To think staff should LOUDLY call out names in a waiting room?

[Anticyclone]

AIBU to think that if you are the staff member calling out the name of the next person in a waiting room situation, you should call out loudly?

The number of times I've seen a staff member come into a busy waiting room environment with lots of people talking, and literally whisper the name of the next person. Then they start looking around the room accusingly as there is no response and they are forced to shout louder until eventually you hear your name. You then get a dirty look for not hearing the first time!

Please speak loudly and clearly the first time staff members!

In antenatal clinic (I'm a midwife) I shouted someone's name once. Woman jumped up, said yes and came into the room with me. Sat down and I had her hospital notes infront of me.

Started talking about some stuff to her and thought she looked a bit blank. Did her bp, took her handheld notes to write the bp down and it wasnt Mrs Name Id Shouted. Someone totally different!

Drives me bonkers. I am deaf, and every time I visit an NHS clinic, i tell the receptionist that I won't be able to hear my name be called. Does that help? No - they NEVER make allowances, and I ALWAYS have to sit on the edge of my chair anxiously watching what is going on.

Even - especially - at the audiology clinic. I do that one privately now - get given a nice cup of coffee by the receptionist, and the audiologist comes out of his office to fetch, politely, me himself. I don't expect the NHS to run to coffee or even personal fetching, but they could manage the politeness. That costs nothing.

Well, my older sister was busy reading in the ante natal waiting room and didn't hear her name when it was called out. Then she heard, "Will the woman having twins come in now?" She kept on reading. Then the nurse shook her arm and said, "Come on love, we've been shouting you" and my sister said "But I'm not having twins!" "Oh yes you are!" was the answer.

First she knew of it - she was 37 weeks pregnant and her stomach extended into the next town, but she'd thought she was going to get one enormous baby, not two babies (each over 7 lb by the way!)

Those were the days, eh, when a second pregnancy meant you visited the doctor a couple of times and didn't have a scan.

I went to a counselling session every week for depression.

I'd read in the waiting room. She'd scuttle up to me silently and suddenly his 'Joffrey' into my ear. Made me jump every time.

I stopped going. It felt like she was doing it deliberately.

Zipzap My experience wasn't as bad as yours but still made me cross. I signed in at our local GP surgery for a nurse appointment and went to sit down. I waited for ages for my name to be called. 6 o'clock came. I went to the Reception desk and was told that the computer had an 'L' next to my name - meaning that I'd left! All that wasted time sitting there. I was then seen by a nurse even though they were all packing up to go home.....

Now there's a notice on the wall asking patients to go to Reception if they've waited 20 mins after their appointment time.

In my dr the name flashes on screen great for deaf not so good if you can't see it.

Our surgery uses colours & numbers, so if you are Yellow 6 you know that if they called Yellow 7 (on an electronic screen) you had been missed, and if it is Yellow 1 you are in for a wait!
That way no-one knows if you are to see the nurse, GP, midwife etc or what your name is.

KingJoffrey, that sounds horrible!

YANBU

I once spent two and a half hours in a GP waiting room with a screaming newborn on my shoulder waiting to see the fucking HV. It was baking hot and I was dripping sweat and trying to bf DD to calm her because she was so distressed. Other patients brought me water and comforted me when I was crying.

HVs were completely unmoved. They said they had called my name an hour ago and I should have been listening. Bastards.

Totally agree with you. Both times at the Fracture Clinic with the dd's I could barely hear the nurses say her name. I was fretting I was going to miss her being called and having to go back for another long wait to be seen.

Our doctors aren't too bad and it's only a small waiting room. They aren't afraid to holler when they need too. It's hospital waiting rooms I've noticed where the nurses barely move their lips.

I bellow out names. Unfortunately I'm so used to doing it that I forget to tone it down when there's only one person waiting!

I've been told off twice. Once because I happened to stand next to the person I was seeing next in a crowded waiting room. She sternly told me that she was right by me. That's awesome - how was I meant to know that?

The second time was when I didn't actually call a name. I'd seen this elderly lady every week for weeks, so just walked into the waiting room, smiled at her and she followed me. I was stopped by an irate gentleman who wanted to know her name so he could work where he was in the queue!

Found this thread while searching for something else - and I'm so glad it's not just me! If a clinic has an electronic check in, and I've checked in , and 3 minutes later when you (the nurse) call my name and I don't respond - why not call louder, walk around the (large, busy) waiting room calling, until you find me? Eh? Do you really think I'm going to check in and disappear, within 3 minutes? 4 fox sake!

In Walton at my neurology clinic there are large screens in the waiting room and in the cafe. They ping when it's someone's time to be called in to their room and the person's name and the room they need to go to is scrolled along the bottom.

It helpfully shows all the consultants, all the rooms they are in AND just how late their clinic is running.

I waited over 4 hours for my appt and it wasn't due to error, just to it all running very late.

Our GP has an electronic noticeboard. When the GP is ready to see the next patient they press a button and there is a loud beep in the waiting room, then the name of the patient and the GP is displayed on the board.

It's brilliant.

We had a collegue who'd just shout from the door of his room for the next patient, which as the waiting room was round the corner a bit, was not ideal

We had a great excitement one day when we had a new patient by the name of Mr Bastard. ...no b'Stard, no frenchie accents just plain and simple Mr Bastard

...he came out of his room round to reception, where we were all too naughty busy to tell him who it was. :o :o

But you can stand there calling a person, look them all in the eye (we have a small waiting area) and still not a one of them will admit to being that person

or even have someone say "yes" to the name and first name, confirm their address and dob and STILL it turns out that they are not that person ..I make them confirm their details TO me now.

Its also nice when they get your name right. I am red expat, but in my resident country expatrius reddish is a fairly common name. I have missed appointments because i think they cant be calling me because thats not my bloody name!

Another one for audiology/ENT here. The fucking hearing aid repair clinic!

a) We're deaf anyway.
b) Our hearing aids aren't working hence the repair clinic...

Our huge newish hospital has check-in systems on computer screens. The waiting areas for the different departments are all enormous. I took a seat beside one of these screens and spent the next hour helping very elderly and frail patients to interpret the instructions that came up. Most had no idea what to do (touch the screen etc) and tried to press firmly, nearly puncturing it.
The receptionists there are without exception cold and rude. Amazing how they've managed to find fifty or so nasty unhelpful people to work in their receptions. They wouldn't be seen dead helping an old person to check in. They don't even lift their eyes from their computers when you arrive, and merely point at the chairs. I'm afraid I tease them by continuing to stand there until I'm acknowledged. Cows!

Being a retired teacher, I was terribly tempted to repeat loudly the names called by the various nurses, as it was obvious nobody could hear them. I was virtually lip-reading to see if it was me!

Yes, they should loudly call out names. I can't see that the reason for mumbling is for confidentiality. I think that's because lots of people are shy.

Well don't get a job that involves calling out names, then. Particularly in a place where people might be deaf or so bored with waiting that they've nodded off.

We have a display thing that also announces your name in a Stephen Hawking-type way. Not fool-proof.

I once accidentally walked in on the GP while she was still in consultation with another patient after a message had flashed up for me.

Luckily it wasn't an intimate examination, but it was still very embarrassing. I apologised and waited outside.

When I got in, the GP really told me off. At that point my apology turned to anger, because it was her mistake, not mine. I don't know how it works, but I guess she had my name cued up and had accidentally clicked it.

When I left I complained about her to the Practice Manager, pointing out that someone must have messaged me because otherwise I wouldn't have known which surgery to go to. I hadn't asked for an appointment with her by name. I'd asked for an appointment with the first available doctor.

The Practice Manager apologised without actually admitting that the GP had fucked up.

That happened about three years ago. I'm not one to bear a grudge. Oh no.

I always struggle to hear them. And will say really nicely that I could hardly hear them as they called out my name too quietly.

DD has had a lot of appointments in London hospitals where a lot of the nurses haven't had English as a first language. We always know when it's her turn as they come out with a file, look several times at her (reasonably unusual name) and very slowly try out "Little......L-eye-ping.....Wool?????".

The computer generated pronunciations as the orthodontic hospital make us laugh every single time though as they mess up a perfectly straightforward surname.

Nobody can pronounce my surname anyway, so I get used to guessing when it's my turn: despite there being an electronic board at my Drs it is only used intermittently.

The problem with the human Argos screen is that it doesn't work for partially sighted or blind people. And they also have problems when people come out to call a name as though they may be able to hear it they don't know to listen for their name as they don't know the dr or nurse is there iyswim?
A bit of awareness among health care professionals that some people have disabilities would really help!

YANBU. The sonographers at West Middlesex Hospital are buggers for doing this.

At my GP surgery they have organised the waiting room chairs into four separate sections, each by a pair of doors. The GP/nurse can come out and locate their patient pretty easily that way even though it's a large practice.

I had a bleed in my eye and spent 6 hours in the eye clinic (not moaning at all as they fitted me in to a very busy clinic spread over a large area) I was reading and thought I'd heard my name...the DR was a long way away ...I couldn't see that well either!...I made everyone laugh by saying good job it was my eyes and not my ears that was the problem...But I cant fault the care I received at all...and after laser treatment I am fine...