I spent WAY too much time last night at the clinic on base. I got a call yesterday from the nurse at the elementary school...this is one of the things I hate most about having children in public school. It seems that the rash on the 5-year-old's face is impetigo, and that she (the nurse) would have to have a note from the doctor before the kindergartener would be allowed back in school. GRR.... NOT something I've ever had to deal with before....
So, in order to get to see a doctor, you show up at the base clinic when their "open" hours start...here, it is 16:00, or in terms that regular people understand, 4:00 pm. I left the house a little early, so we'd get there right AT 4:00....despite doing that, there was already a HUGE line ahead of us. We were triaged within about 20 minutes....and then sat there for about another 2 hours and 40 minutes before being taken back to see the doctor. All he did was look at her, and say, yes, that is impetigo, and I am going to give her an antibiotic and cream.
WHY?!? Why did it have to take so FREAKING LONG...they KNEW it was just a rash, and that was all he'd have to do. We had plans last night...2 different things. It NEVER should have taken 3 hours to get her back to see the ONE doctor they had on call. It was ridiculous. It took a total of *4* hours to get back to the house. For impetigo. My Doctor in Montana would have called in a prescription from my description over the phone....or, if I DID have to bring her in, we'd have been in and out the door in less than 1 hour.
Almost every contact with the clinic here has been horrible. No wonder there are so many openings for patients there. They chase people away with the way they treat us. I SO want to change us all to having our Primary Care Provider being a civilian....will have to look into it...
You poor thing, I completely understand your frustration. And they wonder why people just start shooting.
ReplyDeleteI'm so sorry. That kind of thing can make you absolutely nuts.
ReplyDeleteUgh, I hate that for you! Sounds like such a huge ordeal. It just doesn't seem right, does it?
ReplyDeleteI could not stand the whole military medical care. We had some of the worst experiences there. Everyone who could got off base. I adored our civilian PCPs. Dh got stuck with the shoddy military medical care, though.
ReplyDeletePeople on the outside really don't understand what an ordeal it is.
My husband has called in sick twice this month. We realized he never called in sick during his entire military career. Then we realized that was probably because of all the hoops he would have had to jump through at sick call and it was never worth it.
Ugh. I hope you have better experiences in the future. And I hope that rash clears up quickly. Those are never fun.
Well, this one I can relate to! The on base clinic here leaves much to be desired too. Before moving here, we spent a year livivng in NY while my husband was TDY in Korea. There we were able to see all civilian doctors (because we were out of Tricare's "covered network area") Boy were we spoiled!! Oh well, with all the complaining I've done about it I try to remember that at least we're lucky enough to have the bill covered 100% at the end of the day. Hurray for military style "socialized medicine" right?
ReplyDeleteI hope the rash clears up soon!