Is this how a normal doctor's office runs?

Question

My pediatrician has a bad habit--slow to return calls! Once it took her nurse two days to get back to me just so I could ask a question!

Here's tonight's story (just one of several):

My son (2 years) has a common cold with a nagging cough. After hours of non-stop coughing I called the doctor around 3 this afteroon. The nurse was concerned enough that she was going to request a prescription to quiet the cough for the night. I never heard from them!! I had to call the on-call doctor, and thankfully, he had my doctor's notes: she had okay'd the prescription but no one called it in, and no one called me! (By this time, it was 7 and the pharm closes at 8)

I don't expect immediate responses, but when my child is sick, I want to get him help or advice pretty quickly.

Is this typical of doctor's offices? I know mistakes / miscommunication happens, but it seems to happen frequently in this office.

Just wondering (and venting).

Answer 1

Find a new pediatrician! You dont want your child's health in these peoples hands! Not to scare you, but I just took my 2yr old to the Dr for a nagging cough (which I too, thought was a cold) turns out... it was pneumonia!. Do you want to take that chance with your child! They are unprofessional or have taken on to many patients. What parent needs that extra stress...

Answer 2

I work at a doctors office and that is not the normal way things run, if your doctor was out of the office then it should have been triaged to the on-call doc. I think your docs office needs some work!! I'd call and ask to speak to the manager and tell them whats going on, and see about them shaping up.
Part of the problem might be that it's so close to Christmas and most people usually wait till Friday afternoon to call for refills and appointments. and winter is usually when the office is swamped

Answer 3

My children's doctors office is not like that at all. They have a policy that one of the Rn's or the Doctor himself will get back to you within 30 minutes of the call. Also if the child is running a fever they will make time to see them that day even if it means that they have to stay later. As for scripts if the Dr does call one in and you have a normal pharmacy have it in your notes with the pharmacy to give you a call when it is ready that way your not constantly calling back and forth. I would start interviewing other Dr's in the area there are good ones out there.

Answer 4

I can't speak for a normal doctors office, since my husband is military, we have to use military doctors ect. Well to tell ya how ours runs....they will not always even call you back. I am pregnant and called with a concern and didn't hear anything for 7 days, in the meantime i was forced to go to the Emergency room. As for my kids, they arent even authorized a pediatrician since they are now over 2, even though one had severe complications at birth and they were premature. (they are twins.) Sometimes it seems doctors have to many patients, not enough time and sometimes...sad to say, i think they dont care as much as they should. It sucks, but if you do not like the way your doctors office is handeling your son, i would switch if you could. Good luck to you and i hope your little guy is ok now!

Answer 5

i would start looking for another pediatrician. either they have too many patients or they are lax in their care. either way that's not how my dr's office runs and it doesn't sound very good to me.
we see a military dr at the naval hospital and so the pediatricians there have a ton of kids as patients, however, i called today b/c my baby has a cold and i had questions and within 1 hour the nurse called me back and put in a prescription as i was talking to her. my husband picked it up at the pharmacy on the way home from work.

so, i'd ask friends about their pediatricians and find a new one.

good luck!

Answer 6

Measure your temperature as soon as you wake up. At this time your body temperature is the lowest. Keep track of your measurements. American Medical Association does not consider temperature below 100F fever, so this way you're fine. Also, if you feel fine with temperature above average, it could be your normal temperature. By the way, according to some soucres and European Celcius standards, the normal body temperature is closer to 98F than 98.6F that is considered normal here.

Answer 7

I think I would find another doc and then send a letter to your doc (where he had to sign for it. personally .if not his staff will get it and he never will see it) and explain to him why you changed docs..It's probably his nursing staff..not him..he can give the orders but the nurses do the actual calling in of rxs..he may not even be aware of the problem..if nobody tells him..he never will. To some nurses or doctor it's just "another patient" but you are his mother and he's a very sick kid...it could be something very serious...dont' wait for it to get to that point..there are too many docs out there..don't risk your son's life

Answer 8

Yep. Sorry to say it, but I have to stay after them in order to get refills for meds for my son. He takes a maintenance medication for his arrhythmia and I often have to follow up several times...It's easy to have your request(s) become lost in the shuffle of the Md's daily workload. Just try and be friendly BUT firm, and follow up. I was a Rx Technician before I had children and I understand both sides of the argument: the Pharmacy side and the Md side...And, for the record, the nicer and sweeter you are to the Pharmacy, the more the Techs will do to help speed up the process of getting a refill for you. Sometimes the Tech can get a nurse to do it right then, as opposed to you having to call both places. I hope your son's cough resolves ASAP!

Answer 9

Make your concerns known to the doctor. Write a letter of complaint to the doctor so that it is on the file. Also, let your insurance company know about the problem with the doctor's office.

Lastly, just switch pedi. if this continues.

Answer 10

if this is a regular occurence, you should really look into getting another pediatrician. I usually will call back after an hour and a half if i don't hear from my babies' ped. sometimes, especially at this time of year (flu season) docs can get backed up and forget things. but if it happens often there is something wrong.