Crossover

I had an interesting morning. For the first time at Crossover, I got completely chewed out by a patient. This morning I was running the front window meaning that I take all the patient's information as they walk into the clinic. Usually there is a line right at 830 because there are a few appointments at 830 and a lot of people show up early because they know they are going to wait awhile. One woman shows up without her appointment card and I find her name on the list and she had an appointment at 1050. Really, that doesn't phase me. It probably should since she is over 2 hours early, but it's Crossover and disorganized is the name of the game.

So as the line goes down, I start doing the workup of the patients, most importantly, finding their charts which seemed to be quite a problem this morning. At about 915 I have gotten through a number of these patients, but I hadn't gotten to the one patient who forgot her card. She comes up to the window and starts complaining that she had an appointment at 845 and she hasn't been seen yet and blah blah blah. I look over at the appointment list and tell her that my list says that her appointment is at 1050, not 845. She starts going off on me how I am not doing my job and how she works part time and needs all these hours, and cannot stand to wait around at the doctor's office when she has an appointment at 845. I tell her again that this is what the computer says and she fires back with "Young man, let me tell you that I need blah blah blah [HIPAA says no]" and I just tell her that we can put her folder up and that she'll be seen next. She storms away puts on her jacket and starts walking out and then comes back to the window and says "You know what, I will call my boss and let him tell you when my appointment is because he has my appointment card" I say sure, and while she is dialing the number, the nurse calls her in to be seen.

A little while later when she is checking out I go up to her and apologize for what happened earlier and she was very apologetic saying that it is her fault and that he has had [HIPAA says no, again] and that causes her to be edgy sometimes. So everything was clarified, and she asked my name and said she'll ask for me the next time she comes.

I held my composure throughout the situation which was good, especially considering the new front office manager, the 3 other people in the front office, the head nurse/head of medical operations, and about 3 other of my superiors were watching. They all felt for me and said I did the right thing and she was probably in the wrong. Running through my head through this time was me wanting to scream at her saying "LOOK LADY, I am a freaking volunteer, I do NOT, repeat DO NOT deserve this sort of treatment. We are a free clinic that is severely understaffed and we are working as hard as we can to get through the patients. And because I am a volunteer means that I am giving my time to help you get free healthcare. So why don't you go sit your butt in one of those seats over there and wait until we call your name. Thank you."

I thought you all would appreciate that story.