LPCH is a fantastic hospital, and I’m deeply grateful that I receive my treatment there. However, as is bound to happen to any large, multi-million dollar organization, they sometimes implement excessively complicated/ridiculous administrative procedures, of which I was recently an unlucky recipient.
Yesterday I had one of my typical twice-weekly bloodwork and doctor’s appointments at the clinic, but I also requested an X-ray of my back as follow-up on a previous scan. My back has been bothering me more lately and I wanted to make sure the compression fractures had not progressed. X-rays generally have the shortest wait-time of any medical procedure, so I handed the orders to the radiology receptionist a little before 11 am, hoping to be out within half an hour. Thirty minutes later, a surprisingly long wait for an X-ray, I was called back, but instead of proceeding straight to my X-ray as usual, I was informed that I needed to complete a urine pregnancy test. The results of this “new mandatory procedure,” required before any girl over the age of 9 (yes, NINE) can get an X-ray, would take 30-45 minutes. When I asked why I wasn’t informed of this new procedure and given the urine test upon my arrival to minimize wait-time, I was met with a blank stare, as if this was a bizarre concept. Frustrated, I agreed to wait. What else could I do?
An hour later, with my back beginning to ache from all the sitting, I asked the receptionist if the results of my test were back, which of course she knew nothing about. They weren’t.
Thirty minutes later (it’s 1 pm now and I left my doctor’s appointment at 10:45 am), I checked again, and after calling the lab, the receptionist told me the results would be back in 10 minutes. Growing more frustrated and uncomfortable by the minute, I asked the receptionist why I wasn’t given the test upon my arrival and was told that “maybe they didn’t know what kind of X-ray I needed.” That’s funny, because I read the order before delivering it to them and it clearly stated which type of X-rays were being ordered. Sigh.
Thirty minutes later, at 1:30 pm, I was so frustrated I wanted to cry. The X-ray technician came out and apologized, telling me the lab was processing my results right then and that they planned to submit an incident report. Between being at the hospital hours longer than I expected and having to sit in uncomfortable chairs that cause a lot of back pain, which was the whole reason I was getting the X-rays in the first place, I couldn’t help it; as I sat down, I started to cry. On the one hand, it’s good I had my mask on because people probably couldn’t tell I was crying, but on the other hand, it gets pretty muggy in there real quick. Let’s just say that thing needed a thorough cleaning afterwards. At 2 pm, after waiting for over 3 hours, my X-rays were finally done. To his credit, the X-ray technician was very kind and apologized profusely, and I know it’s not his fault.
Besides the fact that it’s therapeutic for me to write all this down and let it go rather than stew inside me, leading to who knows what kind of nuclear meltdown, I maintain a shred of hope that someone with some influence on these misguided administrative hospital procedures will read this blog and will somehow effect change on the system...
I can’t help it. I’m a dreamer.
Yesterday I had one of my typical twice-weekly bloodwork and doctor’s appointments at the clinic, but I also requested an X-ray of my back as follow-up on a previous scan. My back has been bothering me more lately and I wanted to make sure the compression fractures had not progressed. X-rays generally have the shortest wait-time of any medical procedure, so I handed the orders to the radiology receptionist a little before 11 am, hoping to be out within half an hour. Thirty minutes later, a surprisingly long wait for an X-ray, I was called back, but instead of proceeding straight to my X-ray as usual, I was informed that I needed to complete a urine pregnancy test. The results of this “new mandatory procedure,” required before any girl over the age of 9 (yes, NINE) can get an X-ray, would take 30-45 minutes. When I asked why I wasn’t informed of this new procedure and given the urine test upon my arrival to minimize wait-time, I was met with a blank stare, as if this was a bizarre concept. Frustrated, I agreed to wait. What else could I do?
An hour later, with my back beginning to ache from all the sitting, I asked the receptionist if the results of my test were back, which of course she knew nothing about. They weren’t.
Thirty minutes later (it’s 1 pm now and I left my doctor’s appointment at 10:45 am), I checked again, and after calling the lab, the receptionist told me the results would be back in 10 minutes. Growing more frustrated and uncomfortable by the minute, I asked the receptionist why I wasn’t given the test upon my arrival and was told that “maybe they didn’t know what kind of X-ray I needed.” That’s funny, because I read the order before delivering it to them and it clearly stated which type of X-rays were being ordered. Sigh.
Thirty minutes later, at 1:30 pm, I was so frustrated I wanted to cry. The X-ray technician came out and apologized, telling me the lab was processing my results right then and that they planned to submit an incident report. Between being at the hospital hours longer than I expected and having to sit in uncomfortable chairs that cause a lot of back pain, which was the whole reason I was getting the X-rays in the first place, I couldn’t help it; as I sat down, I started to cry. On the one hand, it’s good I had my mask on because people probably couldn’t tell I was crying, but on the other hand, it gets pretty muggy in there real quick. Let’s just say that thing needed a thorough cleaning afterwards. At 2 pm, after waiting for over 3 hours, my X-rays were finally done. To his credit, the X-ray technician was very kind and apologized profusely, and I know it’s not his fault.
Besides the fact that it’s therapeutic for me to write all this down and let it go rather than stew inside me, leading to who knows what kind of nuclear meltdown, I maintain a shred of hope that someone with some influence on these misguided administrative hospital procedures will read this blog and will somehow effect change on the system...
I can’t help it. I’m a dreamer.
Unfortunately hospitals are not immune...this is the new world. Welcome. Bureacracy keeps getting bigger not better. So sorry for you but glad this was to a degree therapeutic. Love you! PS When will you hear about the results related to your back? Afraid to ask what you will have to do to get those?!
ReplyDeleteYeah, I think I need to reread Catch 22, although that may just make me more frustrated. Luckily I already got results, and the preliminary reading shows no change. I'm glad there's no new fracture, but it would be nice to see some improvement. I'll ask for more specific results at my next appointment.
ReplyDelete