On Tuesday afternoon, I was training yet another new person in our department at my desk. At about 2pm or so, my phone rang, so of course, I picked it up but did not expect what I heard on the other end of the line. Here's what happened:
Me: Prior Authorization dept, this is PA Honeybee how can I help you?
Patient: Oh God, oh God, help me! I am hurting so bad. He beat the shit out of me, pushed me on the bathroom floor, and smashed my head against the bathtub!
(she sounded like she was hysterical, in agony, with a shaky voice)
Me (eyes wide, heart now racing): Have you called the police? You need to call the police and seek medical attention for your injuries!
Patient: I need my medication so I can get out of here....Oh God, what if he comes back for me? I need pain gel, I have already been hospitalized they let me go. But I need it I need it, I gotta get out of here before he comes back to beat the shit out of me again! (sounding super frantic/shaky/terrified)
Me: (heart racing, feeling helpless) You need to call the police. You need to talk to them, not me. They can help you.
Patient: they don't do anything, they don't care unless there is blood! Oh my God! Aaaaggggghhhh! If he comes back he could end up killing me, please hurry!
Me: You should call them anyway, this is extremely important. Let me see if we have received a request for your pain gel. Yes, we did earlier today, I will expedite it for you.
Patient: Oh God, Oh God! Please hurry, I gotta get outta here!
Me (in my head): Why the hell would you be calling about a pain gel Prior Auth instead of packing up your crap and getting the hell out of there? If you had the shit beaten out of you, that pain gel is not gonna do much to help you out unless you have some superficial contusions not major bodily injury as stated.
Meanwhile, all the co-workers around me stopped what they are doing, and are staring at me with puzzled looks on their faces during the exchange. My mind is racing as to her rationale, my heart is racing, and I'm freaked out.
To make a long story shorter, I got the auth taken care of for her, we disconnected, and I felt the huge urge to run down the street to the nearest bar to have a few shots to calm my nerves. Instead, I did some deep breathing and drank water since working while intoxicated is not a good idea. This was the most bizarre day I've had in my position to date. I hope it's the last, but, it probably isn't.
Oct 14, 2011
Oct 6, 2011
Busy, busy, busy!
Now that October is here, we are increasingly busy in general, but have added a new health plan to the mix and they are fairly large. GuitarGuy and Youngin' are doing pretty good, but aren't on phones yet :0( so the rest of us have our phones periodically ringing off the hook all day.
I had an urgent request earlier that I knew we were going to deny due to off label use but the MD office was adamant this was an emergency, so I complied and took the information over the phone. I had it reviewed urgently so the office could take another course of action for the patient. I am fervently hoping they don't call back to chew me out. Offices in this situation usually do call back but hopefully they chew out Snort instead. We shall see.
Speaking of Snort, he's trying to be "mentor-ish" to the newbies but I have to wonder, how does a stupid moron mentor the new hires? He doesn't read everything, he blazes through triage making errors all the time, and acts like he's the "PA God" and is infallible.
GreenGirl and I let it slip to GuitarGuy how much we really dislike Snort. We didn't say much, no details or anything, but just made a general statement....I know we shouldn't sway any opinions, we're not trying to, but if they're going to be a part of the team, I guess they should know the internal source of our frustrations. We periodically make vague comments regarding frustration to each other after a call where we had to fix one of his errors & they look at us a little strangely. Whatever.
On another note, I find it interesting how someone's reputation that precedes them can be turned on it's head once that person is a part of your company. I mean this in a good way though I know it can be the opposite as well. In my case, it is the former. GuitarGuy had a reputation as an arrogant, woman-loathing, jerk according to a source from his previous company. In my experience training him, he has had fleeting moments when speaking of his experience prior to working here, but is a pretty humble guy (so far), and seems to treat GreenGirl and I with much respect. I guess time will tell & we'll see if he reverts back to previous behavior.
I had an urgent request earlier that I knew we were going to deny due to off label use but the MD office was adamant this was an emergency, so I complied and took the information over the phone. I had it reviewed urgently so the office could take another course of action for the patient. I am fervently hoping they don't call back to chew me out. Offices in this situation usually do call back but hopefully they chew out Snort instead. We shall see.
Speaking of Snort, he's trying to be "mentor-ish" to the newbies but I have to wonder, how does a stupid moron mentor the new hires? He doesn't read everything, he blazes through triage making errors all the time, and acts like he's the "PA God" and is infallible.
GreenGirl and I let it slip to GuitarGuy how much we really dislike Snort. We didn't say much, no details or anything, but just made a general statement....I know we shouldn't sway any opinions, we're not trying to, but if they're going to be a part of the team, I guess they should know the internal source of our frustrations. We periodically make vague comments regarding frustration to each other after a call where we had to fix one of his errors & they look at us a little strangely. Whatever.
On another note, I find it interesting how someone's reputation that precedes them can be turned on it's head once that person is a part of your company. I mean this in a good way though I know it can be the opposite as well. In my case, it is the former. GuitarGuy had a reputation as an arrogant, woman-loathing, jerk according to a source from his previous company. In my experience training him, he has had fleeting moments when speaking of his experience prior to working here, but is a pretty humble guy (so far), and seems to treat GreenGirl and I with much respect. I guess time will tell & we'll see if he reverts back to previous behavior.
Oct 3, 2011
Training
Last week, GreenGirl and I began training the newbies: GuitarGuy and Youngin'. So far, so good; they are picking up their new roles pretty quickly with Youngin' being the faster of the two. GuitarGuy is slower and more methodical, but is doing pretty good.
I had to tell (demand actually) the newbies to ignore Snort's directions to leave certain information off when they triage as GreenGirl and I did not teach them that way, therefore, it is incorrect. I must admit we're getting pretty annoyed by Snort, he isn't training (thank God!) so doesn't get a say in how they need to make changes, but tries to give them insight anyway. We told them that if they want to listen to him instead that they shouldn't be surprised if they are presented with a stack of errors they made which may or may not threaten their newfound positions. It's their choice.
On another note, Mastiff Lady came into the department (gasp) 4-5 times since Tuesday last week, that's been different. She comes into our section of the department too infrequently preferring to stay in her office. Not terribly exciting from a reader perspective, but from my perspective, she at least knows we're at our desks and physically here.
I had to tell (demand actually) the newbies to ignore Snort's directions to leave certain information off when they triage as GreenGirl and I did not teach them that way, therefore, it is incorrect. I must admit we're getting pretty annoyed by Snort, he isn't training (thank God!) so doesn't get a say in how they need to make changes, but tries to give them insight anyway. We told them that if they want to listen to him instead that they shouldn't be surprised if they are presented with a stack of errors they made which may or may not threaten their newfound positions. It's their choice.
On another note, Mastiff Lady came into the department (gasp) 4-5 times since Tuesday last week, that's been different. She comes into our section of the department too infrequently preferring to stay in her office. Not terribly exciting from a reader perspective, but from my perspective, she at least knows we're at our desks and physically here.
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