Ambulatory Patient Advisory Board

I met with the amazing women who are putting together the Ambulatory Patient Advisory Board (primarily to focus on the Clinic experience) and walked away realizing a couple of things. My total focus has been doing my job as a patient: understanding my medications, taking them in a timely manner, arranging and have PFTs and CT Scans, being on time to appointments, smiling, eating properly and exercising. With this board, I now have to look for the problems in the system. It is funny. I realized that I noticed the issues but just adjusted and worked around them. It was difficult for me to come up with some issues with the clinic system. I have been seeing most of these doctors for years, developed friendships with the desk people and schedulers, and generally have a ball every time I have an appointment! But, I understand that this not everyone's experiences.

I need to remember that I am not normal! Or, shall I say, my experiences are not the norm. For example, doctors run late, people travel from great distances to be seen at these appointments and it is a hardship when the clinic is running behind. That has never bothered me. My day has been set aside for this appointment even if it takes all day. But, it would be nice to have a display in the waiting room if a specific doctor is running late. A patient could run out for some coffee or just to get some air instead of just...waiting. Once other negatives are revealed in the meetings, I hope to offer lots of different suggestions to fix the problems. That, I am good at! But, I am not so great at pointing out the problems initially.

What I have realized after today is that I am not one to let the small stuff bother me. It really doesn't bother me if Dr. K. is running late. I am just thrilled that she is my doctor and she is constantly assessing my HP.  I try to make going to the doctor a fun experience. I try to make the people's life I touch a bit better for having me pass through their day. I try to be a good patient by taking care of myself.

From here on, I cannot blog about what is discussed at the meetings or any specifics but I believe that the problems are probably the same ones that clinics throughout the country deal with every day and not just specific to my lovely university clinics. This is going to be an interesting experience.