Monday I had a colonoscopy. It took me 2 years for my primary care physician to talk me into getting it done. Just routine - I'm getting old :(. I was told by everyone that it's no big deal - the prep (starving yourself and then taking medicine to 'clean out' your insides) is no fun, but then it's over. Then after the procedure you go home and sleep for a few hours, eat and feel fine again. Not me.
Because I take a Rx painkiller for back pain (broken back in 2003, but that's another story for another time), I had a colonoscopy with sedation. I'm not going to go into all the gory details, but Monday afternoon there was no sleep for me - I spent hours and hours expelling everything and mostly nothing out of both ends. This story though isn't about that. It's about customer service -- AGAIN.
After a couple hours my husband called the hospital because something wasn't right. Wake Med Cary Hospital said to call the doctor at Cary Gastroenterology. Next phone call to the doctor. He got a voice mail for the nurse and left an urgent message. An hour later - no return phone call. I told him to call and speak to a live voice. He called the doctor again. This time he spoke directly to the nurse. She said it could be serious and she'd check with the doctor and call right back. An hour later and no return phone call. My husband called again and refused to speak to anyone but the head nurse who listened to the symptoms and sent us immediately to the hospital emergency room. Several hours later, after an IV for dehydration and other stuff, I was feeling somewhat better.
And then on Tuesday morning, the first nurse called my husband and said she received a voice mail from him and what could she do to help. My husband said, "Don't you even remember talking to me live yesterday and then never calling back." I don't know if she's forgetful, incompetent or just too busy, but that experience was NOT acceptable. I talked to their office manager to get my records transferred out of that office. She said she thinks they were just too busy dealing with lots of patients. I asked if they had any other people who had a colonoscopy on Monday and called saying they were throwing up for hours afterwards -- seemed a high priority to me. She finally agreed.
Today I went to my primary doctor - the wonderful Dr. Jennifer Schmidt of Schmidt and Catchings in Cary, NC for a follow-up since I am certainly NEVER going back to Cary Gastroenterology.
Life is returning to normal, but I just don't get it. How hard is it to do your job and provide good customer / patient care?
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