And Once Doctors Made House Calls?...

[Superbob]

A commentary on the (im)personal nature of modern medicine:

I got an automated phone call the other day telling me it was time for my cardiologist checkup and I should call them to make an appointment. So I called the next morning and got a voice mail message from the appointment secretary, and I left all my contact info. No one called me back.

So I called again the next morning, and the same thing: left the contact info but no one returned my call. Finally, I got in the mail three days after the robo-call an appointment card that gives me the date and time for my appointment (apparently they assume that just any day will have to suit me) and not even any kind of note from a human being....

So when I go in May, do you think I will see a real cardiologist, or maybe it will be a robot?

 

[Ross]

Let us examine this for a moment. May is two months away x the current rate of medical discoveries / rate of new technology.Hmmmmmm, I think it'll be a bot.

 

[hensylee]

my cardio comes to town from Pensacola, once a week, same day and only afternoons. I go every six months; then they mail my new appointment later that week when they are in their own office. I always know what day of the week it's going to be and that it will be a p.m. hour. A day or so before the next appointment, I get a robot who reminds me of when the appointment is. If I miss that call and don't remember on my own, I'm outta luck.

 

[sue943]

Your doctors don't make housecalls? I don't go much on that. We can have a housecall, it costs money as in Jersey all GPs are private. People on very restricted income, normally older people, get it free along with all doctor visits and medication.

When I had my stroke my GP came to my house on the Saturday morning within about half an hour, or it might have been less, I really wasn't up to noting the time.

As for my cardiologist, initially you need to be referred by the GP, then his secretary phones to arrange an appointment.

 

[Wise]

And I get upset if I don't get a returned call the same day. Bob, you are a more patient man than I am.

If your robo-cardio says anything like "Danger, Will Robinson", then you'll know you didn't get the latest model.

 

[geebee]

Bob,

When you go to the cardio you will have to sit in front of a computer. You will be asked your symptoms and the computer will decide if you really need to see the robot.

The robot will take your blood pressure and maybe do an EKG. The the robot will decide if you actually need to see the human doctor.

Have fun.

 

[Superbob]

LOL, I knew you guys would see the humor in this. (Well, maybe not humor exactly, but I knew you would relate to it from your own experiences with the medical world.)

Geebee, the scary thing is, I can actually see something like that happening some day -- pre-checkup by computer. Just keep whittling away at jobs for humans (receptionists, appointment secretaries, physician's assistants, etc), and keep adding those machines.

The strange thing is, when I lived in the populous Northern Virginia/DC area, I could always get the cardiologist's folks on the phone, or they would call me back right away. They were quite helpful about setting up appointments, offering advice, instructions, anything. Now that I live in much more rural western Virginia, where life is supposed to be slower paced and the folks friendlier, I get robo-calls and generic appointments. (The appointment card that came in the mail didn't even say if they're scheduling me for an echo -- I assume they are. Dare I call again to ask? )

Go figure.

 

[PJmomrunner]

I get my appointments from U of M in the mail also. They send them so far in advance I guess they assume I'll work around them.

This link to www.gethuman.com was in the New York Times today and seems relevant to this thread. Along with forums on the subject of customer service, the website maintains a list of customer service telephone numbers and how to circumvent the computer and get a human on the phone. One of the forums is for adding phone numbers. Perhaps we can submit our various cardiologists' offices' numbers if we ever figure out how to talk to humans???