My hospital(ist) rant
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So sorry, George - this sounds like an awful experience
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After spending the entire morning yesterday, trying to get these prescriptions filled from Hospital #2, I gave up.
I sent an email to her primary doc at northwestern explaining everything. I also called and explained the situation. I was told they'd try to get back to me same day. They didn't.
I got a call this AM (about 10 AM) and the nurse said that they are not comfortable prescribing the medication without seeing the patient - totally correct.
So, we have a video visit this PM at 2:40 for some steroids and antibiotics.
Well done...
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Another note - hospital #2 has had a bad reputation for decades. In fact, it's been a standing joke of a place for a long time. When I went into private practice (at hospital #1) I was, overall, impressed with the quality of care. We had some surgeons come from #1 to do cases, and some of the internal medicine guys did as well. They were, for the most part, competent. Gradually, the more I worked with these guys, my impression of #2 started to change.
It can't be that bad, can it?
And then a large teaching hospital bought #2. Teaching hospital has a good reputation and some of my partners trained there. If you recall, our transportation options were teaching hospital (unknown duration of stay in ER) or #2, with the likelihood of being seen quickly higher.
It can't be that bad, can it?
Boy were we wrong. @kluurs can relay some stories about #2.
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Back in the day (45 years ago), I worked for the National Cancer Institute. My position there let me know a lot about the various hospitals in the state. There were two where we just heard stories that meant we'd never let any family member go there. We had a staffer who lived near #2 - and would come in with horror stories.
Fast forward a couple of decades and my FIL was having a cardiac event, and MIL decides to drive him to #2. My spouse says "NO!!!" - take him to #1 - a major trauma center. But...it's easier to park at #2 - and "don't argue with me!" Get there - and while they didn't kill him, they came close. Fortunately, out-of-state BIL is a pathologist and called to say "get him the F out of #2" - so, he got transferred - went into arrest at #1 - but was successfully cared for - and lived 15+ more years.
Driving by #2 hospital a while back and noting the new Major Hospital Medical Center on the sign, I was wondering if this meant hope for hospital #2.
We had a B- kind of hospital in my town which become affiliated with a different Major Medical Center a while back - and has improved dramatically - to maybe an A-. I thought, well - maybe this means #2 may have improved. Based on George's experience, clearly, the 45 year reputation remains. If you get shot by a drive by while standing on the steps of that hospital, might be worth your while to Uber over to Hospital #1.
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These sound like the horror stories you occasionally hear about British hospitals, which is normally blamed on the NHS being hopeless. My own personal experience with NHS urgent care was that it wasn't that bad at all (non-urgent care is a somewhat different matter, with waiting lists going back to the time of the dinosaurs), so maybe that is more hospital based as well.
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Nurse called at noon, "Can you do a 2:40 appointment?"
"Sure! This is a telemedicine visit, right?"
"Er, no. You can't come in?
"Nah, too much of a trip and wait in the waiting room."
"No worries. 2:40 telemedicine it is."
Doc called about 40 min late (we would have been sitting in a waiting room all that time). Pleasant conversation, and she called in the scripts.
Easy.
She said that hospital #2 has a rep for being "sloppy."
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Frown? Unless you're doing controlled substances I don't see why they would care.
Could always do doc-in-a-box a couple of days/week and pay for the expense. You'd be a helluva lot better than any NP could be.
I do keep trying to shove you back in through the EXIT door, don't I?
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Frown? Unless you're doing controlled substances I don't see why they would care.
Could always do doc-in-a-box a couple of days/week and pay for the expense. You'd be a helluva lot better than any NP could be.
I do keep trying to shove you back in through the EXIT door, don't I?
@Jolly said in My hospital(ist) rant:
Could always do doc-in-a-box a couple of days/week and pay for the expense. You'd be a helluva lot better than any NP could be.
I do keep trying to shove you back in through the EXIT door, don't I?
Hard, hard nope.
Doing peds? Ladies with abdominal pain? Earaches? Runny noses?
Nope.
I could do simple ortho (put a cast on) and simple sutures. Nothing else.
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@Jolly said in My hospital(ist) rant:
Could always do doc-in-a-box a couple of days/week and pay for the expense. You'd be a helluva lot better than any NP could be.
I do keep trying to shove you back in through the EXIT door, don't I?
Hard, hard nope.
Doing peds? Ladies with abdominal pain? Earaches? Runny noses?
Nope.
I could do simple ortho (put a cast on) and simple sutures. Nothing else.
@George-K said in My hospital(ist) rant:
@Jolly said in My hospital(ist) rant:
Could always do doc-in-a-box a couple of days/week and pay for the expense. You'd be a helluva lot better than any NP could be.
I do keep trying to shove you back in through the EXIT door, don't I?
Hard, hard nope.
Doing peds? Ladies with abdominal pain? Earaches? Runny noses?
Nope.
I could do simple ortho (put a cast on) and simple sutures. Nothing else.
Ok, you're hired!
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One of the docs I used to work with, was our ED Director for several years, until he decided he actually wanted a life. He went into the urgent care biz. He does a pretty good job and runs some pretty good numbers, because he:
- Tries to staff his urgent cares (he has 4 or 5) with docs, if possible. If not, there is at least a couple of docs working at any given time. There is always a doc at his main place.
- His main urgent care has a Piccolo (great little chemistry machines, can do a full CMP/ liver enzymes/Troponin), a CBC machine with an automated diff, dipstick urinalysis and a bevy of LFT waived testing (flu/covid/strep/mono).
- His main urgent care also has an Xray and CT machine.
- Even his smaller shops have CBC, waived LFT, BMP, Troponin and xray capability.
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G George K referenced this topic on
