Or "How many ways can we fuck this up?"
Screw up number 1
Two separate referrals were made to physical therapy for my son. One was for an equipment evaluation for a new wheelchair that's more appropriate for an active 13 year old boy and the other was for basic post-op PT for recovery purposes. Somebody in the orthopedist's office decided that they were duplicates, even though they very clearly stated they were for two entirely different things, and only put through the referral for the equipment evaluation. The error was discovered, the nurse lost her shit on the office staff, and the second referral was rushed through.
Screw up number 2
I get the phone call to set up the appointment for the equipment evaluation. This is a complicated appointment that involves the therapist, the child, the parent and a person from the equipment vendor. They confirm that everybody can be there at the appointed time. I'm still waiting to set up the post-op PT when I go to the evaluation appointment this morning. I get there and start talking to the therapist, who seems confused. It was then that we discovered that somebody at the PT office saw the two referrals and decided that the later one was really the one the ortho wanted, even though the notes very clearly said that the referrals were for two different things and they both required separate appointments. The PT office canceled the equipment eval and called the equipment vendor to say they were no longer needed, even though they really were very much needed. The therapist, upon discovering the error, did what she could to handle both issues, but we still had the problem of the vendor not being there. I've worked with this vendor many times and really like them, so I decided to swing by and see what could be done. I needed to go by there anyway because a month ago we'd swapped out the child's old wheelchair for a bigger one, since he'd outgrown the little one he had. Plus, they are literally only a couple hundred feet off my route home, so it wasn't that big of a deal. This leads us to....
Screw up number 3
I get to the vendor and explain what's going on. They check their records and discover that they never had an appointment set up for an evaluation; not even one that had been cancelled. Beyond that, they don't actually go to the PT's office. Their procedure is to wait until the PT recommends a particular piece of equipment, then call the patient to have them come into their office for the measurements and such. Hmmmm. Interesting. The lady at the vendor gets an idea and calls the other major vendor in this area. Turns out that even though the PT office asked me what vendor we use when I'd initially set up the appointment, they still sent the request to the other vendor, and notated the account that the right vendor had been notified, even though they hadn't. Ugh.
Now, at this point, the lady at the vendor's office took pity on me. Even though he didn't have an appointment, she did all the measurements and equipment selection right then. Now we just have to wait for the paperwork to come through. Of course, I have no confidence that it will, because they seem to think that vendor number 2 is the same as vendor number 1, even though they're two completely different companies. I left a message with PT, so here's hoping they get back to me.
The good news is that at the end of this, my little one will get a sweet, custom new sport chair that's all his own. Plus, we've been renting the old chair(s) long enough that the old one is mine to keep, so we have a great post-op chair in the future (the one disadvantage of the sport chair is that it does't have elevating leg rests, so it's not great for post-op).
I'm holding my breath that I don't have to update this with screw up number 4....
Screw up number 1
Two separate referrals were made to physical therapy for my son. One was for an equipment evaluation for a new wheelchair that's more appropriate for an active 13 year old boy and the other was for basic post-op PT for recovery purposes. Somebody in the orthopedist's office decided that they were duplicates, even though they very clearly stated they were for two entirely different things, and only put through the referral for the equipment evaluation. The error was discovered, the nurse lost her shit on the office staff, and the second referral was rushed through.
Screw up number 2
I get the phone call to set up the appointment for the equipment evaluation. This is a complicated appointment that involves the therapist, the child, the parent and a person from the equipment vendor. They confirm that everybody can be there at the appointed time. I'm still waiting to set up the post-op PT when I go to the evaluation appointment this morning. I get there and start talking to the therapist, who seems confused. It was then that we discovered that somebody at the PT office saw the two referrals and decided that the later one was really the one the ortho wanted, even though the notes very clearly said that the referrals were for two different things and they both required separate appointments. The PT office canceled the equipment eval and called the equipment vendor to say they were no longer needed, even though they really were very much needed. The therapist, upon discovering the error, did what she could to handle both issues, but we still had the problem of the vendor not being there. I've worked with this vendor many times and really like them, so I decided to swing by and see what could be done. I needed to go by there anyway because a month ago we'd swapped out the child's old wheelchair for a bigger one, since he'd outgrown the little one he had. Plus, they are literally only a couple hundred feet off my route home, so it wasn't that big of a deal. This leads us to....
Screw up number 3
I get to the vendor and explain what's going on. They check their records and discover that they never had an appointment set up for an evaluation; not even one that had been cancelled. Beyond that, they don't actually go to the PT's office. Their procedure is to wait until the PT recommends a particular piece of equipment, then call the patient to have them come into their office for the measurements and such. Hmmmm. Interesting. The lady at the vendor gets an idea and calls the other major vendor in this area. Turns out that even though the PT office asked me what vendor we use when I'd initially set up the appointment, they still sent the request to the other vendor, and notated the account that the right vendor had been notified, even though they hadn't. Ugh.
Now, at this point, the lady at the vendor's office took pity on me. Even though he didn't have an appointment, she did all the measurements and equipment selection right then. Now we just have to wait for the paperwork to come through. Of course, I have no confidence that it will, because they seem to think that vendor number 2 is the same as vendor number 1, even though they're two completely different companies. I left a message with PT, so here's hoping they get back to me.
The good news is that at the end of this, my little one will get a sweet, custom new sport chair that's all his own. Plus, we've been renting the old chair(s) long enough that the old one is mine to keep, so we have a great post-op chair in the future (the one disadvantage of the sport chair is that it does't have elevating leg rests, so it's not great for post-op).
I'm holding my breath that I don't have to update this with screw up number 4....
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