Because of the Covid-19 pandemic, medical organizations have had to scramble to adhere to CDC guidelines to ensure patients are kept safe. Not an easy job, and it’s been more important than ever to keep patients at the forefront of our attention and care while adapting to new office policies and procedures. A colleague recently shared the following story with me.
Real World Story: “I was recently diagnosed with high blood pressure and put on medication to lower it. My doctor didn’t know how I would react to Amlodipine, so he started me off with a median dosage of 5MG because a higher dosage could cause too low a blood pressure and a lower dosage would not make a difference. It would take some time and constant blood pressure measurements to find the right dosage, which I was to combine with regular exercise.
“Things started of swell for about a few days. I was now walking and light jogging one mile and a half, five days a week and taking my medication. My blood pressure measurements showed a lowering blood pressure. But then my blood pressure dipped to 50/70, nearly one-third of where I had started! I started to feel dizzy and drowsy, so I tried to contact my doctor immediately.
“My doctor has always told me to email him if I ever needed to reach him quickly, so I sent him a message with all the blood pressure measurements since I last saw him. I explained that now my blood pressure was too low and I was having symptoms. Should I stop taking the medication, I asked. No response after 24 hours.
“For the next two days, I tried calling his office to get in touch with his nurse. Because I’m with a major hospital group and Covid has changed many policies there, my calls went directly to customer service. Customer service tried connecting me to my doctor’s office, but I kept getting cut off.
“I never did reach my doctor, but I did notice one night that on my patient portal, I was given an appointment for two weeks from when I initially emailed my doctor. Although I had an appointment, I was never emailed or called about this appointment or with an answer to my question. I have stopped taking my medication and am now up to two miles of walking and jogging five days a week, and my blood pressure measurements have never been better. But I do wish I had received advice from my doctor when I truly needed it. This situation could have ended in a very different way. Thanks to the heavens it didn’t, at least so far.”
Strategies that Turn it Around:
- Honor your word. If you tell patients to call you or email you with any problems with a new medication or procedure, then answer them back as promised.
- Take ownership. If you have a patient with a serious question, don’t pass the buck on to someone else. And whatever you do, always communicate with your patients, so they aren’t left guessing what comes next.
- Make patients a priority. Yes, it hasn’t been easy to adapt to interacting with patients because of the Covid-19 pandemic. Things are much different now, but they shouldn’t be so different that we lose staying connected to our patients.
Remember: People want to feel like they matter. They want to feel cared for, important and connected. Let’s not lose that connection just because our office policies have changed.
What do you do to ensure that patients can reach you easily when they really need to?