Please be your own medical advocate

[Kay H Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Kay H]

You won't believe how many medical errors and problems have occurred to me from April 07 to July 25, 07.. First I wore a Holter monitor for 24 hrs. The technician who set up the monitor programmed it wrong so my results were recorded incorrectly. All the recordings marked PM were AM and vice versa.

Secondly I had a thyroid uptake test done. The radiologist recorded my results with some nodules on left side and some nodules on right side. Wrong. All are on right side.

Next I was sent to see a specialist out of town and my medical records were supposed to be sent up ahead of my visit. Only 1 of 3 records were sent so visit was almost a total waste.

Next I received a call from my Dr's office to reschedule an app't due to Dr being unavailable at scheduled time. Before I had a chance to call and reschedule, someone from same office called to confirm original app't. When I told her I had to reschedule, she checked with someone else and said to keep my original app't. A few hrs later the 1st person who called called again and said they were waiting for me to reschedule my app't. I did.
Do you think I'm frustrated yet?

It took 3 phone calls and 3 personal appearances to get records which were not sent 1st time to be sent for next out of town visit. What they gave me is reports of tests, not tapes of tests which MD wants.

My out of town visit is next week so I call receiving office to see if my records have arrived. I am told no.

Call sending office to ask where tests are. They are now thoroughly annoyed with me and show it in their tone of voice. They call Fed EX to track records. They tell me date records were sent, time they arrived, name of person who signed for them and what package contained. I call receiving office and they will return call when they find records.

Return call says they can't find records and to please give them the phone number of sending office.

If anyone does not believe this, I can see why. I hardly believe it myself. By the way, I'm the one who discovered all the errors.

There is no reason for me to keep my out of town visit if they don't have my records. I am going to continue to be a PIA until people start doing their jobs correctly and get MY medical records written correctly and where they are supposed to be. I am so upset that I could scream. I am going to call receiving office daily until they locate my records. They all screw up and I have to suffer and sort it all out for them.

I advise everyone to keep track of all medical tests and results. If I didn't my records would still be inaccurate.
__________________
Kay H

[wackymother Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close wackymother]

You are absolutely right, Kay. I am always telling friends and family that today YOU have to be your own advocate for your health care. It is sad that you have to chase your doctors to make sure they pay attention to your concerns and provide appropriate care.

[3kids4me Super Moderator and Super Mom Find all posts View Profile Close 3kids4me]

One thing I always, always do...whenever blood is being drawn for me or one of my children. I always request that a copy of the results be faxed directly to me from the lab. I write it right on the doctor's prescription. I like to keep all of my own results, so that I can give them to whomever I like and also read them myself. Any doctor who doesn't allow me to do that is promptly fired.

Sharon

[grest Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close grest]

Kay..what a frustrating mess, and a really good reminder.
Connie

[riverdees05 Platinum Contributor Find all posts View Profile Close riverdees05]

Unreal! Sad state of our medical system. We are the best, just think how bad it must be in other countries. Maybe if they taught the 4 Rs in school and people were held accountable, things would be better.

[dougp26364 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close dougp26364]

Working in the medical field I can completely believe and understand this. Over the last 14 years things have become unreal as far as the stress and unbelievable amount of paperwork. They seem to think the way to avoid problems/errors is another piece of paper.

10 years ago when I admitted a patient, I had one tri-fold admission sheet to fill out for the patients medical history. Now, thanks to the many powers that be I have an 18 chapter medical computerized medical history that has to be entered, a home medication list that has to be completed even though the emergancy department has filled one out before me, a flu/pnuemonia vacination form, a HIPPA form giving a password so we may actually talk with family on the phone about their loved one, and a deep vein thrombosis form to document risk of DVT, if you smoke a form about smoking ceasation and of course the visiting hours guidline card and paperwork as well as the patients rights and responsibility form.

BTW, case management now has to give pt's not one but two notices of dismissal and, if the pt objects, there is an appeal process that we must go through. The first notice of dismissal is required at the time of admission.

Still, mistakes are on a snowball rolling downhill pace. Why, no time to actually do the work your suppose to be doing and a lot of experienced people have left the field where I live. For the new ones it doesn't take long to figure out there may be better ways to earn the same income. When I started I was precepted by nurses that had 10 to 25 years experience. Today new nurses are precepted by nurses that may have less than 1 year of experience and it's getting worse. Persently I work in Cardiac Intensive Care. Because of lack of nurse and especially experienced nurses, we are not only trying to orient our new nurses but the new nurses for the Post Cardiac Surgical Unit. Granted they are both cardiac patient but there are vast differences between the pre and post surgical patient care. So you nurses that are largely inexperienced trying to teach completely inexperienced nurses how to take care of patients that they won't be taking care of, then turning them loose on a completely different patient population where they are quickly over their heads.

Now complicate this by families that are well aware that there are problems. While they may be well meaning they often slow me down even further by feeling the need to ask or inquire about the most insignificant of detail or complain because I was unable to provide their family member with a glass of water within 5 minutes despite the fact I was knee deep in a mess in another patients room. I finally had to tell one poor family that until either I successfuly got another patient back to bed or they quit hitting the call light before I had a chance to read the chart, I'd never get them the information they wanted. I had no more stepped out of the room to go get my other patient off the bedside commode when they hit the call light again. I was within speaking distance when they did this. Frustrated yes. We both were. There loved one was in the hospital and they wanted answers the doctor hadn't provided. I had a patient on the pot that was getting frustrated about getting back to bed and I was frustrated because I was spinning my wheels getting nothing accomplished while other patients were also getting frustrated because I wasn't attending their needs or passing their meds on time as expected.

There's a LOT of issues I have with the delivery of care in this nation. A little less legislation and a lot more cooperation would help the situation but, that's not going to happen. Instead we'll get more legislation trying to force cooperation which, in the end, only generates more paperwork designed to create the illusion of accountability which leads to more frustration on all sides.

To be honest, I haven't got a clue where the answer lies. The other day I reminded another nurse that before she noted the orders off, she must make certain they are done. Noting the orders indicates that those orders have been checked and completed. The snide answer I got was it wasn't necessary, they trusted the unit clerk and she didn't have time to check each and every order. The next shift comes along, see's the orders have been noted and moves on. An overnight oximitry test was missed two nights ago because the orientee noted the orders and the preceptor told her just to note them off, not to check to see the orders had been entered correctly by the unit secretary. FWIW, it was one of the few experienced nurses on the floor that was precepting the new nurse. It wasted another day in the hospital for the patient.

[Beaglemom3 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Beaglemom3]

DougP,
I'm with you, Boo-Boo. You have summarized it very well. This is one of the reasons I am hanging up my stethescope for a law degree. It's terrifying, at least to me, what/how/who the new grad RNs know. When I went to school, it was because you wanted to do this work. Then came the shortage as no one wanted to do this work. And now, many go into it for "job security".
As an NP, I did a good job, but was tharwted too, too many times by the "front desk" doing things as described aptly by Kay H. I would never encourage anyone to go into it, never mind, the 7 years it took me to get a BSN-MSN. Not too many other professions where you can contract a fatal disease, work holidays/nights/weekends/mandated double shifts, get beaten by a combative (or worse) patient, stuck with the wrong needle, get sued for whatever and portrayed poorly in the media. Yes, I've had some of the greatest moments in life from patients, but the price was huge.
Sorry, but I'm bailing. Did it, burnt out after ~30 years. Enough. Uncle !!
Keep the faith. Oh......... and don't get me started on HIPPA !!
B.

[3kids4me Super Moderator and Super Mom Find all posts View Profile Close 3kids4me]

And by the way...what the heck is a "medical assistant" and how much education (or not) do you have to have? Ever single one I have met has been dumber than dirt...I always ask for a nurse instead. One medical assistant we had in the pediatrician's office wanted to do a finger stick to get blood from my son when we was just about to have a regular venipuncture. I asked her why we couldn't just do the venipuncture and one draw for both tests. She rolled her eyes (like "duh") and actually said "well they are for two different things". I told her that they could then use two different tubes. She had to go check with the doctor for that one....

[jericap Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close jericap]

DougP,
....I would never encourage anyone to go into it, never mind, the 7 years it took me to get a BSN-MSN. Not too many other professions where you can contract a fatal disease, work holidays/nights/weekends/mandated double shifts, get beaten by a combative (or worse) patient, stuck with the wrong needle, get sued for whatever and portrayed poorly in the media. Yes, I've had some of the greatest moments in life from patients, but the price was huge.
Sorry, but I'm bailing. Did it, burnt out after ~30 years. Enough. Uncle !!
Keep the faith. Oh......... and don't get me started on HIPPA !!
B.

Don't forget the docs that became upset if you questioned their orders!! (and you were right!)

[Beaglemom3 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Beaglemom3]

Don't forget the docs that became upset if you questioned their orders!! (and you were right!)

Never fazed me - remember the old joke, "What do you call someone who graduates last in his class ?


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Doctor.

[Fern Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Fern]

Kay,
Back to being your own advocate. I went to a specialist's office today. Besides test results and X-Rays, I brought along a computer generated list of all my medicines, their strengths, and how and when I took them. As we get older, we seem to need more meds, and I figured out that this was the easiest way to do this. I keep a list for each of us on the computer, and a small size printout in my wallet. Any time I go to a doctor's I take along a copy, which I give to them to include in my records. They are always happy to see it.

Fern

[Beaglemom3 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Beaglemom3]

Always include any vitamins, herbals, minerals or any other supplements in a list to your PCP.
A good one will always inquire, however, as consumers of health care, the patient is responsible to report other non-prescribed items.
Interactions abound.
B

[Sydney Contributor - Bronze Find all posts View Profile Close Sydney]

Oh Kay! What a pain in the butt. Does it get anyworse than what you've experienced so far?

Kay,
I keep a list for each of us on the computer, and a small size printout in my wallet. Any time I go to a doctor's I take along a copy, which I give to them to include in my records. They are always happy to see it.

Fern

What a great tip Fern. I'll have to remember that one.

[riverdees05 Platinum Contributor Find all posts View Profile Close riverdees05]

I did the same thing that Fern did, for my parents and it takes some time initially to set up, but not a lot of time to keep current, unless there are a lot of changes. It sure beats carry a plastic bag with all their meds to the Doctor's office. I didn't think of keeping a smaller version in my wallet, great idea!

[Kay H Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Kay H]

I carry a list of all the prescriptions and non prescription meds I take in my wallet and my cardiologist asks each visit what I am currently taking. I also always update my dentist and PC Doc.

I always get a copy of my lab test results and medical tests. That's how I was able to find all their mistakes.

The thing that really p***es me off is that the specialist told me to hand carry the test to my next visit (maybe he knew they could be lost) but front desk at cardiologist's office said that I couldn't hand carry it and that they have to Fed Ex it. It contained the disk, pictures and reports from my echo and stress tests. Specialist wanted to see the exact tests, not someone else's interpretation of them.

When I call this afternoon and if they haven't found them yet, I am going to ask to speak with the office manager and ask her how this problem is going to be resolved. I am so angry I could scream!

Re the radiologist who typed up the wrong test results, I sent a letter to his office manager with copies of his results, sent him a copy of the letter and also sent a letter to the State Board of medical exaniners after I had a HEATED discussion with him personally. I think he is glad I am going elsewhere in the future. There is more to that story that I won't even get into.

I figure if all these mistakes happened to me in 3 months, and I'm vigilant and find the mistakes, how many other people have mistakes in their tests and don't even know it.

I'll post the final outcome of my lost medical records!