Do you ever feel at times that no matter what you do, people always seem to nitpick things and find petty things to complain about? I can't tell you the number of times people had complained about petty things such as just coming into the clinic and going when can I see the doctor (when they had just appeared five minutes ago), we explained in detail regarding where to go, yet people still go wrong and blame us.
Ever since I got shifted, I feel like we are in an all-you-can-eat buffet, meaning everything comes to us. I don't know why people can't comprehend that yes, we can help you to a certain extent, but after that you're on your own. You can't expect us to hold your hand all the way from A to Z. Before whatsapp and online services had even came up, what do we used to do last time? We called the clinic repeatedly till we get our appointment. I can't tell you how much I'm nearly in tears repeatedly telling people nicely to call the clinic directly to liaise with the clinic nurses because cases like obstetrician and gynaecology, oncology, child developmental growth, geriatrics and psychiatry are so sensitive (Or you can just throw everything in, but these are the ones that are considered sensitive) that the clinic nurse in charge has to ask them some personal questions, which we do not wish to invade because we are like a third party, and this should be attended by the clinic nurse in charge and their respective doctors. I find it ridiculous just for the sake of an appointment you have to jump through 3 or 4 different channels, where the simplest solution is to call the clinic directly and get the appointment.
The same goes for cancelling appointment. Sure you may think it is cute to just send a message to us and expect us to do it, unfortunately we are not currently overwhelmed by too many enquiries that we may overlook or tend to miss out. At the end of the day, we are all humans, and there's only so much we could do. "Oh, but it is just an appointment, surely it is not a big deal..." This nonchalant attitude makes my blood boil, because I used to have that mindset, but then a specialist pulled me aside one time to give me a talk. They knew me well enough not to bite my head off, but there are some who did. They told me, for clinics such as psychiatry, oncology and child developmental, the slots are so limited because these are the clinics that need to spend a lot of time in helping the people. Let's say if you don't turn up and did not bother informing, you ended up wasting the specialist's time, not to mention the slot could've been used for someone who truly needs it. Now I get the saying why business-savvy people had often said time is money, but for the specialists, when you do not even have the courtesy to make a phone call and inform, "Hello, I need to cancel/ postpone my appointment," you ended up wasting the slot for someone who truly needs it, not to mention the specialist's time, time which they could use to go for surgery/ ward rounds/ or they wish to go back early for a little R&R due to being exhausted. Would you like it if you have made an appointment with someone and they did not even have the courtesy to inform you that they can't make it, and you end up foolishly waiting for a long time to the point when you finally call them and they went, "Oh, it must've slipped my mind. I thought you knew. Anyway, have fun on your own." Why do I know this? Because I was one of those people who had often been left out of plans and appointments like that, so yes, I understood how tiring and painful it is. No one is asking you to do anything, just pick up the phone, give a dial, and just have the courtesy to inform someone. This is called courtesy call, it's a no-brainer.
Of course people tend to bite your head off. "You are a servicing line! It is your job!" "How unprofessional!" "I'm paying you for you service!" Again, I'll repeat my statement, yes, we can help you to a certain extent, but at the end of the day, you are the one seeing the specialist, hence you will need to know how to navigate your way. You are not going to expect me to hold your hand into the clinic. Furthermore, as I often have stressed, it is your body, hence you will know better. An example I always give is I have knee pain, but I refused to talk for whatever reason, so my parents will talk on my behalf.
- "Where's the pain?" At the knee
- "Which part of the knee? Left, right?" I don't know, just the knee, there's only one right?
- "How's the pain?" It's very painful.
- "Can you describe to me further, like is it a stabbing pain, like an electric shock, is it dull, or is it radiating to somewhere else?" What do you mean? It's just painful, surely it is good enough, right?
- "Have you done any scans, blood tests at any outside clinic?" No, should I have done it?
- "Are you on any medications?" I am, but I cannot remember the name. All I can tell you it is white in colour and it is round.
It's frustrating, and tiring for the person who is going to treat you. I had no idea that the above mentioned is a skill that you learn in communications. Of course people just laughed and brush it off, but if you don't put in your words properly, you will never be able to get a proper answer. If the specialist write so vaguely in the form such as BD Panadol, Arcoxia 120, X-Ray Leg, it will cause a whole lot of confusion. This is why the staff at the other end often have to call to double confirm the Doctor's orders to avoid causing a mistake.
One thing that we commonly get is due to the Rise of Covid, there is a large surge of people who are panicking due to causal/ close contact. They have done their swabs, great. Did they get their results? Due to technical glitch, minor error in keying in their email and contact number, they are unable to get their results. So what do they do? "Excuse me, can you give me my results?" The standard answer we give is please contact the relevant department to get your results. Some people had attacked me outright for not being helpful. "It's just a small thing!" No, it is not a small thing as you have claimed. It is P & C. If the results happened to fall to the wrong hands, it ends up being a legal case. The same thing goes for your medical records. You may think, "I just want this record, surely you can help me with this one small thing?" Again, the answer is no. There are certain procedures to go through, not to mention that there is a consent involved. If things goes wrong, then it ends up being a legal case.
By the way, please keep in mind, just because we have brothers and sister branches doesn't mean everything is the same, not to mention we are not allowed to access in other people's system. Please understand if you have liaised with Branch A, you will need to get back to Branch A, not Branch B. An example is I often have to go Branch B to pick up certain groceries because Branch A for some reason doesn't seem to hold them, so there you have it. Again, it is not a small thing. The things we do are P & C, a mishap can endanger someone or worse, get dragged into a lawsuit.
Look, life is hard, seriously, especially with Miss Rona hanging over our head like an ominous cloud, but we should be more understanding with each other instead of bursting in with guns blazing. Sure it works at time, but over the long run, you'll only end up making everyone ticked off because you tend to force your way through. One thing life taught me was keep you cool and stay polite, usually someone will make an effort to help you, but treat people like rubbish and karma is going to get to you.
Enough ranting, back to work.
*Today's case: 2,340 (Ah geez)
PS: If you do not hear back from the other end, keep trying till you get them. I can't stressed how often I've sent emails regarding my tax income since I had to get it done during the pandemic where most offices weren't open. No one answered the phone so I've sent emails every week or two and finally got an answer. Happy tax filing.
PSS: If it's urgent, call, don't wait.
