Sorry I cannot hear you I'm kind of busy.

[azurelunatic]

So my healthcare provider attempts to provide world-class service. They try.

... They are trying, yes.

Now, I'm one of those people whose ability to take incoming calls from unknown/untrusted parties is significantly variable, but never great. I'm generally completely unable to take calls before I've properly awakened. If something needs to be communicated with complete clarity and without error, telephone is the worst way to do it. Text is far preferable. That's without even counting in the PTSD... (two terrible phone jobs and one ex-friend having an extended breakdown culminating in serious self-harm. do not recommend.) My sleep schedule is terrible, and there's no guarantee that I'll be coherent before noon, even if I'm awake, without a different medication setup than the one I'm currently on.

They have a website where you can ostensibly manage various parts of the information that is distributed to all of the departments which interact with you. You would think that you'd be able to update your name, honorific, and telephone preferences there...

... and you would think wrong.

99% of the departments who interact with me start their relationship by ignoring the note that says NEVER CALL THIS PATIENT, and ignoring the note that says THIS PATIENT'S NAME IS [INITIALS], and calling me at 9am or shortly thereafter, with a cheerful "Hi [wallet first name, mispronounced]!"

So I put in a request that maybe there should be some place on their fucking website where I could manage preferences for things like DON'T FUCKING CALL ME, EVER.


At 4:50 pm on Monday, more or less, my phone rang. It was Member Services, who had some questions, like, who exactly was it who was calling me? EVERY DEPARTMENT EVER. But Member Services and Marketing didn't call me? MY DOCTORS, EVEN WITH THE BIG NOTE ABOUT NOT CALLING ME. EACH SEPARATE MEDICAL DEPARTMENT. But not Member Services? Because this got sent to Member Services. LOOK I WAS JUST TRYING TO SEND A SUGGESTION ABOUT HOW YOU COULD IMPROVE THINGS, WHY THE FUCK COULDN'T YOU EMAIL ME. But email's not secure? YOUR DOCTORS HAVE THIS NIFTY THING WHERE THEY EMAIL OUT A NOTICE AND I LOG IN TO THE WEBSITE AND READ THE MESSAGE. IT WORKS JUST FINE. Oh. We don't have that. WELL MAYBE THEY SHOULD GIVE IT TO YOU.

Apparently eventually I answered all the questions.

... Except then Tuesday, right while I was waiting for an optometrist, THE PHONE RINGS. IT'S THEM AGAIN. WHY ARE YOU CALLING ME; THIS IS IN FACT A BAD TIME; PLEASE EMAIL IT, WHATEVER IT IS.

... And naturally, dealing with the phone call then? Made me actually incapable of dealing sensibly with the optometrist. WHICH IS WHY YOU MOTHERFUCKERS NEED TO STOP FUCKING CALLING ME.


... seriously. When someone has submitted a grievance about PEOPLE CALLING WHEN THE NOTE SAYS NOT TO CALL, who the *fuck* thinks "Oh, I don't understand this ... I should call them to clarify!"????????

Comments

very fucking trying

[vass]

*raaaaaaaaaaaaaage*

If email's too insecure, MAYBE THEY SHOULD SEND A FUCKING LETTER, DID THEY THINK OF THAT?

That is so stressful and infuriating. Boundaries, what are they.

Re: very fucking trying

[azurelunatic]

They do, apparently, send letters about things! But I guess that's not immediate enough.

*growl*

[ankaret]

UGH WHY DO MEDICAL PEOPLE DO THIS IT IS THE WORST.

[jack]

My first thought was, "how do large organisations interact with people who are actually completely deaf, and they can't just pretend to ignore the issues with phone communication". Of course, the answer is, "atrociously" :(

Maybe have an answerphone message that is five minutes of agonised screaming...

[lilysea]

I keep seeing a notice at the local shops etc looking for a volunteer to help an older woman who wants a cochlear implant field phone calls to set up appts etc.

This woman has literally ended up in the situation where she can't get a cochlear implant to improve her hearing, because her hearing is too bad to make appts with the hospital system to get the thing to improve her hearing...

[azurelunatic]

TTY is a thing, apparently. I had been looking at TTY phones, but I really should not have to get an expensive assistive device when email exists.

[shehasathree]

I often think about this, too. Unfortunately, I suspect the answer is generally "pretty badly" (although I also suspect that people might be a bit more inclined to feel bad about it when the accessibility is pointed out? But I'm not Deaf or HoH, so I don't actually know.)

[kaberett]

FOR CRYING OUT LOUD.

[azurelunatic]

ALSO FOR YELLING OUT LOUD WHEN THE PHONE RINGS YET AGAIN FOR SOME ENTIRELY BULLSHIT REASON.

[lilysea]

Oh God. I am so sorry. :(

I'm not functional before noon, and I have to turn my phone on silent when I go to bed, because All Medical Receptionists Everywhere seem to want to phone me between 8am and 9am..

[azurelunatic]

I do that too. Partly because I have texts coming in at all hours. But partly because business hours start well before I'm capable of human interaction, and it's impossible to train everyone...

[alatefeline]

Well fuuuuuck.

[shehasathree]

omfg, i LOATHE all the things you describe. which also happen to me more often than they should.
*all the empathy*

[silveradept]

There does not seem to be proper information sharing going on between departments. Also, I think it's safe to say that nobody actually reads suggestions before engaging their scripted actions, or they would know not to call. Which doesn't bode well for them actually implementing suggestions.

[azurelunatic]

Oh, it gets better. Some of them have read it and have blatantly ignored it. I have asked.

[kareila]

As far as enforcing boundaries goes, is muting the relevant numbers on your phone a possibility? That would let you see you have a missed call from them, but it wouldn't ring and demand your attention.

(This is my "trying to be helpful" face; if suggestion is not in fact helpful please forgive and ignore!)

[azurelunatic]

It would be more helpful if it were the same number each time. But each department needs separate training, and each department has a separate number. And after they're trained, most departments are okay. It's just that the training is an unnecessary burden on me, that should have been taken care of centrally.

I can mostly manage it on good days. Yesterday involved four separate planned interactions with medical people (all routine), and thus my ability to cope went out the fucking window. Thus the complaints. (I have lodged a separate grievance, about the handling of the first grievance.)

[alexseanchai]

D:

[teaotter]

... they called because you complained about phone calls. That. I don't even have words for the levels of bullshit that is.

[azurelunatic]

The first complaint was a suggestion, which got thrown into the grievance process.

The second complaint, about the handling of the first complaint, is *damn skippy* a formal grievance. Because I was in fact that aggravated.

[inoru_no_hoshi]

Aaaaargh. D:

[azurelunatic]

I KNOW, RIGHT???

My hope is that me going through this is going to make life that much less terrible for someone whose issues are worse and whose ability to cope is less.

[birke]

People have absolutely no clue why anyone would have a real problem with phone calls.

[azurelunatic]

There are the days that it's totally fine! And then there are the days that one phone call results in several hours of utter inability to cope with all the other things, because there are enough of the other things that everything just got completely destabilized.

[sithjawa]

I regret to say that I've come to the impression that "Actually Reads Chart, Even To Determine Life-Threatening Allergies; Then Actually Follows The Instructions Therein" is a *rare luxury* in the medical world. >_&;lt;

(Then physicians wonder WHY PEOPLE WOULD GET ALL UPPITY And DEMAND TO KNOW MORE ABOUT THIS DRUG that they can't be guaranteed you didn't cross check with their allergies so they have to do it themselves BEFORE TAKING IT)

[azurelunatic]

*large hammer*

[mathemagicalschema]

aaaaauuuuughh.

moreso than any other profession, healthcare seems rife with requests for information from patients that are never ever used, and which the patient must painstakingly repeat to every individual they have to interact with, often multiple times, and often while feeling disoriented, fatigued, anxious, or in pain.

[azurelunatic]

And THEN, when I was grousing about it to a third party on Twitter, their Helpful Twitter Account offered that I could DM them my phone number so that specific rep could ... GIVE ME A CALL TO TALK ABOUT HOW THEY'RE FAILING ME.

I have asked them what about my tweet suggested that a call would be appropriate.

[asciident]

I'm in a job where we have to call people a lot. And are trained to prefer phone calls because our verbal advice/education is not binding, but our written advice/education is.

I have yet to come across an account that made it very explicitly clear that calls aren't acceptable, but it would be interesting. Of course we can write things, they just end up very carefully worded and sort of vague "if this..." "may be..." kinds of things.

Anyway, I'm sorry your medical provider is being so obnoxious. It just got me thinking out loud about my job. Younger members of the public seem surprised we are still so reliant on phone contact (and kind of annoyed when I can't just email them stuff! have to go through our secure email/message system).

[shehasathree]

It's not just the actual issues with hearing and processing the phonecall itself, either, it's often also very useful to have a written record of communication. (Which, come to think of it, might be part of the reason why some organisations are so reluctant to email.) I once played phone tag with a particular doctor for *two* weeks and about 6 phonecalls before i finally got through to them about the...time-sensitive issue. /o\

[pauamma]

:-(

Well...

[ysabetwordsmith]

It simply shows that they don't care about people. Mine can't even remember to check what things I'm allergic to.

[alanj]

Forgive me for asking the obvious, but why do you answer phone calls from unknown numbers? I generally let voicemail take it, Google Voice transcribes the message, and then I read the transcription and text or email a response.

[azurelunatic]

On a bad day, just having my phone handle the call will disrupt my day significantly, doing exactly as you describe.

"Hi [walletname], this is [person] from Kaiser [department]. Give me a call back at [number]" is not a useful message. It takes educating them that no, really, the phone is the worst way to start things, for them to actually follow up with an email via their (fucking) website with useful information.

I have also recently been dealing with some medical stuff where a prompt turn-around time is essential, and most of the interaction has been with departments where email is a bottleneck. So because I don't want to significantly increase my chances of dying, I will sometimes answer (650) calls, even when they're unknown.

[alanj]

"IS THAT THE WAY YOU LIKE IT, MR. BEEBLEBROX?"