Last Friday, I had blood drawn for an array of weird symptoms. I “dropped in” at one of our local labs without an appointment. This is not uncommon. Most of the people there that day did not have an appointment.
When I arrived, there were two other victims in the waiting room. Then, eight more arrived, filling most of the seats. However, there was only one employee working at the lab. She was the receptionist, the insurance verifier, and the sticker (technically, phlebotomist). I watched each person go back when they were called. It took about 10-15 minutes for each to check in, give their insurance information, and then be bled. It doesn’t take a math major to figure out that ten people, at 10-15 minutes each would take, well, a long time (I wasn‘t a math major).
But here’s the pain in the vein for me. Not once did this lab employee come out to the waiting room to explain, apologize, or even own up to the situation. She just kept working as if this was business as usual and we didn’t matter. If she had just talked to us, it would have made us feel like humans. Instead, we just sat there getting frustrated by how long we were sitting there.
One guy left out of frustration. He was there to see if he had Lyme Disease. As he walked out, he said, “I guess I can put up with the nausea and headaches until Monday.”
That reminds me of an old joke. A nurse told the doctor that a man collapsed outside the door as he was leaving their office. The doctor said, “Turn him around so it looks like he was coming in.”
When it comes to humor in healthcare, I suggest that two things that would have helped my lab situation.
First, there should be some fun and interesting things in the waiting room. Some funny signs on the wall or some funny magazines would have been great. There was a health channel playing on the TV. It was not particularly fun as it described the cancer we could get from not using the proper sunscreen. And there were plenty of signs but most of them explained the limits of our coverage, our liability for payment, and not to call them about test results because they would give them to our doctor when they were good and ready.
I would have preferred a sign that says, “Don’t get stuck waiting to get stuck. Make an appointment.”
Second, the lab employee should have loosened up the situation by saying something funny. She could have told us that the other employees were on their lunch break and as soon as they got back things would move more quickly (which I later found out was the case). She could have followed that by saying, “Until then, I’m bleeding you as quick as I can.” That would have made the wait a bit more fun and we probably would have relaxed (except for the Lyme guy).
Humor goes a long way to make people relax. It is especially effective when patients are already tense about their health. See if you can do one fun thing to make your patients visits a bit more enjoyable.
Ron