Medical offices, the good, bad and the ugly. What's your experience?
This subject has been on my mind since returning from the first visit to a new internist's practice. This doctor has been highly recommended by others of our treating doctors, by nurses at our regular hospital, and even by home care workers. Perhaps I expected too much based on the laudable recommendations.
I was surprised by the office layout, very perfunctory, impersonal, contemporary steel styling, hardwood floors which I think were exotic woods (based on a description by a friend who knows these things), and no decorations in the treating rooms. Bare essentials only, like a house someone had just moved into but hadn't yet unpacked.
The reception area had the apparently obligatory tv tuned to some revolting program with a woman discussing men stripping down for some kind of contest or whatever (I blocked out as much as I could but had forgotten to bring my ear protectors). The office was glassed in, the staff kept the windows closed and didn't have to listen to the garbage on tv.
The office itself was bare as well. (This is an established practice, not a new one with financial assets yet to be established).
In the1/2 hour it took to fill out the new forms (they were online but Norton advised the site was questionable, so I opted not to download the forms), there were at least 5 people who come for appointments and left, during that short time.
When my father became cold and I told the NP, then the front office staff that I was going out to my car to get a blanket for him, they just nodded. And sat there. Of the 3 to whom I said this, not one of them offered to get a blanket for him.
This surprised me. It wouldn't have happened at our cardiologist's office, or some of our other doctors, whose staff react quickly to accommodate an older patient.
Thinking it over, I realized that the only ones in "uniform" were the one NP we saw; the doctor was dressed nicely but no lab coat; the office staff were VERY casually dressed, as if they might be just working around the house. In fact I wasn't even sure they were staff b/c most of them had long stringy hair and such casual clothing.
I wouldn't have put all this together if I hadn't felt that we were being added to a recycling list of patients, advised that we'd have to come back more than a few times to address all the issues, even though this was a longer "new" appointment.
All this started a memory of some of the best medical offices I've seen. One is a podiatrist's office with multiple paintings, several beautiful nature ones done by one of the partner's mothers. The front office is in soothing colors, nothing stark, but rather quite welcoming. The staff is probably in their 40's or 50's, all very professional, as are all the nurses and support staff.
Another was an OB-GYN office done in pastels, and a very soothing atmosphere.
Although this doctor yesterday was highly recommended, I felt that his reputation was disjunctive with the stark setting of the office, and began to lose a bit of confidence in that practice. Perhaps this isn't fair, but I just didn't feel comfortable there.
Does anyone else experience this? Comparing the office environment and staff support and drawing conclusions based on the presence or lack of it?
I don't want to be prejudiced, but I just had the feeling we were just another cog on a rapidly spinning wheel.
The best waiting room I can remember was my nephew's orthodontist; clean, comfortable chairs, nice art and an amazing fish tank.
Interesting that you mention a fish task. There's one in the ER of our preferred hospital. It's so soothing. The trauma rooms also have artwork, similar to Wyland's art with stunning murals of ocean life.
And the halls throughout ground and first floors are filled with beautiful artworks, all done by amateur artists.
When the wait has been interminably long I really can't sit quietly any more but have to get up and wander around, reading all the health pamphlets or taking a bathroom break or ANYTHING to keep from screaming at the staff. (Honestly, if the doc is running an hour or more behind just tell me and I will come back later). Maybe they should provide a treadmill or an exercise bike, a double benefit to keep us fit and work off that nervous energy too.
He is an OLD TIME DOCTOR. Like Dr. Welby. Homey office. He has patients who drive from out of state to see him. I'm not kidding. He has NO PAs! He works almost every day and has for many years. His office is decorated with antique doctor instruments. It's cool, imo.
He's been featured on tv in Raleigh, NC several times. We can't post links, but, I'm going to PM you the link for his tv feature. I think you'll get a kick out of it.
I didn't know doctors like him still existed!
I wonder if I could find a clone of him here in Michigan?? Such a contrast from some of the impersonal medical offices I've seen here.
Another pet peeve I have with many medical offices is how non-private they are, they expect me to blurt out my social, phone number, or "why do you need to be seen" in front of a full waiting room. The conversation always closes with an update to the HIPPA privacy policy, and I'm always like your kidding right?!
I've also seen that they'll require acknowledgment of their privacy policies but have to be asked to provide them. If I'm in a bad mood, I just cross out the acknowledgement and give it back to them, saying sweetly that I never received the policy.
But the lack of confidentiality in the front office is disconcerting.
I've been to older offices too. Some of the best doctors work out of the less asthetically pleasing offices.
My issue is the support staff. Especially when they answer a call, put that customer on hold, then take their sweet natured time taking care of Patient 1 (slowly) while Patient 2 is holding forever. Unfortunately gardenartist, no office I have been to provides blankets for patient use.
My pet peeve is no one wears ID's these days and you can't identify who the provider is nor their qualifications.
Another pet peeve is rarely is there a RN on staff. You have Medical Assistants checking blood pressures with automatic cuffs - not taking into consideration the size of the cuff used must be different for smaller and larger arms. I do not trust automatic BP cuff results in a doctor's office. My provider will use an old fashion cuff & stethoscope to validate what the automatic cuff reading was, and fortunately I see many more physicians themselves taking blood pressures for accuracy because they want to verify the reading itself.
I go to many doctor offices & the lack of competency and compassion of the staff is unbelievable. But there are many good ones too. Thank goodness they all employ nighttime cleaning services!
Another pet peeve is where the patient bathroom is in the waiting room. I don't like when the BR is not off in its own corner where you get alittle privacy. I feel bad for the patients that have to use the BR and it's located right near the main waiting room so when they come out if can be embarrassing for them if they had to go #2.
I also see UNC Endocrine and they are awesome too. They strive for great patient care and are almost too friendly. Offering me bottled water, reading material, can they help me with anything, etc. I also get surveys about my experience and begging me to let them know how they can do better. I'm not kidding. I consider myself lucky. I am on the patient portal with them and it's convenient for emailing with the Dr and staff.
I learned some years ago that some medical practices were becoming LLCs, which is a corporate construct which sells memberships to individuals who share in the profits. I don't recall how or what input the members might have had in asset management, such as design and management of a building, but if they're young things still wet behind the ears they probably would have no idea that gravel is the most ridiculous substance for a parking lot.
Was this in a cold weather state? If so, how in the world could snow be cleared from a gravel lot?
Staff in casual clothes is something I haven't seen much of; I hope I don't have to get used to it. I don't know who they are- this week I mistook a staff member for a patient.
I saw more preoccupation with smart phones at the last rehab facility. Some of them made no effort to disguise the fact that they were playing with the phones.
I wonder if that improves their concentration; I'd hate to think what could happen if it has the opposite effect.
One solo surgeon I was using for years had a very nice cozy little office, it felt sooo comfortable. Then she moved into a larger practice thus into a much larger quarters, gone was that comfortable feeling. If she wasn't so user-friendly and highly knowledgeable [would think outside of the box, a bit of rebel] I would have had second thoughts.... she looked like Kirstie Alle, along with the personality of the character she played on Cheers, you always went home with feeling good about yourself :)
Give me a waiting room and exam room that has a window. I need to see daylight, sunshine or watching it snow. Good distraction until the doctor is ready to see me :)
Those waiting room TV's, I have noticed back when I was taking my parents to all of their many, and I do mean many, doctor appointments that more than half had the TV's off. If the TV is on, give me informative WebMD stuff, not talk show chatter.