JillUser JillUser

Urgent Care should be called Eventual Care

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Urgent Care should be called Eventual Care

Wasted another day at the Dr.

from JoeUser Forums

This morning my 8yr old complained that his leg hurt so badly he didn't want to walk on it.  He had been complaining about leg pain for the last couple of weeks but I thought it was just growing pains.  I looked into leg pain in kids and found out that complaint about pain in a localized position is reason for concern.  Growing pains tend to be in joints and tend to move around.

So I helped him and his brother to the car after attempting to make an appt with the pediatrician.   Her office was only open from 9-3 and it is the day before Memorial weekend so she was totally booked.  I decided to take him to Urgent Care since it is only about a mile away.

Things looked encouraging since there were only two people in the waiting room when we signed in.  Lots of people kept flowing in and out but they were mostly lab patients gettine blood workd done.  An hour of waiting and they had only taken one person in to see the doctor!  15 mins later they took the other person ahead of us.  I then asked one of the many nurses standing around chatting if they had any idea of how long we would be waiting.  They said we should be next and that was all they knew.  I asked if seeing 2 people an hour seemed reasonable to them.  They said they usually see up to 4/hr.  I don't think they should be bragging about that!

After 1.5hrs waiting we were taken in to a new room to wait.  At about 2.25 hrs into our adventure we were finally blessed by the presence of the doctor.  Did he or any of the nurses apologize for the wait?  No.  Did this piss me off...you bet ya!

I felt taken for granted because they know that you will due anything you have to to find out what is wrong with your child.  So you will just take whatever service they throw your way and you should just be happy you got it.  They didn't even give me any idea of what was going on!

Nothing showed up on the xray but the dr said we should follow up with an orthopedic specialist and get an MRI because there might be vascular problems with his hip and/or thigh.  We also should keep weight off that leg and make him use crutches.

Over 3hrs to find out we should go to another doctor.  Argh!

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14,869 views 34 replies
Reply #26 from JoeUser Forums Top
There used to me a time that Doctors were Doctors because they wanted to help people. Now most Doctors do it for the money and "prestige". Doctors are still one of the highest paid professions, yet I hear Doctors complain about wages all the time. They should be complaining about lack of time to adequately treat patients, instead.


KG -

That is still true today, despite that bit of conventional wisdom. And the lack of time to spend with patients is a constant topic of discussion & concern, both in the hospital lounge and by physician advocacy groups in Washington.

There are some, without question, who now "do it for the money," but they rarely start out that way. The number who embark on a career in medicine for that purpose alone is tiny. There are much easier ways for bright people to become wealthy. You literally sacrifice the better part of a decade of your productive life preparing for the job, and that's after college. Most of my peers who went into other careers out of college were in their third or fourth home by time I could afford my first. Unless you have family money, or marry into it, you begin practicing medicine way behind the earning curve and with a huge debt to pay off. Despite that common belief, you don't go into medicine to get rich. Some end up that way, but usually through years of long hours of arduous work.

Once physicians are thrown into the real world of the "business" of medicine, where noone believes you deserve a nickel for anything you do and actively seeks to avoid paying you for services you've already provided, I suspect attitudes change a bit, at least subconsciously. During my first 2-3 years of practice, about half of my work was charity care, since I never got paid for it - we had a more casual approach to collecting, trusting that insurance companies and patients would treat us fairly and do the right thing, but we were wrong. And this was 23 years ago. In order to stay in business, we had to start acting like Dillard's or Sears on the business side. I've never liked the necessity of it, but there you are - I couldn't raise my family and achieve a decent level of financial security without it. Even now, retirement at 65 looks like wishful thinking - I'm going to need the income.

In an ideal world, I could focus solely on the needs of my patients and do for them what I believe in my best judgment will benefit their health & well-being the most, but we don't inhabit such a world, I'm afraid. There's always hope, however.

Cheers,
Daiwa
Reply #27 from JoeUser Forums Top
Angloesque, sorry I offended you. While I do know that not all doctors (lawyers, mailmen, insert profession of choice) are bad, I have had a number of bad experiences with doctors and it does color my view of them. I shall try not to bad mouth them in general, just the ones that have done something wrong.
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Reply #28 from JoeUser Forums Top
I am with you Danny. I have unfortunately had more bad experiences than good when it comes to doctors. It really makes you appreciate the good ones though!
Reply #29 from JoeUser Forums Top

am with you Danny. I have unfortunately had more bad experiences than good when it comes to doctors. It really makes you appreciate the good ones though!

As a rule (Read: I know there are exceptions), the Doctor Office Doctor is much more competant than the Emergency room one.  That is just a perception, as I am not qualified (despite my title) to judge them empirically.

Reply #30 from JoeUser Forums Top
As a rule (Read: I know there are exceptions), the Doctor Office Doctor is much more competant than the Emergency room one. That is just a perception, as I am not qualified (despite my title) to judge them empirically.


They each passed all the requirements appropriate to their specialties so both are as qualified as their personal motivation and inteligence allows. Each specialty has its own benefits, drawbacks, stressors and rewards. The only difference between the competence of the two (or any other specialty) is the motivation and temperment of the doctor. But as you say, that is only a perception based on one former paramedic's perception.
Reply #31 from JoeUser Forums Top
They each passed all the requirements appropriate to their specialties so both are as qualified as their personal motivation and inteligence allows. Each specialty has its own benefits, drawbacks, stressors and rewards. The only difference between the competence of the two (or any other specialty) is the motivation and temperment of the doctor. But as you say, that is only a perception based on one former paramedic's perception.


I'd say your perception is spot on, PT2k.

Cheers,
Daiwa
Reply #32 from JoeUser Forums Top
Your experience is certainly disappointing. Please make sure that you write and let the urgent care center know about your experience. It is possible that the administration at the urgent care center is not aware of your delays. Administrators of urgent care centers, often find out about service problems in their centers when a patient takes the time to write a note. Having an urgent care center within a convenient distance from your home can offer significant benefits, but only if the center offers efficient and excellent service. You can learn more about the urgent care industry by visiting the website of the Urgent Care Association of America. Link

Also, folks may want to give direct feedback to the urgent care industry about their experiences in urgent care centers. You may post your experiences, frustrations and comments about urgent care at: Link Urgent care administrators and physicians will benefit from your feedback.
Reply #33 from JoeUser Forums Top
Thanks UCDoc. I have corresponded with this particular urgent care on quite a few occasions. There is an excellent urgent care a bit further away so we will probably just start going there from now on.