Dear Military Healthcare Process,
I noticed my 4 year old son's eyes were severely crossed last night. I called the nurse hotline and waited more than an hour for someone to call me back. Oh, did I mention that when I called the nurse hotline the connection was quite choppy (not on my end, but on your CSR's end)?
So, the nurse calls me back and tells me to make an appointment with pediatrics. I call at 7:30 and am told there are no appointments for today with my child's PCM (primary care manager). I'm told I should call at 6:30 a.m., if I want a same day appointment. (Here's where I would normally insert - Seriously? - but I'm sure you are dead serious. Dead.) The CSR sends me to the nurse hotline. I give my information, and here we are.
It's more than an hour later, and the nurse hotline ... which again had a choppy connection and promised to call back in 25 to 30 minutes ... still hasn't called back.
My husband called you. You gave him an 8:20 a.m. for tomorrow. Not good enough. My kid could be blind by then.
My husband called the pediatric's desk (which I tried to call, but only got a busy signal). They said they would see my 4 year old at 1 p.m. and just to see if he needs a referral off-base. Because, you know, a lot of doctors in town will have appointments available at 1 p.m.
Listen, you rotton assholes, all I want is 15 minutes of someone's time to look at my child and access the situation. Why did this happen suddenly? Is it getting worse as fast as it appeared? Is he going to go into a stroke or seziures? If not, can't we just go see a freaking eye doctor already? (Oh, yes, I called the eye doctor and he said they can't see him without a referral from him PCM ... you know, the PCM that never has any appointments open. I told the guy at the eye doc's office, "So, tough shit then, huh?" He said, "Ma'am, I didn't say that. It's a different Air Force now, that's the most polite way I can put it.")
10.14.2009
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If his eyes stayed crossed.....or anytime you percieve it to be that urgent...just go straight to ER or urgent care clinic down town (I really liked the one on Kell...care clinic not the hospital) I know it sucks...really sucks. But we can't let something become worse because of thier messed up system. In this situation, if questioned why I didn't get permission/ok before going, I would've said I thought he was having a seizure. Or, when the advice nurse finally calls back, tell them you think it's urgent enough to be seen immediately...sometimes they will give the "ok." I have known some moms to stretch the truth a little to get "permission" to have their kid seen. We shuoldn't have to do that, but we all know there are times when they need to be seen sooner than the crappy system "allows." The times that I have gone without the "ok," I haven't gotten in trouble or told had to pay for it. I can't believe the nurse line didn't send you. Oh wait, one nurse lady on that line also told me once "You must stop nursing immediately. Pump and throw away the milk." Because I had a fever of 100. Huh? I said, "why in the world would I do that?" her reply, "Because any time a mother has a fever, the milk is bad and must not be given to the baby." I lost ALL respect for the nurse advice line after that!
ReplyDeleteHow much longer will mainstream providers continue to be so ignorant about breastfeeding?
ReplyDeleteI have gone a couple times before getting the "OK" from the nurse hotline.
I try to play by the rules, but the process gets worse and worse every month. You know, this is something that could have taken all of two hours of my day ... but instead it took eight. If it was up to them, and my husband and I weren't pushing through their BS, it would have taken a week. It's wasteful of everyone's time involved and is getting in the way of more proactive care.