We had to suspend the extracurricular activities the past few weeks, but now everyone has had their penicillin shots and we’re ready to romp again for another Weekend Threesome! No, it’s nothing bawdy, just three random observations and anecdotes from my week that was… none of which will be me whining about how I feel…
While the hospital takes its sweet time sending out bills that require smelling salts upon opening, I did receive the latest rite of passage from any health care experience on Monday… the dreaded satisfaction survey. It was even in the right place at the right time to be used as a SCT prop!
Yeah, that’s it on Mary’s “desk” there…
I don’t take these surveys that they try to ram down your throat pretty much anywhere customer service is provided simply because I know from my years at Mecca that they’re merely used as a way for the corporate big shots who are completely disconnected from the way things work at grunt level to evaluate their employees from afar. And any issues in the survey ARE held against the workers, because they couldn’t possibly be systematic issues from the way the business is run by its leaders.
One interesting thing I noticed on the survey (and you can kind of see it in the image above) is a disclaimer that most of the questions asked are public domain, but three of them are COPYRIGHT to some Dr. Coleman. How in the hell can you be allowed to copyright a survey question!?!? The three exclusive questions concerned how well I understood what my care was supposed to be upon leaving the hospital (Hint: The nurse who handed them to me and led me out of the building never even went through my discharge papers with me)… so if you end up in the hospital, and you receive a survey that asks anything about how well you understood your discharge information, please let Dr. Eric A. Coleman know that he’s being plagiarized…
I can’t listen to your heart, little girl, because some doctor patented that procedure. but I can listen to your thorax…
It is just my luck that my driver’s license expired this year on my birthday (that was last Tuesday, if you didn’t remember), and it’s not my turn for renewal by mail…. meaning I actually have to get my new license in person at the DMV. The Division of Motor Vehicles in pretty much every state is already notorious for being a clusterfuck where you’re likely to waste most of your day waiting for something that will probably only take a couple of minutes to actually complete. It’s even worse in this era where they still, apparently, have everyone standing outside the building in one of those huge Russian bread lines so they die from heatstroke rather than get cooties. I drove by Tuesday morning with the intent of getting this task out of the way….. and upon seeing the situation, drove right on through the parking lot and back home. I’ll just drive on an expired license if the Secretary of State doesn’t want to make this easy…
But officer…. the line was too long!!!
And with this post, I’ve now posted all seven days this week! That’s probably the first time I’ve posted seven days in a row since last year’s SCT Advent calendar… which speaking of, I need to come up with a theme for this year’s feature. Hey, it’s never to early to be thinking about the holidays…
Better get the squirreldeer’s nose charged up…
Evil Squirrel's Nest 
Ah ha! That Dr. Coleman dude is probably the hospital system’s ATTORNEY and his copyrighted questions are the ones that – if answered in a negative way – might indicate that the hospital system COULD be open to a lawsuit for inappropriate/inadequate care (i.e, no discharge instructions given). Yep – having worked for two hospital systems in my time – and knowing how many lawyers they have dictating their every move (“Dr. SO and SO you must not spend more than two minutes on greeting your patient or it could be construed as inappropriate contact!”). OK – so I’m exaggerating but I think we all agree we’re just glad the Squirrel is back in his nest after his harrowing medical experience.
Pam
Oh, I can just imagine. And as much as I might like to see my day nurse from the last two days I was there get in hot water for being invisible and completely non-helpful, even that can’t get me to fill out their nosy little questionnaire. Why don’t you come down from your little legal desk and see for yourself what kind of care I’m getting!
I’ve never had to do a satisfaction survey after being in hospital—then again, I’ve never been billed for a stay either, being a Canuck and all. But I see the DMV (ours is called Service Canada) both here and where you are is exactly the same. I had to take my daughter to get her passport updated last week and it was over an hour standing outside—and there was only one person in line ahead of us!
Sounds wonderful! I think my eventual prison sentence for driving on an expired license would be less time than I’d have spent in line getting it renewed…
I get those ‘satisfaction’ surveys from doctor’s visits, no hospitalization required. I get them on-line though, and depending on my mood may or may not acknowledge that I got the damned thing. The last was from my eye doctor’s office, which got a less than satisfactory rating. I did show up early to my appointment, found it was roughly the temperature around the surface of the sun outside their building, so I availed myself of the free air conditioning inside and went in to wait. I’ve had that early arrival mentioned to me four times.
I wore my mask FFS, I sat as far as possible away from other patients and I kept my mouth shut. Until it got to be thirty minutes PAST my appointment time. Things got a bit vocal at that point. And so the less than satisfactory ‘rating’ on the survey. Don’t ask if you don’t want it told is my opinion. My sympathies on the DMV. I do believe that next year on my own entry into reality all those years since, that I have to renew too. If I have to GO there, I hope they at least have hosed the %$#!@ place down with some allegedly effective disinfectant. The number of dimwits up here who won’t wear masks and aren’t vaccinated is huge. It’s a hazard to my health…. I hope your license is now renewed. You do know that you have to show up at the damned place (DMV) two hours early to get a good spot in that freakin’ line, right?
After you get to be a certain age in Arizona, you have to pass a vision test which means you have to show up in person. You have to pass before going through the other rigamarole and get your picture taken.
They do the vision test here in Illinois right from the get-go. I couldn’t see the line of letters they wanted me to read when I was 21, and they still passed me. You have to take it again any time you renew in person (at least every 8 years)… one of these times, they’ll fail me out of spite.
I don’t think I’ve ever had a satisfaction survey for medical treatment, but on the other hand we don’t have to pay either so we can’t really complain…
You should get a UK driving licence. You can do that online!
Must be nice! Who should I apply to for my license, the Queen? And would I have to drive on the left side of the road?
Yes, address your application to “Her Maj, Buck House”.
Ugh…the DMV-the great equalizer when it comes to humanity. It treats everyone with the same disdain. Almost makes you feel like you’re on the same level with your rich, arrogant boss who has to wait in line with you. Almost. 😈 Here’s hoping you can dodge the coppers until you’re able to be in line at the crack of dawn.