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WHYWHYWHY
My grandmother is 82 years old. She has lived in the same house for fifty years. She has had 2 doctors both belonging to the same hospital in those years. Everything she has ever had done has been through those Drs. and that one hospital. Never ever has she gone to another hospital. Last September she found blood in her stool. We took her to that same hospital. After many many many upper and lower scopys looking for the source of the blood, they told us that she needed an aortic valve replacement and a single bipass. She could not have the surgery until they found the source of the blood. My grandmother had so many colonoscopys that our whole family still teases her about her camera in a tube fetish. Finally they could wait no more. They did the heart surgery. She came through fine. The bleeding stopped. Must have been a leaky heart they said. Grandma recovered. Started getting her energy back. Normal grandma! Until today. I stopped by after watching people sleep all night to find that she was pale and week. She has had blood in her stool for three days and did not want to inconvenience me. So I gather her stuff and take her back to the same hospital she has gone to for fifty years. They gave some blood and admitted her. As of now she is fine.
My question is this.... Why did I have to give my grandmothers medical history and list of medicines to 8 nurses and 5 doctors. Why did they not already have the list as this hospital and these drs. are the only ones she ever is seen by. Why did not one of them make a list for one of the other drs. 50 years of medical history 20 of which have been in the computer ages. Never once did anyone bring a file in with them. I AM PISSED. Thank you fro letting me vent. I am going to try to get some sleep.
My question is this.... Why did I have to give my grandmothers medical history and list of medicines to 8 nurses and 5 doctors. Why did they not already have the list as this hospital and these drs. are the only ones she ever is seen by. Why did not one of them make a list for one of the other drs. 50 years of medical history 20 of which have been in the computer ages. Never once did anyone bring a file in with them. I AM PISSED. Thank you fro letting me vent. I am going to try to get some sleep.
Views: 76
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Steven Y. Park, MD on
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This is a product of our medical system. In the name of competition, doctors are not allowed to share any information. Despite our president's initiative to have more doctors adopt electronic medical records, there will be thousands of different systems, which will never be compatible unless there's one unified system (which will never happen in this country for obvious reasons). This is why my wife had to fill out the same form 4 different times the morning of my son's surgery. Even if it were computerized, they would probably have you sit and enter it 4 different times! Not to mention expected human error. Some people state that redundancy reduces error, but that only sets up more opportunities for error, especially when human beings are involved. If we do progress towards computerizing our records, it will be a mixed blessing: Things may become more efficient and accessible, but there will be a huge learning curve with lots of headaches and frustration. The government should be able to set one standard, with different companies offering competing platforms, similar to the Microsoft model. Look how well this worked. It spawned entires industries to support all the incompatibilities, software problems and nightmares that arose.
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Permalink Reply by Judy on
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Rock, I am so sorry to hear your grandmother has gone thru all this and now has had to be hospitalized again. Thank goodness she has you. Maybe it is time to have her sign an ROI for all of her recent records, say the last two years anyway. You may also need to have a tactful but firm discussion w/her doctors about her age and whether they've gotten complacent and just written her off due to her age. She may need to provide you w/a medical power of attorney so you can prod these guys a bit. I've seen it w/my mother, w/my stepmother and w/other's parents; they start getting up there in years and the doctors start getting lazy, sloppy, whatever and don't put forth a whole lot of effort because of their age and "what the hell, they've lived a good life". "What do you expect, the body wears out w/age"., etc. etc.
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Permalink Reply by White Beard on
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Rock also a persons medical history changes as does their meds, she might have been in the hospital but after she got out, was she under any Doctors care, and did that Doctor change her prescriptions? or write her new one? Or had she seen a different specialist? Cardiologist? Urologist or any other type of Doctor? The hospital records would probably only show what her history was at the time she was last there, it would probably not show any thing like private Doctors visits, or what they did to her or prescribed for her. Thus when she went to the hospital they need to know what her current status is, they can't go by what it was the last time she was in the hospital. And everything Dr. Parks says is true, any and all other Doctors in private pracitce have their own computer systems and are probaly not connected to the hospitals system not also probably compatable! Unfortunately allot of times doctors and nurses don't always communicate as well as they should and they often will just ask the patient or family member the questions instead of taking the time to look and see that they already have that data. While filling out their forms it is easier to ask the questions than to search through the forms and paper work to find the answers! No one will probably admit to that but often that is the case! I have seen it first hand! To often ( and I specify that this doesn't apply to all Doctors or Nurses) but there are times when they just don't want to take the time to read the patients record! That is a pet peeve of mine! But I do know for certain, that it happens! I do hope they finally find out what is causing your grandmothers blood loss! That can sometimes be very difficult to find! Good Luck to You Both
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Permalink Reply by Rhonda McPherson on
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THAT IS TERRIBLE. I HOPE YOUR GRANDMOTHER STAYS WELL. I DON'T UNDERSTAND WHY DOCTORS DO AND DON'T DO THINGS THEY ARE SUPPOSE TO DO OR KNOW. THERE MUST BE A REASON, IF YOU FIND OUT WHY, LET US KNOW.
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Permalink Reply by RockRpsgt on
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Thanks guys. I just needed to vent. It has been a very long work weekend for me.
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Permalink Reply by sleepycarol on
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Sorry to hear about your grandma. It is a cycle that is repeated daily in so many fields. One hand not knowing what the other is doing. Like the other comments it is mainly about covering your backside. I am sure that there is similar protocol at your work since it is in a sleep clinic. When you have a patient that has had multiple sleep tests at your clinic aren't you still suppose to ask questions beyond the basic of what is your name? Much of that same information is probably in your system as well. But things change like jnk stated and one needs to make sure that all information is current.
I teach special education and know that in that field we are taught to document, document, document.
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Permalink Reply by Mike on
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Not to break any new ground here, but to add my voice to the chorus... i am at a loss for what passes for professionalism in the medical profession. I can't even get a doctor on the phone let alone answer an email. It's 2009 and these guys are above using email in a service profession? I do not get it.
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Ha! They are afraid they'll end up spending all their time answering e-mails and not getting those patients into the office and paying that office call.
Actually, I do have a doctor who has given me his e-mail. Nearly bowled me over when he did!!!! I don't abuse the privilege, believe me!
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if the concern is getting paid, why don't they charge for responding to emails?
Judy said:Ha! They are afraid they'll end up spending all their time answering e-mails and not getting those patients into the office and paying that office call.
Actually, I do have a doctor who has given me his e-mail. Nearly bowled me over when he did!!!! I don't abuse the privilege, believe me!
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sounds like an unusually progressive doctor -- our Dr. Park is of course quite progressive himself. problem is yes, they are very much the exception to the rule in my experience.
j n k said:My sleep doc told me to call him any time during office hours with any questions I might have. He said to leave voice mail at his number and he would call back as soon as he could. I have done it a total of three times in 10 months, and he has amazed me by getting back to me within a half hour each time! I have made sure never to take up more than a few minutes each time, but he has given the impression he was willing to talk longer. He has not charged for this. I assume he is the exception to the rule.
Mike said:if the concern is getting paid, why don't they charge for responding to emails?
Judy said:Ha! They are afraid they'll end up spending all their time answering e-mails and not getting those patients into the office and paying that office call.
Actually, I do have a doctor who has given me his e-mail. Nearly bowled me over when he did!!!! I don't abuse the privilege, believe me!
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Grandma is well. They are going to to do an endoscopy on her stomach and upper GI tomorrow. Maybe this time thay will find the cause. I personally thank that it is from all the medicines she is on.
On a foot note. I would like to talk about the competition in the medical industry. Dr. Park I mean you no disrespect. This is something I have been thinking about for a minute.
As the oldest of 5 boys I understand competition. I played a wide variety of sports. I have competed for money,,jobs, and yes even women. There were a few bad times in my life that I was down on my luck, or not in a very good place, that I competed for things that we will not mention today. As medical professionals we have competed through college for grades, certificates, achievements, and even for acknowlegement. I feel that by finally recieveing these things. the varius degrees, and jobs that we have been striving to get, WE HAVE WON! When I get my RPSGT. I will have won one of my many personal competitions. As Doctors you have basically won the medical version of the olympics. at this point our competitive nature should be to provide a better quality of life to those we serve. The sick, the elderly, the dying. We should be pursuing and helping people live better lives. I compete every time I go to work. Not with my peers, Drs., or even the lab down the Street. I compete for my pts. When I put on the royal blues they are the only ones that matter. They all become my brothers, sisters, or even my grandmother. I treat all of my pts like they were my family, not because I have to but because it is the right way to treat a person. I would be lying to say that I can read minds or know anyone elses motives, but I TOOK THIS JOB BECAUSE I CARE! I TOOK THIS JOB BECAUSE IT WAS TIME FOR ME TO STOP TAKING AND START GIVING BACK TO MY VILLAGE. I do it because i love it. the perk is it also pays the bills.
We live in a day and age where info is bought, sold, and stolen like Florida oranges. A government that can tap are phones or intercept our mail just because they think we might have some knowledge.Corporate espionage, bad medias. No ones information is all that private anymore. I think that a few Doctors and medical professionals should be able to come together and design a better way to communicate with one another and take better care of our pts.THE PATIENT are 2 words that we should all remember as medical professional, because at the end of the he/she is what we are competing for.
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Rock, i hope you don't lose your passion once you get your RPSGT and become more engrained in how the way things have worked and are working. We patients desperately need health care providers like yourself who care enough to think out of the box... I would also like to know more about what Dr. Park meant when he said "In the name of competition, doctors are not allowed to share any information."
Rock Hinkle said:Grandma is well. They are going to to do an endoscopy on her stomach and upper GI tomorrow. Maybe this time thay will find the cause. I personally thank that it is from all the medicines she is on.
On a foot note. I would like to talk about the competition in the medical industry. Dr. Park I mean you no disrespect. This is something I have been thinking about for a minute.
As the oldest of 5 boys I understand competition. I played a wide variety of sports. I have competed for money,,jobs, and yes even women. There were a few bad times in my life that I was down on my luck, or not in a very good place, that I competed for things that we will not mention today. As medical professionals we have competed through college for grades, certificates, achievements, and even for acknowlegement. I feel that by finally recieveing these things. the varius degrees, and jobs that we have been striving to get, WE HAVE WON! When I get my RPSGT. I will have won one of my many personal competitions. As Doctors you have basically won the medical version of the olympics. at this point our competitive nature should be to provide a better quality of life to those we serve. The sick, the elderly, the dying. We should be pursuing and helping people live better lives. I compete every time I go to work. Not with my peers, Drs., or even the lab down the Street. I compete for my pts. When I put on the royal blues they are the only ones that matter. They all become my brothers, sisters, or even my grandmother. I treat all of my pts like they were my family, not because I have to but because it is the right way to treat a person. I would be lying to say that I can read minds or know anyone elses motives, but I TOOK THIS JOB BECAUSE I CARE! I TOOK THIS JOB BECAUSE IT WAS TIME FOR ME TO STOP TAKING AND START GIVING BACK TO MY VILLAGE. I do it because i love it. the perk is it also pays the bills.
We live in a day and age where info is bought, sold, and stolen like Florida oranges. A government that can tap are phones or intercept our mail just because they think we might have some knowledge.Corporate espionage, bad medias. No ones information is all that private anymore. I think that a few Doctors and medical professionals should be able to come together and design a better way to communicate with one another and take better care of our pts.THE PATIENT are 2 words that we should all remember as medical professional, because at the end of the he/she is what we are competing for.
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