I woke up this morning with the question running through my brain, I wonder what he’ll say? He is the Doctor, a Specialist or a Sports Doctor. I broke my left shoulder back on July 5th, my physician was concerned that the break wasn’t healing so he shipped me off to see this guru of bones for athletes.
Anyway, I had to drive to the next community to see him as wasn’t local to where I lived. The drive was beautiful, the sky was clear and I was taking my time enjoying the journey I was on. I found his office relatively easy and pulled into the parking lot wondering if I had to pay to park there, I didn’t…SWEET! I mean how often do you find free parking?
I went in and filled out the paperwork, then I waited, I waited and waited some more before finally getting into wait a little longer. The door opens, at last I’m thinking, and then he asks me why I was there! I said pardon, don’t you have my file on hand? Nope! I told him what happened and then he said, I want you to go a block and half and get some X-Rays done. It was like he wasn’t even listening! Feeling a little frustrated and annoyed at the same time I agreed to go. He gave me the paper and the address, he then gave me directions and off I went. Guess what? The directions were bogus, he sent me the wrong way and I was gone for almost 40 minutes before I came back with X-Rays in hand. Enough about that.
The good news is, the shoulder is healing but very slowly, and the break was actually a shatter but everything was pulling together just fine and he said I would be as good as new in about 6 more weeks of waiting. I said, I want to play sports again…when can I play soccer again? He felt the shoulder couldn’t take a hit or a fall just yet and preferred that I waited another 6 weeks. I asked why 6 weeks, I want you to come back and see me then and we can discuss it then. I thanked him even though I felt cheated, off home I went. Doctor’s are you listening?
While driving home I got to thinking, how would Social Media change the experience I just went through. Again, taking my time going home, I hammered on this thought and I just couldn’t find an answer. Maybe you have some thoughts on the topic, if so, leave your thoughts in the comments. I’m just not convinced that Social Media would have made the Doctor listen better, actually pay attention to what I was saying and or how I was feeling. You have to keep in mind, in Canada our medical system is unique at best and the Doctors are pretty safe from public pressure when it comes to the customer service expectation. How could Doctors learn from these communities, could these communities make these kinds of changes in Doctors? As you can see my head was racing with questions and very few conclusions.
I would love to hear from communities on this particular topic, and hear some great ideas on how we or I could proceed so we could make this experience more positive. Or is this One Thing Social Media Can’t Change?
Don’t even get me started on doctors and their apparent lack of interest! It took 11 of them to figure out I had a broken clavicle… which, in my opinion, shouldn’t be too hard to find!
They are overworked. They believe they are underpaid. My best friend was recently asked by her doctor to hurry up a complaint about her 4 month old baby’s eating habits, because he had to pick up his kids from daycare. A friend nearly lost her life to depression because her doctor didn’t take the time to really hear her concerns or find her appropriate care, pushed drugs on her which almost ended in disaster.
What can social media do? We can call out the lazy ones who don’t take time to listen. We can praise the ones who do. But if they don’t take the time to listen to the one person in their office pleading for help, are they really going to listen to a gang of unhappy social media types?
Thanks Kristi, Not all Doctor’s do this but there enough that get my back up. We may not like how the communicate, we may not like their bedside manner but still have to be respectful if we want to see change. Thanks for sharing.
Not sure really what to say here Owen, other than 6 weeks is the classic line, it’s like they tell idiot doctors how to side step everything with one line. “Come back in 6 weeks.” “I am a real idiot, and I don’t have an answer because I just graduated 2 months ago and really don’t know anything.” that’s pretty much what he is saying. Now a good doctor would say that they aren’t really sure how long it will take let’s have a look in 6 weeks to see the progress and try to make a better assesment then. By that time hopefully he has some better line than come see me in 6 weeks.
As with regards to bad directions, well you probably should tell him because he has probably been giving bad directions forever and until someone politely says “hey you told me to go the wrong way.” than no one learns.
As for customer service in the medical system I haven’t really ever had an experience like this, for the most part every time I have been in to a medical facility it has been good.
I think if I did have the experience though I might be temped to say something because it is our tax dollars that helps to keep it universal, so we have a great to tell these jokers to get there head out of there back sides.
Glad to hear the shoulder is actually healing.
Cheers!
Very true, thankfully they don’t all do this. Unfortunately enough do that it can tarnish one’s opinion of the medical system in general. It’s hard to respect someone when you’re looking to them for help and feel like they aren’t listening to you. I have a HUGE respect for healthcare professionals, but a huge disrespect for the ones who have poor customer service… as I do in every profession really. It sucks that there seems to be more and more poor service in this industry.
I try to look at it from their point of view though… funding cuts, test results taking longer to return to them, impatient patients waiting months to see specialists- none of which is personally their fault, and it must get tired hearing the same complaints. Hard to do your job with a smile, when you don’t have all the necessary tools.
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