Peds Office Vent

it's pretty routine for them to call in RXs at the end of the day, i never EXPECT something to be done same day... they've got a million things to do, and every patient wants their's done "now". just give a few days notice next time, hope you get it soon.

I never expect things to be called in immediately. I would expect it to be called in within 24-48hrs though. I would be very irritated however if it took a week to get the right rx called in.

Just to clarify, was this an emergency request, or does she still have some meds to get by for a day or two?

I am a nurse at a very busy pediatric office. This is why we are so busy:

We have tons of refill requests to deal with so we call the pharmacy and get to sit on hold.

Then we have the parents that forgot their prescription so we have to call it in to the pharmacy and then the pharmacy keeps you on hold for 10 minutes, then the medication is not covered so then you give it back to the doctor and wait for them to write a medication that is covered. Then when you finally get that, you have to call back the pharmacy and sit on hold for another 10 minutes.

We call in or fax in refills to the pharmacy and they always lose the message/fax, so then we have to do it again.

Then we get interrupted by a phone call from a parent that is upset because their kid can't get registered for school because they lost their yellow immunization record, so then you gotta pull the kids chart and look up their immunizations because the parent has to have it NOW.

Then you have a pile of preschool/kindergarten/sports/camp/private school/college/WIC/medication at school/immunization forms to fill out. Each form takes a good 10 minutes to fill out and that's only if you have all of the information in front of you and if the kid is up to date with their physicals. If the kid isn't up to date, you have to call the parents and tell them they need a physical and then get yelled at by the parent, even though it's their fault they haven't scheduled a physical in 4 years.

Then you have a stack of calls you need to return, anything from parents wanting to know lab results (even though you told them the results won't be in until tomorrow), to parents wanting advice, parents wanting to request records, other doctors' offices, insurance companies, etc.

This is only for the front office part, don't even get me started on the back office part:)

So I would cut you peds office some slack. Getting your Rx called in the same day is pretty darn good!

Hi mom-

Crazy as it sounds...I do not mind waiting to hear from the docs any more...I am relieved!

Having had a critically/chronically ill child...I can tell you that for ME it is almost a pleasure to have to wait to hear from doctor's office...it truly means that there is something 'typical' going on...and won't result in something invasive or a protracted hospital stay...

I know my child's needs have 'bumped' other kids...or taken away from the doctor's/nurses time...and I am grateful to parents who understood when my child's needs were greater...As I understand, there are other kids who's needs are greater than hers are recently (knock wood...thanks to god)

Try not to sweat the small stuff...and remember...most of it really IS small stuff!!

Best Luck!
Michele/cat

Our pediatrician office has a VM for the triage nurse- it clearly states all messages will be returned within 24 hours. If you have an emergency, call the front desk to see if someone can assist you. If you need shot records or a refill request faxes will be sent by the end of the day. In my experience the pediatricians nurse takes care of shots, initial physical stats information gathering and pre-interviews the parents regarding what the doctor will be seeing them for. In other words- the nurses work hard and usually have little downtime, and are responsible for a huge chunk of what happens in the office. Usually, they don't have a ton of free time for quick phone chats as people call in.

Most people take for granted that their doctor's office will drop everything else they're doing to take care of an unscheduled request. Unfortunately, most offices are so busy, and often understaffed and they can't snap to and just do whatever we need them to do lickety-split.

I understand your frustration, but it's also essential to see the other side of the coin. Doctor's offices- especially pediatric offices- are worked to the bone. Many break even in earnings, and are essentially in the "business" because they are truly caring people trying to help kids out. Perhaps next time you should call in a refill request prior to your child running out of meds. I usually calls in my daughter's refill requests 5 days before she runs out of her meds. I figure I'm better off being proactive. If I am proactive and it takes them more than 5 days, then we have a problem.

If you feel you have waited to long, dealt with too much incompetence, or whatever- call and chat with teh office manager. Or patient liason if you go to a hospital. They will help resolve your issue and also help implement new procedures to help the office run better.

Best wishes!

Our doctors office requires 24 hours notice for refills. This is posted in the office all over the place. I feel this is very reasonable, I do not expect them to jump when I call. What they do is collect all requests for the day and then send them out in one batch.
As for the nurse, yes, in theory her lunch break should be a break. But in reality most people in busy positions like this will eat their lunch while they do paperwork and callbacks because they don't have enough staff/time to do it at a different time. Honestly I feel for them and would not want to work in an environment like that - but that is what many places look like.
Good luck!

Our ped asks you give 48 hrs for all refills although it usually only takes an hour or so. I don't think you should be so bent out of shape over a refill that will be one by the end of the day or tomorrow. Pediatrician offices are very busy if you have enough then don't worry about. It's common for them to not drop everything they are doing to fill a script.

It seems you do not like the office why not look for a new one. There is a reason I drive 30-45 minutes to ours because all the surrounding ones suck.

I have switched peds based on lack of responsiveness. When DD #1 was 3, she had a fever of 105 and red splotches all over her body, and her peds office put me into voicemail, then didn't call me back, so I called them back, told them it was urgent, described the symptoms, and they said to go to urgent care (where my co-pay is $100, vs $20 for an office visit), because the doctor couldn't make time to see my daughter! She ended up having Scarlet Fever, which can be fatal in small kids if left untreated. I mean, seriously. So I switched doctors. That kind of stuff drives me nuts. (Oh, and I should add here that we were routinely kept waiting up to 2 hours on scheduled appointments due to "emergencies" with other patients, so it's not like they didn't take emergency visits from other families!)

Our current doctor is available via e-mail for non-urgent questions or refill requests, and responds same day ALWAYS (and usually within just a few minutes). If he is too booked up to see us, we can always ask to see a NP (who will call him in if needed). There's a 24/7 advice line for any questions. I love it. I figure, we pay a huge amount of money every month to have health insurance for our kids, and these doctors make a good sum of money - we are entitled to be treated with a sense of urgency, and basic respect. If we don't get it, then we should take our business to someone who DOES want our business.

Our pharmacy says to call them (the pharmacy) and have them request the refill, because the drs. are usually more responsive in that they see that you are trying to get it refilled that moment, rather than you just need a refill at some point.

Try to keep it in perspective. Your dr. has many patients and the nurse probably isn't just sitting there monitoring the phones. She's busy with patients. The dr. is busy with patients. They may have requests from yesterday to get through before yours ....

M.

I have had my moments of needing to vent about my pediatrician and their office too. At one point or another, they are frustrating, so I know how you are feeling.

My honest opinon is that you are overreacting. I think 24 hours is reasonable. It is certainly consistent with my peds office. This isn't an emergency is it? I imagine if you really needed it today, you would have called the ped sooner? If your daughter is in great discomfort, then definately call and expain that to them.

PS. I would leave the practice if I had to pay $25 to talk to a nurse. THAT is not common. Don't get me wrong, I value a nurse's time. However, they are a line of defense for the office to know when and if a child should be seen by a doctor. As far as I can tell, it is part of the well-care I expect them to provide during a year. Yikes. Now that I would vent about!!

.

At least yours will call your prescriptions in for you. Mine won't. I have to take them to the pharmacy myself. But a lot of the doctor's offices around here do that. Very frustrating.....If you aren't getting the attention you need, start looking for a new doctor.

I have to say that I think you're being a bit unreasonable in your expectations.

Like the previous poster mentioned, running a pediatrician's office is a delicate balancing act, and at the other end of it are demanding, impatient parents who think they or their kids are more important than everyone else.

You have 2 choices here - accept it or find another doctor.

I always call the pharmacy and have them do the call to get a prescription refilled. The docs always take their calls themselves or their nurse. They have to answer their call then, not call them back. So it expedites everything. Also saves me a bunch of time.

Sounds like your doctor has too many patients. Find a new one. I never have trouble getting meds quickly.

Can you not change your pediatrician?
I did and I never looked back!
$25 to talk to the nurse probably has to do with your insurance, not the doctor.

ooh...if I am told that my call will be responded to within x amount of time - then i expect that to be done...

I do NOT wait until the day my prescription is out to call and ask for a refill...lack of planning on my part does not constitute an emergency on your part.

You're definitely justified! We have a great pharmacy here (CVS) who will usually call the doctor's office and request a refill even when there are none remaining. Maybe you should also ask the pharmacy to do it. Hopefully if they're getting calls from you AND the pharmacist, they'll get the hint. Good luck, I'd be totally annoyed too.

I've never had that response from my kids doctor or nurses. Sounds to me like you should find another office that isn't as busy. good luck. That is frustrating.

Every office I've ever been to has a 24-48 hour refill policy, and no refills for schedule 1 rx's on Fridays or weekends.

so weird with the nurse did the think it was a personal call?????

I completely understand your frustration as a mama myself. I also work in a peds clinic though so I can see it from that standpoint. I'm not sure about the ineptness you describe with the wrong meds being called in sometimes other than that sometimes we all make mistakes. I will say though that for the 4 offices I work at, they all have a 24 hr refill policy. It rarely takes more than a couple hours, but the policy is there 'just in case'. Also, for the lunch breaks- yes, they're for us to step away mentally which is a fantastic theory but not always realistic. On those extra busy days we'll end up heating our food up and then eating while we finish up the morning's loose ends. We do that so that parents don't have to wait the full 24 hours for their refills or callbacks. We do that because when we close at 5, we don't want to still be charting at 7. I will also say that I can almost guarentee that I hate dealing with pharmacies as a medical assistant more than you hate it as a parent. If the rx doesn't go through electronically, we have to be put on hold and go through that recording spiel just like you do when you call the pharmacy. We then have to connect to a pharmacist and give them the refill request, explaining that it is a repeat of an electronic one that might or might not have gone through properly. After that, we find out probably 80% of the time that the patient's insurance doesn't want to cover that medication at that dosage level.

I also think you'd have better results having the pharmacy call. I also think the refill should be called in a week ahead of the time needed.

I do think a Dr's office can get very busy, so its not too unreasonable for them to get back with you right away on a refill.

But....the nurse having to call you back on her lunch or after 5 sounds a little ridiculous. I've called my daughters ped's office to talk to a nurse and if she is not readily available, I leave a message and call is returned within the hour. (Usually 5-10 minutes after I call though)

Our doctor takes forever to return phone calls and to refill RX's. It is maddening to say the least. Usually, if they take extra long and my thyroid meds get messed up, it makes me sick so I throw a fit...kind of. Anyway, they always say that they see 90 patients and have over 100 calls. That seems a bit excessive for one doctor... I found the patient service to be much better in other states other than Arizona, where I live... I'm never happy with doctors or churches here...LOL but when we lived out of state, it was always much better. Good luck!!