I had a couple of slow shifts in the emergency department recently, around Thanksgiving. And it made me think of Nomar Garciaparra, the old Red Sox shortstop.
In an interview (can’t find the reference, sorry) he said he always had to throw this frenzied manner, even for an easy grounder where he’d normally have time to collect himself. If he paused too long to think about it, the throw would come off badly, he said.
I always thought this was a psychological issue — dubbed Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Blogborygmi*
I’ve been at it a long time, and one thing (of many things) that I still have not gotten down is scheduling. I seem to have a method to my own madness, but somehow I imagine it’s not how other people do this. I’ve heard other shrinks say, “I’m booked for the next 4 weeks” or say they aren’t taking any new patients. Some people put a “no new patients” message on their answering machine. Wait, so no appointments for 4 weeks? What if a patient calls and needs to be seen very soon? Like this week? If you can’t wait, go to the ER? I thought the point of having a private doc was that you didn’t have to go to the ER unless something couldn’t be handled safely as an outpatient. And if you tell the world that you don’t take new patients, then don’t people stop referring to you? It seems to me that patients will come in and announce, “I’m doing better and want to come less often,” “I’m moving,” “I’m done,” or they will cancel an appointment, not call back, and not be heard from again for weeks or months. Sometimes it all happens on very short notice and life can be very unpredictable.
In my pre-shrink days, I thought that psychiatry worked such that patients came every week (or twice a week, or whatever) and had their own slots. Tuesday at 1, that’s me! So a psychiatrist had every slot full with patients this way, and could be “full,” until a patient finished and stopped coming, and then another soul was let in to the Tuesday at 1 slot. Gosh that would be nice, but it doesn’t seem to work that way. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Shrink Rap*
Better Health bloggers, Val Jones, Nick Genes, and Mike Sevilla are in Atlanta to talk to interesting exhibitors at the largest health information technology (HIT) event of the year.
Monday, March 1st has a full schedule of interviewees… Please join us live on UStream to tune in for the interviews and participate on Twitter! Ask your question in real time. Drop by the UStream channel at the designated time to hear from your favorite vendor…
‘The patient was seen in the emergency department by Dr. Niemans, who is the acting hospitalist on call for Dr. Whitman’s group, who usually admit for the patient’s actual primary care provider, Emily Knight, PA, who works for Dr. Robelo, who no longer takes call, but admits his patients to the hospitalist.
Because the patient has COPD and an acute left-lower-lobe pneumonia, pulmonology was consulted. However, no pulmonologist is available this weekend. Pulmonary is being covered by Dr. Albertson, pulmonologist in the neighboring city. I spoke with Dr. Albertson about this and he told me he wasn’t taking call for our patients, and why did people keep bothering him.
The patient’s cardiologist, Dr. Rease, is being covered by Dr. James. I spoke to Edgar, PA for Dr. James who said that as of 7am, Dr. James was trading call with Dr. Housefield while Dr. James went to his son’s soccer game, but if I had any questions I should call Dr. Housefield’s Nurse Practitioner Michael, who would be rounding for Dr. Housefield, Dr. James and Dr. Josefson, at least until soccer was over or something bad happened. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at edwinleap.com*
Many of the surgeries I do are elective. They can and should be scheduled to be convenient. It happens – God laughs at our plans or life interrupts or …..
Last week was such a time for one patient. She called, very apologetic, “Dr Bates, I need to reschedule my surgery. My father is having tests done. He hasn’t been feeling well.”
I quickly assure her that no apology is necessary. Her family comes first. I suggest we simply cancel the surgery for now until the “dust settles.” She can call me back when she is sure things are okay with her family. We’ll reschedule then.
She is still worried. “The surgery center called me today. Do I need to call them? Will I need to pay them or anesthesia or you for the canceled time?”
Again I reassure her, “No, I’ll call them and take care of canceling the surgery. No, we don’t charge you for surgery we don’t do. It happens. It’s okay to cancel surgery for whatever reason – another family member gets sick, an accident happens, you just get scared.”
It happens on both sides. Sometimes (as for me earlier this year when my mother had surgery) it’s the doctor who has to cancel or reschedule. Sometimes it’s the patient. I once had a patient not show up for surgery, only to find out later she had been in a motor vehicle accident the evening before her scheduled surgery. She turned out to be okay, but it really cemented how I fell about patients who call to cancel or reschedule. It’s okay. No need to apologize. Thank you for letting me know.
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