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Lack of communication with MD

gardenlady
0 Recommendations

I called my doctor twice yesterday to get pain killers for surgery I had on Monday to remove a breast tumor. No-one returned my call. Why do doctors hate to perscribe pain relief? I am also recovering from double by-pass heart surgery that was done in December, so my pain tollerance is low. Should I be looking for another doctor? I live in Central Florida, and communication with doctors in general in this area is difficult. Even the Wellness Center is very disorganized. I am toying with moving just for better health care. Any feedback would be appreciated.

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Exercise Surgery Pain Stress Percocet

10 replies

kardia

Patience and persistance are critical elements for dealing with this frustrating exercise of callin the doctor and waiting. You are taking the first steps towards taking care of yourself by asking the question. That is terrific!

When I have this problem, getting responses to my calls, and as good as my doctors are, I do have this problem at times, I just continue to call and try to maintain a respectful relationship with the office coordinator. If you are in pain and have had no drug addiction problem that they or you know of, then Just keep calling them until you get satisfaction. Pain relief if not overdone is important for the body to heal, as you may know, it breaks the stress cycle in the body, so the tissue can relax and circulate the fluids necessary to get better. (that is my limited knowledge)

In terms of dealing with the office, It is the tone that wins their attention, consistency and fairness in your voice. But, when you are in pain this is not so easy, so hang in there...changing doctors midstream with your situation is probably not such a great idea unless you feel there is a malpractice situation, like infection, or ignored secondary symptoms/side effects that can cause other conditions.

Good luck!

kardia

gardenlady

Thank you kardia for your reply. I work with the public and realize how important tact is. That's why I find this so frustrating. I have used pain medication for dental work done a few years ago and when the pain ceased I had no further need for the medication. I don't have an addiction problem.
For some odd reason patients in pain are given medication while they are in the hospital but not while they are recovering at home Thank you again for taking the time to reply.

thankful

And the fact that you still have a surgical drain in place, the surgeon should be responsible for your pain management, so I hope you are also calling the surgeon's office, even after hours until you get help!

Dgrant

Having worked in physicians' offices for 30+ years now, I can tell you that usually the problem communicating with your physician originates with his office staff, NOT him/her. Establishing a good rapport with the office staff will go a long way toward good communication with the doctor. If they remember you as a kind respectful patient, they'll be more apt to remind the doctor to return your call if they notice that he hasn't done that, rather than put your chart on the bottom of the stack, so to speak.

Another thing you may try is calling the office, stating the problem of needing pain medication. Be specific about your pain and why you need the medication. I have not really run into doctors who don't want to prescribe pain medication; in fact, quite the opposite. Next, inform them when you will be in to pick up your prescription. "Hello, this is Dana Grant. I am in need of pain medication because of my ____________. I usually take Percocet for the pain, and my last refill was January 3rd. I'll be out tomorrow morning to pick up my prescription. If there's a problem, please give me a call, otherwise I'll make sure to call first, but please have the prescription ready by noon tomorrow. Thanks so much, your staff is always so helpful to me." Be respectful about how you are saying this, but also be firm that you expect action to be taken on your behalf.

Now, if you do run into office staff that are less than willing to help you (and I know this is quite common), tell your physician!!! "Dr. Smith, I really respect you and want to continue to be your patient. However, my experience with your office staff has been very difficult" and be specific. Not whiny, but specific. My messages are not getting to you in a timely fashion. They tend to put me on hold for 10 minutes at a time. I know you're a busy doctor, but putting a patient on hold for 10 minutes tells me they are too busy and you may need to increase your staff. You know, Dr. Smith, maybe you need to have a talk about the attitude your receptionist presents to your patients as they walk in the office.......

Any of those things are important to MOST physicians. If you approach him/her with a respectful attitude, and not a whiny one, they should be thankful that you have taken the time to explain those things to them. Doctors do not realize how their staff treat their patients until the patients inform him or her.

I have a GI client whose main goal in his practice is to have contented patients, it seems. When I first started helping him out in the office because his office manager was in Europe for 6 weeks, I was nervous that I'd miss something in the billing or insurance or whatever -- he said to me -- just be kind to my patients. That's my main focus. We can fix those other problems later, but when the patients are here, I want them treated with respect and kindness.........so, hey, I'm good at that, I could do that easily!! I found that patients are more than willing to be forgiving if I'm nice to them about something I screwed up on their bill or whatever. I know that all doctors are not like my GI client, but most of them do want their patients treated in a timely manner and with respect by their office staff. SO, when you call the office of your cardiologist, be specific, to the point, as brief as possible, and let them know you expect to hear from the physician within 24 hours (but not in a bossy way). You may even mention that if you haven't heard from him by tomorrow morning "I'll call again so you can remind him to call me, because it is very important that I pick up that prescription tomorrow before noon."

I know what you're going through -- I have the same problem with my cardiologist's office. It takes them 3 days to respond to my pharmacy for refills. That is unacceptable. But again, it is PROBABLY not the physician who is at fault, but untrained and uncaring staff members. I call the second day to try to find out why the refill has not been ordered, and they tell me that my pharmacy has never contacted them, which I know is not true. And I do plan to speak to him about it at my next office visit. I will tell him that I would never want to change cardiologists because of their office staff, but it may happen if this keeps up. Now, some cardiologists will say "adios, have a good life, then" but MOST of them will be concerned that their patients are not being treated properly by their staff and have a talk with them about it.

Just a few ideas from someone who's been in the trenches, so to speak, and have seen what happens behind the scenes at a doctor's office. I will tell you that 9 times out of 10 the problem does not lie with the doctor himself, but the people who are supposed to make his job easier.........but they usually don't. Being an office receptionist or filing clerk or whatever is a low-paying job and many times you deal with people who really don't care all that much how you feel, they just want to move you in and move you out. And if you call, they don't have to deal with you face to face, so they "misplace" those messages......yep, it happens. Unfortunately.

Don't give up, keep trying. And above all -- try to "be nice."

Dana

Dgrant

Whoaa, I didn't realize I had blabbed so much. SORRY!!!

that's what you get when you type as fast as you talk.....blabbing!! LOL

Dana

gardenlady

Dana please don't apologize. Blabbing is just what I needed. Hearing your adventures in pain managment has been very helpful to me; especially with your own experience in a doctors office. Your tips are great and give me a formula I've been looking for. Thank you. I will be using some of your experiences and ideas. garden lady

Ecksunbeam

Dear Dana,

Blab away! That was a GREAT discourse! Very insightful!

May the Blessings Be!

Sherrie

andi14

I second all that Dana said. Having worked in a dental office for 17 years, 99% of the time the main source of miscommunication lies with the staff, not the Dr him/herself.

Keep calling and asking for what you need. As Kardia said, it's probably not a good idea to switch doctors in mid-treatment. That being said, the doctor works for YOU and you need to have your needs met in a timely fashion.

andi14

PS- I'm in central Florida, too!

kk_stl

Dana,
Thank you for giving us perspective with how doctor offices work. I am happy to report that my mom got in the next day to her PCP when she reported a cough after an acute MI in November. It turned out to be a mild cold but it impressed me that they responded that quickly. He is an extremely busy and overworked doctor. I did however try to call the exchange a day later, on Saturday afternoon around 2:30 since my dad had a problem filling my mom's $69 prescription for a mild cold. He had prescribed her Levoquin. The doctor on call never called us back. I felt bad about calling the exchange for requesting a cheaper antiobiotic. Was that inappropriate of me to do that? Also, should I have called back if not hearing back within a hour or two?

Also, to Gardenlady...
My mom is 78 years old so I am making the doctor, pharmacy and insurance calls to ease her stress load. I get so frustrated after hanging up and I'm not even sick! Please hang in there and don't forget to ask others for help. This is a time that you should be taking it easy on yourself and the healthcare system doesn't help.

It is difficult in my city to get phone or face time with any type of doctor to get your questions answered. In other cities, the doctor offices use email, etc. and are much more patient friendly it seems. I've also found out that some doctors do not appreciate family members asking questions from research. They take advantage of senior citizens and expect them to do what they're told without question or explanation.

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