clinic nurses-late patients?? What to do?

[luvbug]

Hi again!! I am wondering if any of the clinic nurses out there have a clinic policy on what to do with you patients who are late. I vented earlier on another thread, cuz I am having THE WORST day ever. It is the day before a holiday weekend, we have on doc out on vacation, and we are SWAMPED. We have this thing called "open access" here-where we have to squeeze people in left and right even if we have a full schedule. Fine and dandy, right? Well, sometimes. But here we are today, with everybody and their brother coming in because they just HAVE to be seen before the long weekend. Not only that, but our last 5 patients have been late!!! My last patient was half an hour late, and offered up no excuse or appology. Am I being fecicious? (unsure of spelling on that :) )I just can't wait for my day to be over, and I am not usually like that. Our lead nurse says we cannot have a policy up stating that if pateints are a certain amount of time late, they may be asked to reschedule. Do any of you have such a policy, and if so, do you feel it helps? I guess the big "fear" of our lead nurse is that it wouldn't be good 'customer service' I beg to differ. I feel that when some patients are late, they make the whole schedule goes downhill faster than a well-greased sled on ice. Then the patints who come after them and are on TIME have to wait, blah, blah, blah. Let me know what you think, I have to tend to another one of my LATE patients.

Sorry if that was too 'snippy' but I REALLY needed to vent

[Nurse Ratched, RN]

Originally posted by Vailgang

The reason I am asking about scheduling is that I used to be the office manager and now that I am "just the nurse" I am trying to make boundaries as to what is a nurses job and what was my manager's job.

I think gathering enough information from someone on the phone to determine or help the doctor or office manager determine whether someone needs to be worked in today is a legitimate part of your job. Ultimately the fallout is going to land on you either way , so you may as well have some input. Were I your office manager, I would certainly appreciate your information, but if you're concerned about overstepping your bounds, go ahead and ask her directly what she prefers or thinks is appropriate.

It sounds like you are in a rough position. Hope your other doc comes back soon!

[luvbug]

oooh, I have so much to add to this, but I think I'll try to keep it to a minimum. Alot of you brought up the pharmaceutical reps getting in ahead of patients. We have an unwritten rule that when it is busy, we may ask them to come back, or we just have them wait as long as it takes, food or not. I really liked the idea of the doctor having to sign some sort of agreement too. :chuckle That is hilarious!! Keeping in mind, though, that they have to see everyone who is in that waiting room. I know, the poor doctor's shouldn't have to work so hard, right? Yeah. (heavy on the sarcasm

Hope you all had a wonderful weekend and have smiles on your faces today!!

[luvbug]

Hi, yes it is me, again.

As nurses, we do get to help decide where to put patients in if the schedule is really full. We have somewhat of an administrative problem, though, in the fact that the receptionists like to schedule things on their own and try to explain later. Not ususally a cause for concern, but whe the issue does come up, it is always on one of the worst days, like when there's a full moon.

It works out ok for the most part, but you still get the patients who are like "I have to come now or I'm calling the other clinic in town" Fun, fun, fun. Customer service, you know