So my wife has a mole that has gotten larger. She went to her doctor. He sent an "urgent" referral to a dermatologist, said he was afraid to remove it because it looked, well, not good. That was Friday. Not hearing anything, she called the original doctor today. They have sent the referral. She called the dermatologist. They said, "We were waiting on your insurance information." She provided it. The appointment was scheduled for July 28. Not good enough, it has doubled in size in two days. Well, the referral wasn't marked "urgent." They are calling doctor #1 to determine whether or not it's "urgent." She has a family and personal history of skin cancer.

We get this bullshit EVERY TIME we see a doctor. We're two and a half years down the road trying to figure out her internal issues. Each doctor refers to another. Each doctor wants to do the same test. No doctor actually has an answer.

Very simply put, this is not acceptable. UK medical center would be my choice. I would suggest a Mohs surgeon.

I am very happy with the physicians I see. It did take a while.

Thanks. I'll give them a call.

Do you have the Specialists name and phone number and address?

Call and ask for Doc's nurse. Insist on speaking to her (him or whatever). You may get their voice mail, that's fine. Don't let the receptionist stone wall you.

Tell the nurse you really need to get in ASAP and can she work you in? This has worked for me several times.

If she says she can't and has to make you an appointment, tell her fine, make the appointment, but ask her also if she can put you on standby. Standby means someone cancels and then they have a time slot open they need to fill. Tell her you can be there within a short time once you are notified.

Don't be pushy or a butthead patient, if you get an appointment kind of far out, you can call her again and tell her its getting worse and you REALLY need to get in ASAP.

I've found that most receptionists, who normally make the appointments, just fill in the blanks and don't take initiative. Nurses often can pull strings and get you in sooner.

Best wishes to you.

BTW I just remembered when I had something pop up and couldn't get an appointment, I just drove there and walked into the receptionist desk. I asked to speak to the nurse. When she became available and came to the window, I showed her my spot and asked her to ask the Doc what he thought. She did so and came back to me in the waiting area and told me to wait a short while and he'd see me shortly. Within 30 minutes I had a quick 30 second eval by the Doc, who ended up telling me to come back tomorrow to get that spot removed.

You have to be nice, you can't be a butthead, but if you take some initiative and ask them for help, it may work out better.

Again, best wishes to you.

Yes, my dad did the same. Had a crazy growth on his arm, and walked right into the deems office and sat til he saw a nurse, showed her, and they took it off the same day.

They can teach people how to wonderful healing procedures, in these wonderful schools ,
But
They seem to be lacking
The skills that it takes to relate to their
patients, verbally.

Yesterday , I was told " for my safety " that because of covid,
I could not be waiting inside a building, for my neighbor, who was having a procedure on her eye

( It was 90 degrees w/ 80% humidity)

Instead, she told me to go to Target or the super market that had air conditioning ,to wait


And if you call them an effing moron, then they get an attitude.

Thanks, ZSMICHAEL. I had overlooked UKMC because they hold a contract for the inmates at the prison I retired from, and I have often run into them there. (My wife retired from there, too.) UKMC dermatology reviewed the pics the family practitioner took, concurred it should be seen very soon, and contacted my wife's original dermatologist. His office called and apologized, the growths will be removed Monday at 8am. He blamed a communication failure. UK did not charge. I feel much better.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Good to hear. Glad I could help.

quote:

They can teach people how to wonderful healing procedures, in these wonderful schools ,
But
They seem to be lacking
The skills that it takes to relate to their
patients, verbally.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
You have a point. Someone needs to train the staff to appropriately deal with these issues. You should have been told ahead of time. Perhaps you could have gone for something to eat and when your friend was ready they could text you. There is no excuse for not having good customer service for medical care.

Bedside manner and "House" level diagnostic skills are not mutually exclusive in the medical community, but they are both rare commodities as stand alone attributes. To find a doctor with both skill sets in any field is a rarety.

In the veterinary community, I've seen an evolution over the years. As the colleges begin to change the criteria they look for in candidates, the product evolves coming out the other end. Today's vets are some of the best at doing Test A > Test B > Test C > diagnosis. But when you interrupt the thought flow with the surprise information that the client cannot afford the CT scan and 3K referral option that was your "Test C," some of them fall to bits. Not all, mind you, but some.

Along that same thread of thinking, we have (in some cases) sacrificed the ability to communicate well for diagnostic apprach and cold efficiency in production. Gone are the days when a candidate could be a veteran with a family who has a 3.7 GPA and successfully get into vet school, like I did. Nowadays if you don't have a 4.0, don't bother.

Drs mostly do okay, unless they're tied up with insurance crap. Their support staff, however, have all the energy and dedication of DMV clerks. When stuff happens like the results of your nerve study show there's nothing wrong with your legs, and it was a BACK study, I lose faith. Of course, I did turn the issue over to the insurance company. They paid 1500 bucks for that crap.