To Executive Director – Gastro One
First let me say that I had no issues with the medical procedure or the staff. The staff was all friendly and very professional. I don’t know what you are paying the nurse in the recovery area than monitored me, but you should double her salary. She makes y’all look extremely good.
My issue is with your scheduling. Overall I felt like just another widget in one of your profit centers. I would bet a house payment that your bean counters know with seconds the average time and the range of standard deviations from that time for each of your procedures. That fact really leads me to question your scheduling practices.
First, you requested that I show up 30 minutes before my 8:15 appointment “to take care of the necessary paperwork”. Well that took maybe 10 minutes including the interview with the nurse.
Second, I had 2 or 3 phone calls to remind me of the appointment. Each phone call stressed that this time was reserved especially for me.
Lastly, I did not leave the waiting room for the medical area for a full hour after my “specially” anointed time.
I know that society places an economic value on a doctor’s time far in excess of my time. However, to me my time is priceless. Normally in these situations I will not wait on the dentist or doctor more than 30 or 40 minutes. I understand that things arise; procedures sometimes take more time than anticipated, etc. If I had not spent the previous 24 hours prepping I would have been out there after 45 minutes.
My take on the 30 minutes early was so folks would be in the hopper in case the doctor finished quicker than normal. I felt like with me sitting out there for a full hour, you were playing the airline game of overbooking so you would not have empty seats. Or possibly with the combination of the two practices it just kept employees hopping and your bean counters felt like they were maximizing utilization of staff.
My complaint boils down to that I really did not feel like a patient, but just another unit of production.