To think that Doctors receptionists shouldn't have a medical opinion?!

[jazz412]

Now I am making a HUGE generalisation and I'm sure that not all doctors receptionists are opinionated and rude BUT.. any I've ever come across are!

For example, my first visit to our local practice, I asked to see the doctor and she (receptionist) asked why! Now I did think that medical information was confidential however I chose to tell her "I'm pregnant and would like an appointment :)" she asked how far along I was and when I told her 6 weeks she announced that he wouldn't want to see me because I wasn't over 8 weeks and there wasn't any point.

hmm I did think people went to the doctors if they were pregnant... oh well I will have to wait oh just remembered please could I have the flu injection?

to which she scoffed and told me I couldn't until I'd seen the doctor/midwife (!!) I said ooo catch 22 really isn't it... so what I've read about pregnant women being at risk and to get a flu jab if they can (1st baby so perhaps irrational at this point) is all a load of rubbish? I moaned that as there is a lot of flu around me at the moment I might just get it and DIE. (I was pointedly hanging around waiting for her to book me with someone by now!)
she then rang the nurse for a "second opinion" (I would call it a first opinion as I wasn't aware of her medical training... ) and said " you can't give a flu jab to a pregnant one who hasn't seen m/w can you?" The nurse obviously replied to the contrary as I was asked grudgingly to wait for 5 minutes and she would give me a jab

Now am I being unreasonable or was this in fact none of her business and the doctors/nurses opinion is the one I wanted not the receptionist?! (I'm not putting down receptionists as a whole - I was one!)

Rant over :o

I am a Doctors receptionist. It's a thankless job, we get told what to do all the time by the Doctors and I personally never assume that I know anything medical. In fact, my most used phrase is 'I don't know, I'm not medically trained'.

I like to think I am pleasant and approachable, but I agree, there are some proper old-school battleaxes in the job!

I used to be a veterinary receptionist and i did veterinary nursing too, i wasn't a qualified nurse, but had a lot of veterirnary knowledge, also a degree in biochemistry. I always asked clients what their appointments were for in order to assign them the most appropriate appointment. It is not neccesary to see a vet in order nails clipped, wormed, teeth examined, follow up appointments etc. Alot cheaper to see the nurse! I would often have clients phone in and ask for an appointment later in the week in order to tell me the symptoms and me being err, no, we need to see your pet now, yesterday would have been better but bring it straight in. The vets would like to have some idea of what the animal was being seen about too.

This is avery different to a receptionist in a doctors though. I get very cross if they ask me for sypmtoms etc, if i am asking for an emergency appointment, if i SAY it is an emergency, take my fucking word for it and give me the next available appointment, please! This always happens at my mums surgery the women are like disgruntled rotweillers. AT our practice they are lovely and fall over backwards to get you seen if you need to be and i do feel sorry for them because there are limited appointments.

When i worked at the vets i got lots of greift because if the vets had clients they didnt want to see they would be making all sorts of gestures to show tha i would be in deep do do if i gave them an appointment and i would have to tell blatant lies, i hated it - one day i said, im terribly sorry Mr XX cannot see you as he is wanting to go and play golf!! The vet practically exploded!! We had quite a volatile working relationship but i soon put him in his place, those pain in the arse clients help him pay his subscription to the very expensive golf club so suck it up and do his job with good grace!!!

mrsFruitcake I'm sure you're lovely and wish you were the receptionist where I live! I understand that it can be a hard job (I used to be a receptionist so I know you have to deal with horrible people :)) BUT you are unfortunately in the minority in my experience! Out of interest, what are the main backgrounds of the receptionists you work with? You would think that they should have a wealth of experience dealing with the public as in a doctors surgery they're dealing with sometimes the most vunerable of people and from all walks of life but how much experience do they actually have?
From what I've seen not a lot!! or interestingly too much and hate the public!
xx

RustyBear Sun 23-Jan-11 08:56:14
"Slhilly - no, it doesn't imply it, you inferred it. As you did the snideness in my comment."

This sounds a bit like a debate over who has authority over a piece of writing, author or reader. Whether your comment to me was intended to be snide or not, it certainly felt snide to me as reader.

Wish there were more like you, MrsFruitcake!

I have seen the gp b4 8 weeks when spotting and been refered on to the early pregnancy unit for scans. With my non spotting pregnancies there really wasn't much point in seeing a GP.

When i was about 8 months pregnant and looking mightily like a beached whale i went into my doctors surgery to make an appointment with the midwife and the conversation with the receptionist went a little like this

Me - Hello, can i make an appointment with the MW please?
R - Are you pregnant?
Me - yes
R - Are you sure you are pregnant though?
Me - Yes (gesturing towards beachball like midriff)
R - But have you done a pregnancy test?
Me - Yes, and i've had blood tests...and ultrasound scans
R - And they said you were pregnant?
Me - Yes, can i make an appointment please?
R - With the midwife?

Could possibly have been the pregnancy hormones at work but i could happily have bashed her in the skull with her own bell.

looblylu LOL :) this is how I felt....

YANBU - never been asked what's wrong by my GP receptionist but would be happy to tell them that was what I needed to establish with a Doctor.

They do ask what you want an appt with the Nurse for which is totally different and entirely reasonable.

With one exception, they are rude and unhelpful. They have conversations with each other about someone who is on hold on the phone (including name and address) with little regard for confidentiality.