Letter to clinic-Comments welcome

[frogndprincess]

This is the main body. i have a few other thoughts but i think this is more than enough for them to digest and don't want to go down rabbit-trails. Thanx all.

I’ve been coming to the clinic for sixteen months and have had a chance to interact with the majority of the nursing staff. I realize that being in this specialty brings the staff in contact with every conceivable type and temper of person, some of them with questionable motives and behaviors. I understand how this could make one develop a thick skin and a level of callousness. However, that does not make it alright to treat people in less than a polite and courteous manner. To treat the patient in this manner is bad enough, but to extend that to their family members goes beyond insensitive. To call it rude is an understatement. It is demoralizing and demeaning. In no way should it be tolerated, especially in a service vocation where the majority of the “clients” are in pain. To add to that pain on an emotional level is inexcusable. In fact, in any other office, many of the staff at the clinic would be, and I believe should be, terminated.

PR members- plz examine, review and offer suggestions, thioughts, reactions, and possible errors or edits. thnkx

[Roswell1947]

Find out the name of the Administrative manager
and send the letter to them.
Write "personal" diagonally adjacent to the addressee
on the envelope.
That way, the nursing assistants or others will not dare open
it.

[tirednurse]

@frogndprincess,
I do not know the exact circumstances as to why you are writing the pain clinic a letter. Perhaps you posted it elsewhere but knowing would help to determine if the letter is appropriate or not. I am in nursing and I have always used the motto(what I was taught in nursing school) That pain is what the patient says it is. It is not up to us to judge someone else's pain.

[barkingmad]

This is the main body. i have a few other thoughts but i think this is more than enough for them to digest and don't want to go down rabbit-trails. Thanx all.

I’ve been coming to the clinic for sixteen months and have had a chance to interact with the majority of the nursing staff. I realize that being in this specialty brings the staff in contact with every conceivable type and temper of person, some of them with questionable motives and behaviors. I understand how this could make one develop a thick skin and a level of callousness. However, that does not make it alright to treat people in less than a polite and courteous manner. To treat the patient in this manner is bad enough, but to extend that to their family members goes beyond insensitive. To call it rude is an understatement. It is demoralizing and demeaning. In no way should it be tolerated, especially in a service vocation where the majority of the “clients” are in pain. To add to that pain on an emotional level is inexcusable. In fact, in any other office, many of the staff at the clinic would be, and I believe should be, terminated.

PR members- plz examine, review and offer suggestions, thioughts, reactions, and possible errors or edits. thnkx

@frogndprincess, you are starting off on the wrong foot here. Written like this it will make them defensive. Never start any "complaint" letter with an attack. Start out with the things they do well and how they've made a positive impact on your situation, NO MATTER HOW SMALL THAT MIGHT BE. Then, mention that they seem like they want to do the right thing with their patients but some of their employees are not as sympathetic as others on their staff.

If you come out swinging and tell them they all suck and are mean, you can kiss off using them ever again and they'll just write you off as a drug-seeking junkie with an attitude. Calmness and professionalism wins the day in this type of communication. Remember what your goal is and write to get there.

That said, if you're just writing an FU note and you're never going back have at it. : )

[frogndprincess]

They have made everything crazy. From scripts that can only be filled at 31 days so you always run out to drs not being there for appts then need rescheduling. However, i stayed away from those areas because i don't want this to be about anything except how they treat me as a person, and my family. There is one nurse who is always professional and courteous, and understanding. All the others, and i am not making this up, act very cold, callous, snotty, and they treat me like a junkie. They are rude, they have even made my wife, who is also a nurse, almoxt shake with frustration over their lack of care, both phsical and emotional.
I know, i want to tell them something good about themselves. You are right in that reading this, detached, i see the assult. Bad, very bad. But i really have to scratch my head for something, anything I can say is good about their practices.
The dr are just OK. very wary and always judging, but i get that. it is the nursing staff who is downright terrible. I dread every contact with them. Perhaps, this is better as a letter i never send. I will try to come up with something at least passive, but even that will be a struggle.
Thank you all and plz don't see this as the end. I really want to let someone know. this knid of care is just unacceptable.

[barkingmad]

@frogndprincess, What you're describing is probably applicable to the experiences that 90% of us have had at one place or another and it is truly maddening. Please realize that you are not going to win those nurses over and its a waste to try. What you CAN is talk about the one nurse and give her praise for her NOT being cynical and judgmental. Then you can go on to say how you wish everyone was like her. That way you're not directly condemning the others, just creating a comparison.

[frogndprincess]

that is smart. thank you. BTW-a funny story- see how i lost my license.

[tirednurse]

@frogndprincess,
My suggestion would be to include in your letter about appts. that need rescheduling which in turn leads to running out of medication and being forced to tolerate pain. Many Drs. are becoming less willing to prescribe opioids because of the pressure from insurance companies and many states efforts to cut down on prescription med use. Unfortunately some real people with real pain end up being victims. Many times in my practice I have had to advocate for proper pain relief.

[Shaeger]

@frogandprincess ... Unfortunately I think your letter will fall on dead ears. The nurses and administrative staff of true pain management clinics (as opposed to sports or spine therapy, which is basically the same but market to a different clientele) are generally not the most desirable of job canidates, have been fired from more reputable offices etc. in the past. The management is already well aware of this, and are generally glad to have a full staff. Their attitude will be "then go somewhere else there's always more patients." sorry about your experience... But I'm pretty sure on this one..

[frogndprincess]

Oh that the world full of grace and compassion. I do understand how and why this happens. it just doesn't make it any easier to swallow. especially when i feel that affect not just me but my wife and children.

*This post was auto-merged. The following text was added 4 minutes after the last post:*

Hey, thnkx family. Plz keep it coming. I must go for a whiule but hope to be back shortly. See ya then. Really, y'all...thank you for your support.

[alumni]

Oh that the world full of grace and compassion. I do understand how and why this happens. it just doesn't make it any easier to swallow. especially when i feel that affect not just me but my wife and children.

I'm not clear about what you are trying to accomplish with writing a letter to your physician's practice like this.
Are you comfortable leaving this doctor as a patient and you're just explaining why you are leaving his treatment?
Or are you hoping that your complaints will change the behavior of the nursing staff?

[H20shed65]

Oh that the world full of grace and compassion. I do understand how and why this happens. it just doesn't make it any easier to swallow. especially when i feel that affect not just me but my wife and children.

Hi,
If you are unhappy with the way you are being treated by the nursing staff, you should express this to the Physician in Charge( medical director, normally) first. Often times, physicians are unaware of how their staff treat patients and a good physician would want to be made aware of this. I would also note, that if the majority of nurses in this practice treat you as described, than it's more likely than not this attitude is coming from above and as such, its unlikely that complaining about it will change anything. Had you said you had this experience with one nurse out of many, than complaining might be useful.

I would also add that if you are unhappy with the physician's prescribing practices, you would be best served to find a new practice.

I hope everything works out for you.

[Maskell]

To barkingmad's excellent advice I would only add that the letter lacks focus and clarity. It comes across as a rant.

I don't know what exactly you're complaining about or what redress you seek.

If you're complaining about specific instances of treatment, then these need to be clearly stated as no one can be expected to respond to vague and untargeted accusations against unnamed individuals, let alone fire them as you suggest.

Of course, if your only intention is to blow off steam and let them know what you think in no uncertain terms, then fair enough.

I can well understand where you're coming from.

But as barkingmad said, this is likely to be counter-productive and perhaps lead to even worse treatment.

Above all, you don't want to sound like a habitual complainer (this is not to suggest that you're anything of the sort).

You need to put them off their guard and eliminate defensiveness by beginning along the lines of:

"I have had very good experiences at your clinic and have always admired the staff for the patience and dedication that they bring to an often difficult and thankless job".

See? They're on your side already. That, you can be sure, is exactly how they will see themselves.

Then you go on to state your grievances.

Of course, that approach won't give you the intense emotional satisfaction of firing off a good zinger, but it might actually achieve something far more worthwhile by getting your complaints listened to and taken seriously.

[frogndprincess]

This practice has 5 docs on a rotating schedule so i've seen one twice, anither 3 times, another twice another once, and one never. There is NO doctor patient relationship because the practice, being an inner-city setting, has no memory for anything except those they have formed opinions on. The doc's barely remember me from one visit to the next, if at all.It is the nurses who i struggle with and they remember me and my wife. Because of all the different things that have come up, i am seen as a trouble maker. Their position is "If you don't like it, go somewhere else." Literally, they have told both my wife and myself that very thing.
If I had voiced my concerns as they arose, but i didn't. Now i have 16 mos of pent-up frustration and I feel like the dam ready to burst.
I have been searching for a new Doc but have been scared to step away from this horror because I know the stigma attached to CP sufferers. We are generally taken with much skeptisism and doubt. Should I leave this practice before finding another I would no doubt find myself in a place i don't wish to be.
i have read much here on the marks of a compassionatre doc but as we all know, it's a crap shoot. There are way to many variables, anything from being judged to taken as a druggie. Yes, of course we're addicts, but the term opiod-tolerant seems to mean something more like junkie to most docs.
I must just try. I can't stand this place anymore and even though I am under-medicated, it's WAY better than being un-medicated.

[alumni]

Maybe it would be helpful for readers here if you described some of the specifics that caused the doctors and nurses at this clinic to believe that you are a troublemaker and/or a druggie.
That might be educational for you as well if you are able to begin treatment with a new practice.

[frogndprincess]

I do not believe that they think I am a druggie, personally. But I think that their location, inner-city, brings to them many who would fit that description. In the 16 months I have been with that clinic, before my last visit, 2 weeks ago, I was only ever short on my pills once.
We had gone on vacation and my medicine was packed, not carried on(travel by plane). When we travel I keep my narcotic prescriptions in small zip-locks, never carry the bottles because if they are lost or stolen someone could use that info for their own purposes. This practice has been recomended by travel sites to protect yourself and we have always done this without incident. But this time when we got home my wife didn't check the dirty laundry and the meds went through the wash.
That was August of 2011.
The clinic doesn't allow you to fill your prescriptions until 30 days after you have gotten your last script. This allows for NO wiggle room, you cn't take not one extra pill, because you will run out. Last month the fill date was May 26th, a Saturday on a holiday weekend. The pharmacy was out of the 30mg MSContin and even though you may only use one pharm as per contract, i did try the 3 other local RX's but no one had 60 of them and if you get less than the written amount you forfir the balance, which wold not be so bad if they had say 50, but no one had more than 20 something. So I could not get the 30's till the 30th. Which meant I had to use the 15's (I take 45/2xday) to make up the full dose. So By the time I got my 30's I had already taken 27b of the 60 15's I get per month. I called the clinic and explain. They said OK, you see the doc this month for contract update explain then. Then I called back the following week beacuse I had no way to make the 45mgs work because you can't cut the MS, you must take the pill whole. (Grantred, I could have cut them, but then I would have been in trouble for that, so it was a lose-lose.) My plan was to go in early and have them make up the difference to get my pill count right but they had no openings till the 6th of the following month and my appt was for the 20th so what would be the point. So by then, 26 days into a 30 day cycle, i only had 6 of the 30's left. I tried variouos ways to keep the dose as close as prescribed but there was no way i could just take a 30, even 45mgs just takes the edge off. Anyway, my count was off, which i had alerted them to before hand but the say the have no record of either of my calls even though i could show them the time and duration of the calls plasces to their office and the calls return by them to me. So anyway, now I've been short twice.
Other than that , I have never failed a drug screen or had ANY other med related problems. Yes, I had to reschedule several appts, I don't drive and the clinic is almost an hour away, so round trip with wait time is at least three hrs.I have a problem with the way I am treated and the way they (nurses) talk to my wife and I). It is not about the meds but about the way the whole experience has gone. As i mentioned before, they have made errors in processing, at least three times i can remember which left my without meds and/or having to come back again to have them corrected, or re-written, etc. The service, attitude, manner of the staff has left me bitter andI geuss it shows. That is why the label me a problem, not a druggie, a problem patient.

[Ivy]

@frogndprincess..I can totally understand your frustration!
My Dr. is really great, but it's his nursing staff that drives me nuts! I am suppose to call for any scripts at least a couple days ahead, to give the Dr. time etc.
I don't think there has been 1 time that I have called, that a nurse hasn't called me back questionong why I am calling 'ahead'.
My Dr. is only there like one time a week and they always want him to be the one to sign my script, which is fine and all, but when he isn't there...omg..I know I am in for a nurse that is going to grill me because I am calling a day or 2 ahead! (which is what HE told me to do!)
They act like when I tell them that, I must be lying or something. THEY make me feel like I am doing something wrong when I'm not!

Like I said, there are many times when my Dr. isn't there, so the nurses have to get another Dr. to sign the script, and some of those nurses get really pissed when they have to go out of their way to do that. I know alot of Dr.'s don't like to sign off on another Dr.'s script, but hey, thats their job and I get very upset when there is a problem getting it signed! They must look at my records and see what my Dr. gives me etc., so whats the problem??

I appreciate nurses and all, but I think when it comes to narcotics, they tend to over react!

Hang in there!

~Ivy~

[juniperpansy]

Good but sounds a like a little bt of angry rage

However, that does not make it alright to treat people in less than a polite and courteous manner. To treat the patient in this manner is bad enough, but to extend that to their family members goes beyond insensitive.

It is important to give specifics here (what exactly did they do that was rude?). Which employee(s) are you talking about?
Imagine yourself as a manager here. Is this enough information for them to find and talk to those responsible?

To call it rude is an understatement. It is demoralizing and demeaning. In no way should it be tolerated, especially in a service vocation where the majority of the “clients” are in pain. To add to that pain on an emotional level is inexcusable. In fact, in any other office, many of the staff at the clinic would be, and I believe should be, terminated.

How does this help the manager adress the issue? It just sounds like an angry patient... Your concern may be legitimate... or not. The manager needs more details if they are to investigate the issue.

Imagine you are in the manager's shoes and that you are making the decision. What information would you need to address this issue?

[dayton]

We had gone on vacation and my medicine was packed, not carried on(travel by plane). When we travel I keep my narcotic prescriptions in small zip-locks, never carry the bottles because if they are lost or stolen someone could use that info for their own purposes. This practice has been recomended by travel sites to protect yourself and we have always done this without incident. But this time when we got home my wife didn't check the dirty laundry and the meds went through the wash.

I don't know what travel site gave you that advice, but that seems like a bad idea. If a police officer (or perhaps even airport security) finds controlled meds outside the bottle without documentation, there's a good chance that you'd be arrested and charged with possession. You could probably get it dropped since you could prove that they are legitimately prescribed...but very possibly not without the whole ordeal of going to jail and wasting time/money on legal defense.

So it is probably a good idea to either carry them in the original bottle, or bring documentation with you (like the prescription attachment from the pharmacy). That way, you would not encounter any problems if you somehow ended up being searched.

Even if someone stole your bottle of medication (or documentation), what exactly could they do with your personal info? They would probably know your name, your address, and that you have a prescription for x med at y pharmacy. The only devious thing I could see someone doing in practicality would be trying to get a refill for the meds, and (if that was even possible) they'd probably need to present ID and/or get authorization from your doctor.

[waterlogged]

@frogndprincess dayton is correct. that waqs bad advice. If you get pulled over, for example, and your carring your meds in a baggie, you will most likely go to jail. You will probably get it dropped but still. Also when you are in an airport there signs everywhere telling you to be sure to carry your meds with you (carry on). These folks lose luggage all the time and TSA is always snooping thru your bags and SOME of the baggage handlers have been kinown to take things from luggage. Just some friendly advice.