Mike Has MS
Pre-Op
Not being from Boston, I didn’t realize that Beth Israel used to be a pretty bad hospital. My first experience with them was when I started seeing a primary care doctor at Fenway Community Health. What I love about the BIDMC system is that all of my doctors have access to the same information. My surgeon was able to see the notes of my visit with the neurologist. The neurologist was able to see the results of my visit with the optometrist. This is all really cool stuff.
Until today.
Today was my pre-surgery interview with a nurse in the anesthesiology group (who never gave me her name, just “one of the nurses”) and she had no clue of my medical history nor medications. One of the things that every doctor has done is gone over my list of medications to ensure that it’s absolutely current, including the vitamins I take. My neurologist (who I absolutely adore) tells me that it’s a big push for the hospital to ensure that every patient’s list of medications is current. So when “one of the nurses” is doing the pre-op interview, not only did she ask what medications I was taking and what special needs I had, she was totally missing out on a valuable resource that was probably right at her fingertips. Now I understand the need for her to ask what medication I’m on, but wouldn’t it have been easier for her to ask if I was still taking Strattera 25mg twice a day and 44mcg of Rebif three times a week instead of asking me to list all of the medications I currently take? She was surprised when I told her that I had multiple sclerosis. What? It’s been part of every discussion with every doctor at every visit. Even a cursory look at my medical records should have indicated that to her.
I’ve really had a great experience with BIDMC and I’m hoping this one situation doesn’t drag down my opinion of the entire system.
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