One item that I forgot to put into my upcoming article "The Top 5 Things Patients Want" was that we feel uneasy and uncomfortable when doctors or labs say, "We'll contact you if there's a problem." Meaning that if you don't hear from them everything is supposed to be OK.
Well, I'm sure we all know at least one person who knows one person for whom that didn't hold true. Their results fell through the cracks. Their phone message was left on the wrong machine. Whatever. Mistakes happen. But because they didn't hear anything they thought everything was peachy keen.
It was a pleasant surprise when I started going to Kaiser at the beginning of the year to find that they sent you notification cards in the mail, regardless of result. (Actually, I don't know that's true: what I know is that if everything's fine they send you a card in the mail. Perhaps if things were not fine they would call.)
You might know if you're a long-time reader that I have had a "suspicious" shadow on my mammogram. And that back pre-Kaiser when dealing with my HMO doctor I had to chase around information and results, and it infuriated me.
I had my first mammogram under Kaiser in July. They told me to expect to hear something within 2 weeks, and sure enough I got a little card saying that they still did not think the shadow was cancer, but that I should be scheduled for a 6-month review. They also said they would contact me to set up that appointment.
Yeah, right, I thought. Like that's gonna happen.
I marked the 6-month mark in my calendar, then I counted back 4 weeks and added a reminder to call for an appointment in my To-Do list.
But, no. I actually received a little card in the mail yesterday. They've set me up an appointment at the exact 6-month mark. Done. Nothing further for me to do.
Well, OK. I don't know what to do with this satisfied feeling. So I thought after all the discussions we've been having here about how much medical facilities don't treat patients like customers, I better acknowledge it immediately when one does!
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