Hanging up on me!

Nurses General Nursing

Published

Specializes in Case mgmt., rehab, (CRRN), LTC & psych.

I became incensed at something that occurred much earlier during my work day, so here goes...

I work day shift at a local nursing home and, as a result, I pass medications to 20+ residents during the morning hours. My coworker tracks me down during the med pass, and informs me that I have a telephone call. On the other end of the phone is a persistent employee of a doctors' office where one of my residents is scheduled for an upcoming postop appointment.

She was demanding to receive financial information on the resident. "I'll hold while you get his chart and get me this information," she persists.

I responded, "As a floor nurse, I don't deal with financial information, and it is not in the chart. The financial info and policy numbers for all our residents are kept at the corporate office, which is out of state. All I know is that he's on Secure Horizons and Medicaid. His chart is in another room and is being used by someone else."

"Well, I'll hold while you go to the next room and get his chart," she says.

I curtly replied, "I'm in the middle of passing meds to 20 residents. I'm very busy, and this is not a good time."

She snaps, "You could practice good customer service by calling the office back, and getting me this information within the next 30 minutes!" Then she hangs up.

I became angry, immediately called the doctors' office back, tracked down this employee, and said to her, "Don't you ever hang up on me again."

She said, "Well, you were being rude and practicing bad customer service by stating you didn't know this information. Basically, you get what you receive. Thank you and have a good day."

I reported this incident to her office manager. I fully realize I could have handled this person in a more cordial manner, but I am not a customer service agent, and this person was not one of my customers. In other words, I found her use of the term "customer service" highly interesting. Do people not realize how truly busy we are?

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Specializes in HomeHealth / geriatrics.

This woman obviously needs to learn how to be professional and tactful on the phone . I hope she receives some type of consequence for being and demanding and unreasonable, you stated what you should and that you were busy , she should have called the correct department instead of interfering with your job and time schedule. People like that get nowhere fast in this world being rude does not get you what you need ,being polite and understanding / professional is always the better approach . Hope this finds you in good spirits .....I say sit back and have a wine cooler and just relax:yeah:

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Specializes in Utilization Management.

I call you and I raise you one:

I have an assignment full of isolation patients, and I'm in the midst of a complicated dressing change on an Airborne patient. It's hot, it's sticky, and I'm fighting N-95 claustrophobia, having been wearing the darn thing for almost 20 minutes.

The cell phone rings. NO WAY am I going to answer it.

Rings again. Nope.

Again. I grab it out of my pocket and say, "This is Nurse Angie, and I am doing patient care and cannot talk right now." I hang up and drop the phone.

Finally I get cleaned up, disinfect the phone, and get out of the room. The phone rings again. I answer it. She has the wrong person. I tell her I'm going to get the right person, and she argues with me. I cannot seem to make her realize that she has the wrong person to answer her question, so I get tired of her enunciating the question as if I was hard of hearing, and I tell her to hold. But our cell phones don't have a "hold" feature, so I heard her quite plainly tell her supervisor: "Yes, I've got that same snotty nurse on again and she's terribly rude. Should I report her?"

I wished she could've been in that patient's room with me. The patient had an entirely different viewpoint on who was being rude. :lol2:

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Specializes in Case mgmt., rehab, (CRRN), LTC & psych.

Thanks for listening to my rambling. I really need to let this one go and move on, because I'm assured the individual on the other end of the phone is not going to lose a single minute of sleep over the occurrence.

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Specializes in HomeHealth / geriatrics.

anytime:D:D

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Specializes in Trauma/Burn ICU, Neuro ICU.

Hi Commuter,

What I'm wondering is, why on Earth would ANYONE think that the nurse has financial and/or insurance info? Wouldn't it make more sense to ask clerical personnel?

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People who are not nurses DO NOT understand how busy we are and what all we do!!! I would like to take some of these people and put them in my shoes for a day (and let it be the worst day), but then again I would fear for my pt's life!!!!!! Maybe you should have left her on hold for 30 minutes. :D What nerve!!!! :nono:

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Specializes in Case mgmt., rehab, (CRRN), LTC & psych.
Hi Commuter,

What I'm wondering is, why on Earth would ANYONE think that the nurse has financial and/or insurance info? Wouldn't it make more sense to ask clerical personnel?

The nurse fills so many roles these days. It's ludicrous. . .

We're the concierge, loss mitigation manager, bellhop, customer service rep, waiter, handmaiden, receptionist, secretary, housekeeper, pillow fluffer, shoe shiner, server, travel agent, telephone operator, and so forth.

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Specializes in LTC.

OMG, I saw this post and couldn't believe it, I was in the same situation today! I am a nurse in an nursing home, I have 25 patients. Well today was "doctor day" meaning he came in today, well he had ordered a couple of chest x-rays. I called them in (they come from another city) The tech came in and wanted to know more info about one of the patients, specifically her payer source, and if Medicare her number (I am suppose to memorize everyones Medicare number???!!!) I told her I didn't know, and naturally the chart was not at the nursing desk, so unavailable (now I had just replaced a urostomy bag and wafer for the 3rd time, so a little frustrated) this tech couldn't understand why I didn't know the info and asked me "well aren't you her nurse"? I didn't know what to say!! I was shocked. I must of missed the accounting class in nursing school!!!! (anyways If i was suppose to know that info, I certainly could not remember all the info for 25 patients!!) :bugeyes:

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Specializes in Medical and general practice now LTC.

Have said for years we are jack of all trades and master of none. Sorry you had to go through this, sometimes people just can't understand when you say you can't help them and suggest they ring elsewhere where they should get the right answer.

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Specializes in Maternal - Child Health.

She snaps, "You could practice good customer service..."

It sounds like she had just attended an inservice on "customer service" and the only thing she took away from it was this stupid buzz word (or buzz phrase)!

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Been there, done that too!

We do have some of the financial stuff on the face sheet of the chart. Now...getting to the chart when you are done the hall and then finding a fax or copier is another story.

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