VENT- Entitlement gone amok

Published

Specializes in med-surg, psych, ER, school nurse-CRNP.

I seriously had to sit on myself today to keep from literally ripping a patient a new orifice.

I own my own clinic, and my hours are clearly posted on both sides of the main entrance door. I lock up 1/2 hour before lunch and 1/2 hour before closing, to facilitate timely breaks (because otherwise you get the straggler trailing in at 5 minutes till noon and then no lunch). This has been in place since I opened and is clearly communicated to all patients who either call or message on the clinic FB page.

So, a patient I had seen one time messaged me last week to ask if their estranged spouse could be seen and a few other questions. I responded and nothing more was said about it.

Today, at 1142, the phone rang and a person who said that they were new asked when we could see them. My front desk told them that we would be happy to see them at 1300. Mind you, we had let a patient out not 2 minutes before and there were no other cars in the lot, so it was not as though a door was slammed in anyone's face.

3 minutes later, the phone rang again, simultaneously with my cell phone alerting a message. It was the one-time patient, who proceeded to hurl abuse at my poor receptionist about the door being locked, even going so far as to ask her if we had locked up early. By the time I got up there, they had hung up but she had the wherewithal to get the name. They went so far as to tell her that they 'had spoken to me personally and I had assured them that we saw pts all the way up until 1200'.

I checked my phone and it was the same person, messaging me ON FB to ask where they could take the spouse, as they had found them 'passed out crying' and then my receptionist 'turned them away'.

I nearly lost my religion. First they lie on me and then they lie on my staff. I proceeded to correct them, inform them that nobody was turned away because we had no idea anyone was even there (they didn't relate that they were calling from the parking lot, wheedle to be let in, anything of the sort), and that I would also be very interested to know when the 'personal conversation' about hours took place because I don't know them from Adam's housecat and certainly have not had any in depth conversations, save for the one about seeing the spouse, during which no hours were discussed.

They're blocked now, but there has been no other contact. Seriously, I guess they thought we didn't talk about who calls and what they say.

Anyone else have ones that think they can just direct traffic and lie on everyone?

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Nephrology, Cardiology, ER, ICU.

Please be aware AN is on the internet and is heavily searched via search engines. Pleas don't post anything on AN that you do not want on the public internet. Per our terms of service:

ALLNURSES.COM is a public site and is indexed by Google and other Search Engines on a daily basis. If there is something you are concerned about being public knowledge, you should not be posting it on ALLNURSES.COM or anywhere online.

We occasionally share posts from ALLNURSES.COM on our Facebook page(s). No personal details are shared. What we share is publicly available on ALLNURSES.COM. We share the link to the page, any image found on the page, and a brief context from the page.

Thanks for your understanding.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

Doesn't look like any personal info was shared and judging by the fact that the op owns the clinic, I'm sure the risk has been calculated. Man do I wish I ram my own show to lock doors a half hour or to ensure adequate lunch and going home I time!

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in med-surg, psych, ER, school nurse-CRNP.

Thank you for your service, Trauma. My Daddy is a veteran as well.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in med-surg, psych, ER, school nurse-CRNP.
Doesn't look like any personal info was shared and judging by the fact that the op owns the clinic, I'm sure the risk has been calculated. Man do I wish I ram my own show to lock doors a half hour or to ensure adequate lunch and going home I time!

I got this idea from a walk in clinic I worked at years ago. They did away with it after I had been there several months and it was a contributing factor to my leaving (I was a new nursing mom and getting home almost an hour later than usual was not conducive to supply) but I implemented it after being open about 3 months and finding that more than a few people have no respect for hours. I personally will not go in a store 5-10 minutes before they close just because I think it's rude. I understand emergencies happen and we allow for that (heck, I make HOUSE CALLS) but a sore throat that you have had all day and then want to come dragging in at 1655 with, nope.

As to the personal info, nope, I learned long ago to not even specify gender. And believe it or not, this incident was not unique. It happens with alarming regularity, as does people calling my Mama or Daddy to tattle when they don't get their way. Lol, people never cease to amaze me, I just get to HANDLE it now, whereas before whoever I worked for usually made me play nice.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

lol hopefully they won't come back

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Rheumatology NP.

Just a thought, because I don't know what is required (or if there are even "rules" around this since you own your own clinic), but...

Could you represent your hours as, say, 8:00 to 11:30, closed for lunch 11:30 to 1:00, then 1:30 to 4:30. Make no mention of "locking up early" so you don't get this kind of issue in the future, or risk confusion. Right now, maybe your hours are 8 to 12:00 and 1:00 to 5:00, but you lock up half an hour early. If you do it the other way, you accomplish the same thing, but take patients all through your stated hours, yet still get out on time.

Perhaps it makes it seem like you work less hours, but I see a lot of doc offices doing these kinds of hours.

(I, too, would have been ripping my hair out in frustration!!!)

Up Vote Up Vote ×
+ Join the Discussion