Well I came back to work today and one of the women that I work had the day off on Friday. There was this issue with a patient that was scheduled and how we also have another patient of the same name but younger. Well the other patient was not put into or new system yet so when the appointment was made it was made for the wrong person. When we called for the appointment the other woman was like you have the wrong person scheduled I did not make that appointment you have two Jane Smith's in the office and are always confusing me with her and sending me her CL's. She had a nasty tone and instead of being nice about it and saying "You know what I don't believe I scheduled this appointment there is another Jane Smith and you should give her a call because I believe the appt. is for her." Well the woman I work with kept insisting it was for her and I don't think she checked to see if we had another file. She asked me to check and the tab was off the other Jane Smith's file and...
2007-10-01 05:05:23 · 2 answers · asked by Brownie12866 2 in Family & Relationships ➔ Other - Family & Relationships
I said no I don’t see another one. So we thought this woman had it wrong. Well Friday the other Jane Smith’s daughter (the one who really did schedule the appt.) called and said you called the wrong Jane Smith the appt. is for my mother. She called me to let me know this. So I was like I’m sorry your mom can come in for that appt. on Monday. So I told the office manager about this and she was like you know what I will call the other Jane and apologize and tell her she was correct and the appt. isn’t for her. Well she ended up leaving a message and telling her to call the office manager herself back. That didn’t happen and I totally forgot about it when I walked in this morning. So we had both patients in the schedule just incase both show up. Well she finally ended up calling back this morning and goes did the other Jane Smith’s daughter call you and the woman who was not in Friday answered and said no and she was wondering if the appt. was still for her cause she didn’t want
2007-10-01 05:05:40 · update #1
to come for no reason and the woman I work with was like we went through this it is for you. I feel bad cause I didn't explain what happened. I usually write things down but I forgot about this issue. She told me after the patient called cause I was busy and I explained to her what was going on.
2007-10-01 05:06:45 · update #2
OK, so you've made a mistake and some people had some frustrations over it. Make a simple apology to them as you are able to and do something to make sure the files are marked in such a way that it is easy to discern who is who. A telephone number or SS#, or Driver's License #, Insurance ID #, or something can use to differentiate between the patients. It should be clearly marked and easily seen at the top or on the tab of the file - in the computer some way of noting or flagging the file could be done, too.
Forgive yourself! Let everyone know you'll be diligent in not letting this happen again. Then let it go!
You're only human; you're going to make mistakes. It happens in doctors, dentists, offices all the time. People understand and usually let these things go when you apologize and assure them it won't happen again, because if it does, you could end up losing patients.
So, because you care so much, I feel sure you'll never let it happen again. It is easy to get tripped up between computers and manual files. Being diligent is great, but again, you are only human and this is forgivable.
Sometimes it helps to bring doughnuts in the morning too :) and, if you think it is appropriate, you might go to your boss and see if they think sending a short post card indicating that the files have been fixed and that you apologize for the error would be a good way to reassure the patients? My dentist's office did that when their computer got screwed up and some patient's files were lost (a few years back) ... I thought it was a caring and personal touch that they let everyone know the system was fixed.
2007-10-01 05:57:06 · answer #1 · answered by Holly Carmichael 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
These things happen, it's sad, but they are not really out anything but a trip! Apologize to them and tell them you are really sorry about any convenience to them! Then let it go! Just remember it as a reminder to be more careful in the future! You seem like a very caring person but lives get busy and mistakes do happen, don't let it get you down!! You'll be OK!!
2007-10-01 12:42:03 · answer #2 · answered by Ginny 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋