I Am Still Waiting

Rarely am I on this side of medicine. I have given patients many things over the years of doing my jobs. I am always kind and patient with them. I have made spaghetti for an elderly man that I saw when I was in home health. I have sent cards to the patients in the hospital from an anonymous sender wishing them good will at Christmas even though they are in the hospital. I have wrapped up and given destitute patients food right from our work refrigerator. I've waited on hold for hours just to talk to one more person so that the patient could be approved for his surgery. Once I called a patients insurance company every day for one whole week until they approved a procedure that he desperately needed. The list goes on....

Do I deserve something in return for all these extra little things? Absolutely not- I do all of those things as part of my job description as Patient Care Coordinator. Nothing is extra in my book and nothing is too good for the patients that we treat. But I do require one thing, that when I am on the other side of medicine-when I am the patient- I do require common decency. I require an actual person on the other end of my phone call who can answer my question or at least direct me to the right person TO answer my questions. I require someone to call me back in a timely manner. So far as part of this journey that I am on with my broken leg, I haven't come across many people that have the attributes it takes to do what I require. It leaves me to wonder are these people understaffed and don't have enough help? Are they unhappy with their jobs and cant find the empathy to deal with patient issues? Maybe they are lazy and find my requirements exasperating. What is the problem?

As of now I have had to wait over 10 days to receive my MRI of my knee, get the results of the MRI and find out what my treatment plan will be. I call the surgeons office only to get a call center located out of the immediate city that I live in and get a receptionist that has no idea about my case, doesn't have a chart to refer to and has to "transfer me to another office to check on appointments." I have had to repeat the actual accident description almost every time I talk to someone at the office and no one seems to know what is happening. In the meanwhile, I am still on my couch. I am still waiting.