Posted Jul 10, 2008 11:00am

Isn't it ironic that a hospital that advertises it can see a patient that comes to the ER within 30 minutes can't find a bed for a patient that planned a hospital stay over a month in advance! It is now 11:00 a.m. and we were told McKenzie must be at the hospital and ready for her prep to begin at 11:00 a.m., yet they don't have a bed for her. I called around 7:30 a.m. this morning to see when we should come down and they were adamant that I wait for their call. The admitting person assured me that McKenzie's surgery time would not be changed due to this set back. So, either one of three things must be occuring: the doctor's staff lied to me when they said she must be there by 11:00, the admitting person lied to me about the surgery not being changed, or they don't care if the prep is done properly and will do surgery notwithstanding. I don't know about you, but none of those choices make me feel comfortable. Luckily, we had a positive experience at Children's before. Even more lucky is that this surgery is not as complex or involved as McKenzie's other surgeries, so there is probably more leeway. (At least that is what I am telling myself to keep from going to the admissions office right now and telling someone off.)

I couldn't imagine treating my clients in this manner. Either I wouldn't give them a specific time if I knew I couldn't meet one or I would at least call them in advance to notify of a problem. There is no reason I should be finding out about this at 7:30 this morning through my own initiative. I guess that is the difference between someone who gets paid by a third party to the service and someone who gets paid by the recipient of the service.
Melonie