A beef with my doctor

Posted in Pediatricians
by Alicia Castelli

While a practice with several doctors is nice because you quickly learn which doctors you like and which you don’t, I do have a beef with my current pediatrician’s office.

After moving back to Cleveland last summer from

Marietta, I had to have the records for my three children transferred to their new doctor’s office. The day care center also needed their shot records, and those records were faxed from my old doctor’s office.

Of course, my daughter was due for her 2-year shots, and I realized over the weekend that her records may not have been transferred to the doctor’s office yet so they might not know which shots she needed. I phoned the day care center and asked if I could pick up a copy of her shot record from them to take with me.

The daycare center couldn’t find her file and sent me on my way, promising to fax the record to my doctor’s office as soon as her file was found.

I called the doctor’s office to explain the delay and asked if I was still OK on time. Since Keira’s appointment was scheduled immediately after their lunch break, I got the office’s answering service.

“If you arrive within 15 minutes, you’re fine,” I was told.

I was about five minutes away with another one to two minutes to park and get up to the sixth floor of the building. No problem. I got there, woke up my daughter and my 4-year-old son and hurried upstairs. I got to the office, signed in and asked if the day care center had faxed her records.

The unsmiling woman at the front desk said she’d check. I collapsed into a chair, tried to calm my fussy, sleepy daughter and wrestled with my purse, my diaper bag and my jealous son who also wanted to sit on Mommy’s lap. I hate the appointments for shots anyway and had been bracing myself for it all weekend.

“You’ll have to reschedule,” the receptionist said when she came back.

“What? Why?” I asked.

“You have to be here within 15 minutes of your scheduled time, and you’re 16 minutes late,” she answered.

You have got to be FREAKIN’ kidding me! My explanations were ignored. I had no idea if Keira’s shot record got faxed, and the woman wouldn’t even look at me or speak to me as she clicked away on her computer to reschedule me.

Now aside from the fact that according to my watch and the time I signed in put me at exactly 14 minutes past my time slot, THEIR clock said I was 16 minutes late. I was dumbfounded. I could not believe I was going to have to walk back out of there.

To add to it, we missed the second appointment (my fault – I lost the appointment card, and the doctor’s office never called me with a reminder. Somehow Keira’s second appointment showed up in their computer as canceled. Revenge from the receptionist who had to deal with my anger that day? Maybe.)

Anyway, I finally got to see the doctor everybody had been raving about, and I decided to stick with the practice in spite of my horrifyingly bad initial experience with the administrative staff. Seriously – 60 seconds! And I know the day care center called to tell them what had happened. I was mostly irritated with the answering service lady who hadn’t been clear about that whole “15 minutes” thing.

I realize the office staff is there to keep the doctors on schedule, but this seemed a little extreme to me. I still get angry thinking about that day. Anyone trying to get to the doctor’s office with two little kids and the detritus that goes along with them will understand.

Neither child went back to sleep that day, so I had some seriously cranky kids to deal with. I was crankier than they were, knowing I’d have to brace myself all over again for shot day.

Since then, my experiences with that office, including the front desk personnel, have all been positive. I also have really liked each doctor I’ve dealt with. They take the time to put my kids at ease and always make time to answer any questions I have without making me feel like I’m taking time away from the next patient. You know what I mean – they aren’t heading for the door when they ask if I have any questions.

I’ve had experiences with multidoctor practices that seem more interested in cramming in as many patients as they can in a day so you end up waiting for nearly an hour in the waiting room just to sit for 15 more minutes in a room before getting to see the doctor for 10 minutes.

My pediatrician’s office is not like that. In fact, it has evening hours and Saturday hours, which was unheard of where I used to live, so I’m in 7th heaven with this new practice. It’s also possible to get same day “sick child” appointment,s and the sick kids have their own waiting room. There’s a lot to be said for this set up, and as a parent, I’m very appreciative.