Hanging up on me!

[TheCommuter]

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?

[Daytonite, BSN, RN]

TheCommuter. . .I understand your anger. I worked in a number of nursing homes and the calls you get are relentless. One facility made us carry a remote receiver so we didn't miss any calls coming through to the nurses station. I would have just curtly told this clerk that the chart was not around, probably being used by someone else in the facility and why don't you try calling back later or call the business office. When she demanded I get the chart while she stayed on hold, I would have probably done just that--put her on hold and gone back to work. When, or if, she called back I'd tell her the same thing (assertiveness 101--repeat your statement) and put her back on hold if she was that stupid. At some point she should "get it" that she needs to deal with the office people and not the nursing staff. You gotta have some fun with these kind of people on the phone because you can't make crank phone calls anymore.