Patient care

Any exposure to the medical system will reveal its inefficiencies. Although things have gotten better, there remains room for improvement.

When the Endocrine Doctor did a consult while I was in the hospital, she said she wanted my calcium levels checked twice per week and she wanted me to message her through the hospital's online patient system if there were any calcium problems. 

When I was released from the hospital the 2x/week bloodwork was not part of the orders.

No problem... The hospital network has a nifty online tool for communicating to doctors. So, I tried and my endo Doctor isn't listed as an available contact. Odd. How will I notify her about calcium results?

I sent a note to my surgeon, waited the required 48 hours, and did not get an answer.

Next I called the Endo doctor office and explained the situation. I was told my primary Doctor has to submit those orders. Primary? What does he have to do with this? OK!

I called my Prinary and they didn't have a clue what I was talking about but would be happy to submit the order. Unfortunatly my primary Doctor is in a different hospital organization and needed a fax number for the other hospital system so they can submit the order.

Two phone calls later, I get the fax number and report it back to my primary. What a hassle! For something the Endo Doctor should have done from the start! 

Next problem: I need to get the Endo Doctor added to my hospital app so I can provide the calcium updates. A message and two phone calls later, I learned that a doctor can not be added as a contact simply based on a consult. 

Either I'm crazy or that Endo Doctor is. All this could have been easily fixed if she had went into the system, indicated that we had met, and put in the orders. Instead I spent hours making many calls trying to get things straightened out!

This had better not be a sign of things to come!