I am currently seeking surgery and have come upon a troublesome situation. For the surgery I am seeking it requires approval from 5 different healthcare providers. I got approval from 4 providers and was not surprised the 5th provider, who is a dietitian, wanted more follow up care. I did not mind doing more follow up care but I chose not to go with that dietitian, for this post we can call her "Sam". Sam told me several times during the evaluation that she did not read my chart or any of the questionnaires she had required I mail in and most of the appointment was spent with her advertising milk products, even though I told her I was lactose sensitive.
When it came time to schedule a new appointment, my nurse coordinator called me and lightly tried to coerce me to see Sam again. I refused and made an appointment with another dietitian. The day before I was set to make the 2 hour drive to this hospital, the nurse supervisor calls me because Sam has told her to audit my chart because I was seeing another dietitian. She tells me that she is cancelling my appointment with my new dietitian and that I can't just switch providers like that and goes on and on about how she prefers I stay with Sam. I stood up for myself and told her that I would like to see a new provider and it was my right to choose. She then told me that in that case the appointment could not be made with my new provider until 2 more weeks.
I went through the conversation and got really annoyed that the first time I had any contact with this nurse supervisor was her trying to bully me into waiving the right to choose my providers and punish me for not wanting to keep being seen by Sam. I called her back and she did not answer and I left a message saying that I did not appreciate her bullying. The next few times I spoke to her she asked me to come back to the hospital and meet her the new doctor she had hired.
When I went to this appointment with this new doctor, it was just the doctor telling me that because I was mistrustful of the staff I was no longer eligible for surgery. The doctor went on further to tell that I had no right telling the nurse supervisor that I would not see Sam again and that she had heard the voicemail and that I should seek care elsewhere. They had me drive 2 hours so that they could tell me that I could not have surgery because they did not like me because I would not see Sam.
Before speaking with this nurse supervisor and Sam, I had great relationships with all of my healthcare providers and was set up to have surgery next month. The only thing that has changed between that time frame was the nurse supervisor disliking me.
Was it against hipaa for her to share my voicemail and phone calls with the new doctor? Also, I feel very mistreated and want to do something about it, what can I do?
I am so sorry this happened to you! ((Hugs)). Unfortunately, I do not yet have much experience, so I cannot help. I hope you can get this resolved satisfactorily.
It does sound a bit heavy handed with the dietician part. You should be allowed to go to the provider you are more comfortable with if it is an option within the group/plan.
If the practice acts like this it is best to move to some other one. I would not want elective services and follow up if I didn't have comfort with them.
You deal with your social interactions the way you feel is most appropriate and I will do the same. I am uninterested in making this thread a pity party for JBN and I do not feel I was wrong in anything I've said here. If anyone else would like to come looking for apologies on JBN's behalf, beware that you will not find them.
I think maybe how things work in this practice and more specifically for pre-op evaluation weren't properly explained to you. The 'nursing supervisor' is probably actually a case manager, and typically the case manager will coordinate your care including who you see, you can't change that independently, the most you can do is refuse the surgery from that practice all together or follow their rules.
1. What transpired between you and Sam in that initial visit? I see that you were not pleased with her, but what do you think she heard or picked up on in your conversation that may have given her cause for pause regarding your surgery?
2. Did you use the word "bullying" with the nurse supervisor or anyone else at this hospital/clinic, or just when you were venting here? (If yes, then I suspect that may have been a reason for them to push red hot EJECT Button)
In the beginning of the visit Sam stated that is uncommon for her to ever not recommend more visits with her patients, so that may have been a factor but I am not really sure. I do not think I used the term bullying with the nurse supervisor.
Hmmm...do you think maybe Sam got the impression you might not be willing to adhere to her dietary recommendations before/after surgery? Maybe she labeled you as noncompliant (based on your initial meeting)??
I'm so sorry for your experience. Surely, you're as delightful to deal with in person as you have been here on AN. What could they possibly have been thinking when they suggested you pursue your surgery elsewhere?
I'm so sorry for your experience. Surely, you're as delightful to deal with in person as you have been here on AN. What could they possibly have been thinking when they suggested you pursue your surgery elsewhere?
you took the words right out of my mouth... i was trying to come up with a nice way to say this..... lol
Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
Thanks for replying. I read all of my initial agreements and did not sign anything promising to see preferred providers, though this is not an issue because both providers were within the practice and team. I was not belligerent when I told them I wanted to try another provider, and I did not bad mouth the initial provider. Also, please don't assume that because I did not agree with the supervisor that it was automatically me "balking" at her. The supervisor did not call to explain any situation to me. She began the call by saying "Sam saw that you had an appointment with someone else and asked me to audit your chart. You need to make another appointment with Sam" When I asked why, the only reason she gave was because Sam knew me, which was obviously not the case given the only appointment I had with her.
In your previous post, you said you "called her back and she did not answer and I left a message saying that I did not appreciate her bullying." That sounds pretty belligerent to me. I can see how that message could be interpreted that way.
Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
You have been assuming and using "information" that was not in the post from your initial reply, you have effectively created a situation of your own imagination and are replying to my thread hoping it will have some relevance and balking when it does not. One example of this is that you keep stating that they had the right to dismiss me as a patient. I never stated that I had been dismissed as a patient, I said that they told me I was ineligible for surgery. Please use your reading comprehension skills. The only thing that you have had to add to this thread so far that has been useful is that it was not a HIPAA violation. I thank you for that information, but your erroneous assumptions and inapplicable comments besides that are not welcome. If you are not going to post based on the information provided please find another thread to post on.
Another new poster getting snarky when the answers she gets aren't the ones she had hoped to get and/or agrees with.
Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
I thanked JustBeachyNurse for replying, What more are you expecting? You can get into a defensive mode because she may be you friend but the fact is she asked me why I was here and I returned the question. I was not disrespectful towards her.
If you think that I was seeking validation, you have not read and/or comprehended the post. I took no issue to JBN disagreeing with me in any of her comments, only with her making assumptions.
If you truly believe that your replies to JustBeachy were "not disrespectful", I begin to understand the problems you are having with your health care team.
Parakeet
144 Posts
I am so sorry this happened to you! ((Hugs)). Unfortunately, I do not yet have much experience, so I cannot help. I hope you can get this resolved satisfactorily.