# Why are you late?



## FourLoko (Mar 9, 2012)

Evidently we were 30 min late for a pickup today (hospital discharge). Serious business in case you didn't know. I think it was the case manager that "grilled" us.

I did a pretty good job of keeping my mouth shut. Felt like saying, "Sorry we just sit around with our thumbs up our you know whats and drive REALLY slow. Or, ":censored::censored::censored::censored::censored: please, we're running back to back calls, no lunch break in 3 days. We go where we're told when we're told. Eat a fat one."

PT was delivered to her residence where family was waiting. They were so upset at our late arrival that the PT's daughter tried to tip us. Second time this week we've had to turn down cash. Bummer.


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## adamjh3 (Mar 9, 2012)

"I understand you're upset. If you'd like, I can give you my supervisor's number and they can help you with this matter. For now I'd like to see what's going on with our patient"

It's great working for a company that routinely misses their ETAs because you get to deal with the brunt of the transport coordinator's fury


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## SoCal911 (Mar 9, 2012)

"I apologize, we were right around the corner and just got the call. Here's my pager, see the time stamp on the bottom? Im sincerely sorry, here's the direct line to dispatch for you to express your dissatisfaction. What's that? It's happened 4 times today and we're an hour late? Yes ma'am it is their fault and they did it on purpose because they had a psych transfer that was more important." -my old partner at a previous company on his last day.


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## Mountain Res-Q (Mar 9, 2012)

"Because the pill is only 98% effective!"

:sly: oh... correct question... wrong conversation...  How about:

"Because we don't get to use the siren for 'Yellow Cab Calls'."

Or "We had to change cloths and dry off after jumping into the frigid Patomic and breathing life back into that 8 year old."

Or "We are lazy"...


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## DesertMedic66 (Mar 9, 2012)

All I ever say is "sorry but we just got off another call, is the patient all ready to go?"

If they want to complain to the company about it they have the phone number because they set up the transport. If they ask me for my sups number then I will give it to them. 

I've been 4 hours late to calls and they have still never called anyone to complain.


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## SoCal911 (Mar 9, 2012)

I was an hour late once and ended up getting a call to sup, but it was


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## SoCal911 (Mar 9, 2012)

A call to my sup* but it was her complimenting me on how I handled the family and the patient. Felt pretty good after hearing that one


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## FourLoko (Mar 9, 2012)

We started by telling them to complain to dispatch but soon realized that did nothing. I fear it would be the same if we told them to call the supervisor. 

Think "small time" private, IFT. The dispatchers really only answer to the owner and more calls = more money. Late or not they keep using us for some reason. Good stuff.


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## Sasha (Mar 9, 2012)

This is usually where my partner has to haul me away going "saaaaasha. Calm down now. Shhhh. Don't bite their heads off. It's okay."

Because my rant usually goes "Why are we late? Because we take patients to ERs that are on red for things the ERs can do nothing about then go to pick up patients from nurses/social workers who ASKED for their specific pick up time and the paperwork isn't ready or the PICC isn't out or oh! They can't go til they finish their antibiotics!!!!!!!! And we sit around 30 minutes passed our pick up time because THE PATIENT IS NEVER READY which makes us late to our next &@&@$&%$#%@#% CALL"

My rant isn't healthy for any one involved. 

And usually the one who is whining that we are late doesn't have all the $%@%@% paperwork or OH silly me. They're not going with their foley/iv/flexiseal/picc/central let me take that out. Or find a tech to do it. 

I don't understand the b.tching that we are late, as if the patient has an important appointment to go to.


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## shfd739 (Mar 9, 2012)

Your dispatchers can't communicate back to the caller when the unit will be late to prevent all of this?

Our dispatchers do it routinely so the customer is aware what's going. We also run a 99.99% on time rate so it doesn't happen often.


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## usalsfyre (Mar 9, 2012)

shfd739 said:


> Your dispatchers can't communicate back to the caller when the unit will be late to prevent all of this?
> 
> Our dispatchers do it routinely so the customer is aware what's going. We also run a 99.99% on time rate so it doesn't happen often.



99.99%?!? Traffic in Austin must be light.


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## shfd739 (Mar 9, 2012)

I wish. Austin traffic sucks. We have good dispatchers who manage the system very well.


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## FourLoko (Mar 9, 2012)

Sasha said:


> This is usually where my partner has to haul me away going "saaaaasha. Calm down now. Shhhh. Don't bite their heads off. It's okay."
> 
> Because my rant usually goes "Why are we late? Because we take patients to ERs that are on red for things the ERs can do nothing about then go to pick up patients from nurses/social workers who ASKED for their specific pick up time and the paperwork isn't ready or the PICC isn't out or oh! They can't go til they finish their antibiotics!!!!!!!! And we sit around 30 minutes passed our pick up time because THE PATIENT IS NEVER READY which makes us late to our next &@&@$&%$#%@#% CALL"
> 
> ...



Exactly. Oh the family is waiting huh? Well if they're so excited for the PT to be home why don't they roll over here and pick them up themselves. It was about a 4 mile transport.



shfd739 said:


> Your dispatchers can't communicate back to the caller when the unit will be late to prevent all of this?
> 
> Our dispatchers do it routinely so the customer is aware what's going. We also run a 99.99% on time rate so it doesn't happen often.



I don't think the dispatchers communicate much of anything, they just give inaccurate pickup times so that they (the company)will sound good. Something like 1 hour max ETA for a unit even if that's not true. 

Rolling up to this call though, literally about to park and on the radio we get "Unit XX, ETA to on scene please." That's when you already know something's up.


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## Sasha (Mar 9, 2012)

FourLoko said:


> Exactly. Oh the family is waiting huh? Well if they're so excited for the PT to be home why don't they roll over here and pick them up themselves. It was about a 4 mile transport.
> 
> 
> 
> ...



If we are asked for an ETA within a few minutes of being dispatched and its NOT an ER call you know you have to brace yourself for the complaining. 

I don't mind so much if they're going home them getting anal about pick up times, unless they whine and the home health care agency hasn't even dropped off the bed/o2 what have you. But if they're going to a snf?  Oh well.


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## Shishkabob (Mar 9, 2012)

Depends on how pissy I want to act towards them, regardless of them threatening a complaint (because I can do one too), BUT I try to make them feel like an idiot in the nicest way possible.  "I'm sorry we were late, but emergency 911 calls take priority over stable transfers, I'm sure you understand and would prefer it that way if your family needed an ambulance"


It's not just hospital staff either... it's patients / patients families who think you need to be at their door in 10 seconds every time 911 is called, even if it's for leg pain that's been present for over a week.  




My partner doesn't let me handle patient complaints because I like to say how it truly is, as opposed to catering to their idiocy.


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## Handsome Robb (Mar 9, 2012)

We had a lady tells us if she had to wait 5 more minutes she was going to call 911 since the dispatcher told her 911 calls take priority. I politely informed her if she had done that I wouldn't be surprised if we were showing up with a cop for 911 abuse. She started to get lippy and I explained to her we were late because we had just taken a critical pediatric patient lights and sirens from the scene of an MVA to the trauma center and the kid likely wasn't going to survive. That shut her up pretty quickly.

I don't get paid enough to be *****ed at, especially on the limited number of IFT calls we do.


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## Chan (Mar 9, 2012)

Ah customer service. You guys should try dealing with 70 year old senile political activists calling everyday about everything including to why the sky is blue.


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## mycrofft (Mar 9, 2012)

Or inmates screaming curses about your purported gender, sexual proclivities, parent's casual and fleeting acquaintance, and personal dress and hygiene with a topping of threatened lawsuit based upon federal civil rights, because you open sick call in their section ten minutes late due to much the same the over the previous six hours?

By case manager, do you mean the case manager at the hospital or SNF or whatever, or someone in your chain of command? ("Case manager" being the person coordinating payment and maybe discharge/transport preps for the pt). 

If it is out of your chain of command, file your own complaint back through your boss, especially if it is out of your chain but within your organization. It is not their job to get on your case, they are not your supervisor, right?  Anyone jumping your chain to ventilate and bully you needs to be reported; if enough people do it and it is on record (your letters to the boss) it could come in handy later. Remember the phrase "hostile work environment".


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## JPINFV (Mar 9, 2012)

"Well, string theory. In other universe I was on time. We're just in the wrong universe. Sorry."


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## Veneficus (Mar 9, 2012)

Chan said:


> Ah customer service. You guys should try dealing with 70 year old senile political activists calling everyday about everything including to why the sky is blue.



easily solved by giving them the phone number of whatever political rival you want to annoy the most.

Better idea still, give them the phone number to a Chinese political affiliate or the Kremlin.


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## mycrofft (Mar 9, 2012)

"Me...patient care. You....dollar sign/telephone jockey. Bye-bye".


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## FourLoko (Mar 9, 2012)

mycrofft said:


> Or inmates screaming curses about your purported gender, sexual proclivities, parent's casual and fleeting acquaintance, and personal dress and hygiene with a topping of threatened lawsuit based upon federal civil rights, because you open sick call in their section ten minutes late due to much the same the over the previous six hours?
> 
> By case manager, do you mean the case manager at the hospital or SNF or whatever, or someone in your chain of command? ("Case manager" being the person coordinating payment and maybe discharge/transport preps for the pt).
> 
> If it is out of your chain of command, file your own complaint back through your boss, especially if it is out of your chain but within your organization. It is not their job to get on your case, they are not your supervisor, right?  Anyone jumping your chain to ventilate and bully you needs to be reported; if enough people do it and it is on record (your letters to the boss) it could come in handy later. Remember the phrase "hostile work environment".



Case managers are at the hospitals. Not sure if all hospitals have them but they are high and mighty I think:



> Case Manager Job Description:
> To provide ongoing support and expertise through comprehensive assessment, planning, implementation and overall evaluation of
> individual patient needs.  The overall goal of the position is to enhance the quality of patient management and satisfaction, to promote
> continuity of care and cost effectiveness through the integrating and functions of case management, utilization review and
> ...



http://www.oceantoocean.net/pdfs/A_Website_-_JOB_Case_Manager.pdf


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## DrParasite (Mar 12, 2012)

my normal defense of IFT dispatchers: in a perfect world, everyone would be on time, and you would never be delayed.  and as an IFT dispatcher who used to work 3-11s and had to clean up the mess left in my lap by the 7-3 guy, I can say we do the best we can.  if you are ever given crap by a facility, just have them call your dispatch center or supervisor directly, not worth stressing over it.

as a 911 dispatcher, in an understaffed system, we frequently get callers who want to know what is taking the ambulance so long.  my typical response is "two people just got shot on the other end of the city.  we have to take care of them first.  once I get a unit available, they will be coming to pick you up."  usually calms them down, especially when you say exactly what was causing the delay.


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## mycrofft (Mar 12, 2012)

I was a case manager. I had no authority over if someone was late or not. As a licensed/sworn nurse, I had an ethical requirement to defend my clients from abuse, an a legal requirement to report it once I suspected it was occurring. Your being late, unless it was due to some sort of prejudice or was repeated and causing a sacrifice in patient care, was none of my business.


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## Tigger (Mar 12, 2012)

We are very rarely late, the company is all about being on time. That makes my life earlier. Occasionally it happens though and we just try and explain to them where we were earlier and that no one else was available. If they're pissed enough they can call a supervisor. I just take the patient as quickly as possible. Speaking of which, nothing is more infuriating than being b!tched at for being late and then finding that the patient is not even ready yet. Our dispatchers will often call ahead if they know we're delayed so there is rarely a good excuse.


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## shfd739 (Mar 12, 2012)

usalsfyre said:


> 99.99%?!? Traffic in Austin must be light.



I was wrong..it was 100%..Traffic here still sucks


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## usalsfyre (Mar 12, 2012)

shfd739 said:


> I was wrong..it was 100%..Traffic here still sucks



You make me want to go beat my dispatchers with a limp noodle.


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