Two weeks ago I went to my internist. Rather than negotiate on the phone with a receptionist about possible appointment times, I had been able to see what appointment slots were available and make a convenient appointment on-line. No having to call during office hours or having to listen to annoying announcements while waiting! At the appointment, both the nurse and the doctor accessed my medical records, easily added new data and placed orders. My new prescription was immediately sent to the mail-order pharmacy and arrived in my home a few days later. My blood work results were available on-line within a few days and my doctor wrote me an explanatory note which also appeared in my in-box. If I follow up with a specialist the doctor recommended, he or she will have immediate access to everything on my chart. How cool is that!
Fast forward to today when I just happened to have both dental and an eye-doctor appointments. Both offices required me to update my information. On paper. With a pen attached by a very short leash to the RIGHT side of a clip-board making it virtually impossible for a left-handed person to use. Asking me to rewrite everything that was already on the chart from previous years. Giving me one line on which to list the five long-named medications that I take. And why I take them. And what is the address, phone number and shoe size of my pharmacist. And doctor. And bookie.
OK - I'm a compliant first child and did what I was told.
However, the evil twin hiding inside me was dying to write....
....the reason I take high blood pressure medication is because of the wrath caused by short pen leashes attached to the RIGHT side of clipboards.
...my pharmacist is the guy standing on a corner in a shady part of town. And he wears a size 10 1/2 shoe.
...I've entered the witness protection program and have a new name, address, phone, marital status and shoe size......as does my husband who, lucky him, gets to be responsible for my un-paid bills
....but now that I've told you about all the changes, I'll have to back to the witness protection office and get a new identity.
I get that each hygienist doesn't need a computer terminal in her cubicle and the eye doctor flits between about ten different rooms, but what's so hard about making a print-out of last year's information and just asking me to make any changes? While waiting for the ancient phone hook-up for the credit card to connect, the hygienist could easily enter any changes into a computer chart.
Both dentist and opthomologist could rent out the giant rooms they currently have filled with row upon row of brightly colored bulging files. Both could save the expense of buying those awful clip-boards usable only by normal right handed people. Neither would ever again need to buy pens with giant flowers erupting from the non-pointy end.
And, while they are throwing out things, the opthomologist can toss the noisy TV that no one is watching in the waiting room.
Ah, a woman can dream.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment