls reveal it to be a company providing “Internet optimization, web services, and a toll free number,” stuff I neither need nor want. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Musings of a Dinosaur*
October 23rd, 2010 by Lucy Hornstein, M.D. in Better Health Network, Health Policy, Humor, Opinion, True Stories
No Comments »
Regular readers have heard me rant about the fragmentation of medical care in this country. Each body part not only has its own medical specialist, but in some cases its own allied health profession. Such is the case with the feet.
Doctors of podiatric medicine have to complete a four-year course of study after college, followed by a three-year podiatry residency. At the end of all that, I grant, they are expert in the care and management of complex disorders and conditions of the foot, ankle, and lower leg. I refer to them regularly, especially for stubborn ingrown toenails. (I did indeed learn how to remove offending portions of nail bed, but over the years I’ve gotten away from it.) They fail, though, when they try to extend their reach beyond their grasp, which is the case of the podiatrist above the knees. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Musings of a Dinosaur*
