Would You Stay with a Doctors Office

I would move pediatricians. Not worth the hassle, when you've got a sick kiddo. I think a good doctors and office, would have no qualms about second opinions...and parents going with their gut.

The doctor is in charge if the practice. He comes off as nice and friendly but he is directing the staff and probably dictating those letters.

It sounds like he doesn't like to share his peice of the pie. If he and or his staff can convince patients to not seek help outside his office he gets the whole pie. Profits over patients.

I fired my pediatrician for this very reason. I got sick of his nurses treating me like a nut job first time mother. The final straw was an episode of diaper rash on my eldest son. I was calling friends and family late at night in tears, trying to get help because I couldn't get anything out of the doctor's nurses. I couldn't even get them to agree to make me an appointment and I most certainly could not get them to pass messages to the doctor. I was told over and over to just wait it out. My oldest son still has scars on his butt because of those nurses and my allowing myself to be bullied. Never again. I feel very real guilt over not listening to my gut on that one.

For me the nurses and front office personnel are the first line of defense in the joint effort to treat our families. They should be more than willing to answer questions (even dumb ones) and should be welcoming of assisting in our care, including giving over contact information for urgent care clinics. Also they are gatekeepers to the doctors so they have a great deal of power and influence which does not need to be rubbed in my face. Should I have to grovel to get in touch with my doctor? Finally they walk an interesting balance between customer service and medical care. I have no doubt they deal with irrate parents but how is that my fault if I am making every effort to be reasonable? Basically I don't want the nurses taking their crappy job out on me when all I need is help for my kid. There are too many fish in the sea to put up with this in my opinion. Good luck to them.

Oh, and I did complain to the doctor but he just stood by his staff. I told him I was sorry but I would be leaving his practice for better total care.

A good doctor doesn't get snarky when a patient seeks a second opinion. I have even had doctors who, when I had issues that looked like they might require surgery to correct, SUGGESTED that I get a second opinion before making a final decision, just in case they might have missed something.

I would let the doctor know, in writing, your complaint. So often a doctor (or any professional) is so busy treating patients and hunkered down in their office dealing with the endless compliatory issues(tax, legal, insurance, labor ,banking, etc) that suck up all their time that they don't see or care what's going on up front. Until they get a complaint, they aren't going to notice.

So if you really like the doctor, give him the courtesy of a head's up. It's much easier for him to start managing his team correctly than it is to find another good doctor.

Remember, these people go to medical school. They don't get business classes or management classes on how to run a practice. Many of them hire office managers to help fill this gap, but one bad manager can ruin a professional withouth him ever knowing what happened.

I would be finding a new pediatrician personally. It is a patients choice to seek a second opinion and 99% of dr's i know encourage this for their patients peace of mind. I cant believe the nurse didnt want to give her the urgent care information this is something every parent should have on hand just in case anyways.

i would find new doctors all the way around.

A new pediatrician and a new PCP for my husband and myself.

They don't want to work in "sync" - fine. I'll find someone who will. there are situations where it is a good thing to have more than one person looking at it...everyone has a different thought process...everyone was taught a tad different...

If the front end people at my doctor's office were rude? I would tell the doctor and inform them that I am leaving - not a flounce - but if they don't know what their clients are dealing with - they can't change it.

Move on, the doctor is ONLY as good as his staff to be honest.

I would find a different office.

I would ask for his records and find a new pediatrician. Not worth the aggravation!

I wouldn't stay there if I were them. I use a pediatrician's office associated with a teaching hospital. I like it because even though each visit takes a little longer, I have a nurse, med student, and doctor looking over my son. Also, since this is a group of doctors, I don't have to worry about getting an appointment when he is sick, since there are a number of doctors available if my "preferred" doctor isn't. Twice, once with my son's heart murmur and once with a rash, the doctor called in another doctor who had more experience in that area without me having to set another appointment and get charged for another visit. Also, since it's associated with a hospital that also has an affiliated urgent care, there is always something available. I know some people aren't comfortable with that set up, but maybe it would work for your sister.

She shouldn't have received a dual care letter over an urgent care facility. That is the purpose of the UC facility. For when your doctor is closed, and it isn't an emergency for the ER.

I probably would not have cancelled the morning appt., as most UC places tell you to follow up with your primary doctor. At this point I would probably switch practices.

Start by letting the doctor know about the poor manner with which their staff are treating the patients. If the doctors don't know, they can't address the problems in their offices. They DO want to know if their staff are causing them to lose patients. There will either be an office manager or nurse manager who will correct the nurse.

Yes. I'd be leaving. There are many great doctors out there, it's not worth dealing with aggravation and hassle every time you need to see the doctor. I would suggest that she is going to have to find a doctor with a different company. If this is a company policy, she'll have the same issues with a different office.

Was the other doctor in the same practice? I have heard that policy before, but for doctors practicing within the same practice, which makes sense. The urgent care thing, though, that's just way off-putting and yes, I'd be seeking another pediatric practice that I'd be more comfortable with.

I'd look for another doctor. It would be one thing if it were a bad day, or one person that was cranky, but it sounds like it's an office attitude. And an URGENT care visit is not "dual care". It's "you weren't freaking open and my child needed help" care. THAT attutude is BS. My pediatrician NEVER complained when I took my son to pediatrics after hours.

My sister dealt with front end staff that felt they knew better then mom whether or not my nephew needed to be seen by the doctor. After a couple of weeks she finally called to say she was on her way to see the doctor that day, and when they tried to put her off she said no. Turns out my nephew had RSV and spent the next week in the ICU. He now will forever have asthmas due to the delay in treatment. She now speaks directly to the doctors pa when she calls rather then the regular front end staff. If she really likes this doctor she should talk to him again and see if the issue can be resolved for good, but if it can not be or if she gets another letter then I would change providers, and I would make sure the doctor knows why so he can make changes in his staff if he feels the need.

Sometimes you 1. need a second opinion or 2. can't wait. Would they send a letter about dual care if you went to the ER? If you have a PPO, then you have flexibility. I would personally go to another primary care doctor. Are the letters territorial? Are they threatening to drop the patient from their care? If they do, I'd make it clear that I'll take my business elsewhere, AND tell people why. If she really really likes the doctor, then I'd talk to him about these letters and see what he has to say about it. Is there some "dual care" policy she didn't know about?

With our HMO, we have a primary doctor, but if we come in for Urgent Care or need to see someone else due to schedules, nobody gets in a bunch. I've also gone to Urgent Care through our HMO and gone to my PPO doctor later and nobody said boo (I was double insured). Or, come to think of it, I can choose my own OB/GYN and they just make note of it and move on. I didn't get any nastygrams from my PCP. What's their deal?

Now, I get that they might want to know what's what with a child and one point of contact is often preferable, but what if the doc isn't available?

If the problem is that there are two doctors in the practice but they don't really practice together, then that's not an office politics p*ssing match I'd want my child to be a part of. At my OB's office, I *prefer* to see 1 doctor, but if I can't I see another. And then they discuss my treatment among themselves if necessary. It sounds like these partner doctors aren't really partners.

I would move. The nurse is part of this practice too, and it doesn't sound like she has a good ethic of care.

I'd say time to find another doctor for the nephew. But front desk at many drs offices are not the nicest for some reason.

I would sit down with the doc and explain that if the child is sick when the offiice is not open, they have no choice but to use an urgent care center unless the doc wants to give them his home number and be at their beck and call 24/7. That is really ridiculous for the staff to act that way. Do they really expect the child to suffer all night with pain in both ears just so they can make their money? That seems to me to be what it's all about - the money. If the docs thinks more of his $ than his patients, then I would certainly consider another doctor!

find a new dr.

personally i would have waited till the next day to see my regular dr as an ear infection is not really urgent care. If my kids have ear aches I give them tylenol motrin and we see our dr asap. the next day would have been fine.

Updated

find a new dr.

personally i would have waited till the next day to see my regular dr as an ear infection is not really urgent care. If my kids have ear aches I give them tylenol motrin and we see our dr asap. the next day would have been fine.

Definitely move on. If the doctor is worth their salt, they will realize why they are losing patients and make changes. I liked our original pediatrician, she did a lot for our son, but we reached a point where he had fevers, etc. and she would blow it off and hesitate giving antibiotics, medication. I respected that at first because I didn't want to over medicate with antibiotics but it kept going on. I would call and the nurse would answer and randomly say it was a virus, nothing can help it. One nurse specifically diagnosed everything as a virus. After a rash, high fevers, and pain that wouldn't stop I finally made an appointment with another pediatrician, and he was treated with a huge amount of antibiotics for a massive ear infection and was even tested for Kawasaki's disease and luekemia because after a month of fighting an infection that WASNT A VIRUS my son's white blood cell count was very low.

I moved to this doc and the rest is history. A friend still goes to the old office and she made it a point to share that with the doctor, and the doctor was disappointed to hear it. I'm not going back though.

There is a great doctor out there for everyone, it just takes some trial and error and knowledge of where your boundaries are about what you will tolerate and not tolerate.

-A.