Desperado620 Posted July 15, 2008 Posted July 15, 2008 I'm having a tough day today, folks. I'm also going to give you a little insight into the inner workings of a physician's office. I work the front phones and scheduling in a physician's office. We have multiple doctors, each with their own set of nurses and their own set of rules! Each doc likes their schedule a certain way, no appointments of such type after appointments of another type, so many of each type a day, etc. I do my best to keep everyone happy, but you can't keep everyone happy. For instance, we had a doc today with a full schedule and a procedure at the end of the day, and she's one that insists on leaving on-time on her half days. One of her patients called in with a possible urinary tract infection (I know, gross, but it's an easy appointment, easy to diagnose.) and I figured that was the last thing she needed at the end of her day, so I put the patient with another doctor who had open appointments and said she'd see the patient. Well, the doctor whose patient it was chewed me out, saying I should have asked her first. I know her nurse, and what I originally did was what she would have told me to do. Then, I had a patient I really needed to ask about, because I wasn't sure. I paged and paged and paged the nurse to ask, but I never could get her. I am tethered to this phone and am not supposed to get up to hunt nurses down for anything. I've been told I'll get in trouble for that too. I'm worried that the appointment I set isn't okay and I'm going to get chewed again for not asking! How can I ask if nobody's there to pick up the phone?! I am getting so frustrated, I can't follow everyone's directions because they contradict each other!! What the heck can I do?!
Angel1111 Posted July 16, 2008 Posted July 16, 2008 Do the doctors and staff ever meet together to discuss financial, office and client issues? If so, then I would bring up the problems in the meeting. Offer solutions, if you have any (which I recommend), and ask their opinion about the situations you're having problems with. When you can't leave your desk and aren't able to reach anyone by page, that isn't your fault and no one should be chewing you out about it. If the doctors never meet with their staff, then you may want to suggest that they do that, or send an email with each of them copied and rationally describe the problems you are having. Stay unemotional and stick with the facts - presenting it in such a way that you're concerned about pleasing them and their clients. Don't be in a hurry to write this email. If you want feedback, post it here and we can help you with it.
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