DEAR ABBY: This is regarding the letter from the patient who objected to the questions she was asked by her doctor's receptionist. Patients should know that doctors, nurses and medical receptionists have heard everything. Nothing shocks us.
A receptionist frequently needs to know a patient's problem(s) in order to know which physician in the group should see him or her. Some problems are not seen by her physician and are referred elsewhere. But you were 100 percent right when you told the woman to discuss her feelings with her doctor during her next appointment.
In the middle of my solo G.P. practice (before I retired), I noticed that my patient load had dropped more than 50 percent in a very short period. When I investigated, I found my receptionist had informed patients calling for an appointment that I was fully booked for weeks, or I no longer saw new patients for various reasons. None of this was true.
When I confronted my receptionist, she told me she thought I was working too hard and should see fewer patients! I had never turned patients away, and I enjoyed seeing and diagnosing new patients and treating them.
From then on, I gave all patients a questionnaire inquiring how courteously and thoroughly my staff and I had treated them -- had they been given an appointment promptly, etc. No signature was required.
My philosophy has always been: Every doctor makes mistakes, but the better and more thorough the physician, the fewer mistakes are made. -- MARK H. HOPP, M.D. (RET.), GARDEN GROVE, CALIF.
DEAR DR. HOPP: Regardless of how talented the health care provider, I suspect that the practice of medicine is like every other business in that the importance of good customer relations cannot be underestimated. However, in medicine it's called a good bedside manner -- even if the patient is vertical.