10/10/08 Prince Court Medical Centre is bad!

This is my first day back from my ordeal, i.e. my sinus operation. It is yet unknown whether the operation is a success as it is too soon to tell. Since I haven't written for several days then it's alright for me to make this a long one, because there's A LOT of things I must write about my experience there..
I feel I must clarify my statement above about this entry as it is not the centre itself that is bad (that would confer some sort of supernatural presence to the building) but the staff that serve there. They were undoubtedly very friendly but the fault lies not in their social skills but in their unprofessional conduct.
I will now list out the various things I found to be unbelievable in how so-called medical professionals can allow themselves to commit:

1. My doctor estimated the bill to be around $6-8K in total. When we got the bill on the day we left, it was nearly 14K! I wonder if that's the reason why doctors are never around when you get the bill, cause they would get too many questions about the unreasonable charges! You get vague categories such as:
Consumables. Like what? I'm sure they're not talking about food because that should be included in the room charges...then again I wouldn't know cause it's so vague...Another one is Equipment, nursing care. operating theatre..Jeez! I wish the doctor would've told me that we have to rent everything from the hospital, funny he should neglect to mention that since the cost of that is nearly the same as what he's charging for the operation itself!
Maybe because after they know you have insurance they don't care because the insurance is covering it, but there is a LIMIT to how much insurances cover! At least we have the bill, hey they didn't even want to give us a copy until we insisted on it! They said it wasn't necessary and they would just send it straight to the insurance company. So if they were to bill us equivalent to the cost of a house we wouldn't even know about it! And insurance companies don't make a habit of coming back to tell you how much your bill is...

2. I had to go see my doctor everyday, from my ward. So they'll have someone wheel me from the 4th floor to the 3rd floor where his clinic is. Now, seeing as it takes just a few minutes to get me down there, why is it he usually makes me wait at least an hour, once it was nearly 2 hours to see him?! I know his business is good but shouldn't priority be given to in-patients like me who just finished an operation and feeling like shit, to be made to wait so long? Can't he time it such that I just have to wait few minutes once I'm there? Worse, I usually see people go in who arrive after me!

3. In order to see inside my nose he has to insert stuff and do stuff that are inevitably painful. Not ONCE did he offer me a tissue when I had tears rolling down my cheeks due to the pain or even when I had stuff dripping from my nose, I had to ask for it!

4. He forgot about the medication he prescribed me...TWICE! Luckily I remembered and asked the nurses to check with him. Once, even the nurses showed their frustration with him! On the second time, because it was late, and because he forgot my medication, I went to the clinic (which was after all, one floor down) to get it from him, they couldn't even get a hold of him because he had left for god knows where, and they had the gall to ask me to go to the pharmacy to get it myself! And on the way there, I saw him chit chatting to someone at a lounge area...

The nurses:
1. If you stay in Prince Court, pray that you don't have any problems or accidents in the middle of the night. Because the nurses will NOT come to check on you at all until the next morning when they have to give you medication. It doesn't mean that if the call button for them is there they don't have to do their jobs!

2. If you stay in Prince Court, pray that you don't get an unexperienced nurse attending to you, over the course of a few days I have had young chick nurses who don't even know how to inject antibiotics properly or even use the ear thermometer properly! I had to tell the nurse that the thermometer didn't even touch my ear..

3. The nurse/pharmacist who came to give me my antibiotics when I was discharged, forgot to even write down or tell me whether it's to be taken before or after food.

The administration:
I thought on my last day I'd take it easy, and maybe have lunch before I go, kinda felt bad that maybe I should leave earlier. Well, I didn't have to, in fact I should've ordered dinner as well cause by the time we checked out it was nearly 8 at night! What should have been a nice speedy discharge turned out to be a long draggy day of waiting for the doctor the whole morning until he finally deemed fit to see me during lunch time..just before my lunch came and I was so hungry too...and then more waiting at his clinic, by the time I finished with him was around 3, my food was cold by the time I got back, at least I got to eat. Then another delay because the doctor forgot to prescribe and give me my medicine and I had to ask the nurse in my ward who couldn't find him and then I had to go down to his clinic and he wasn't there and the nurses there couldn't find him, even though it was still working hours, and then I had to go to the pharmacy to buy the stuff myself and pay out of my pocket. Oh! and all this while we had asked for the bill already which they were taking forever to come up with. The bill only came after nearly 4 hours after we asked for it and their excuse was that they couldn't reach the insurance people. I shudder to think what would happen if I didn't have insurance at all, then I wouldn't be even admitted or have my surgery done...but then at least I wouldn't have to go through this atrocious experience...Pros and cons I guess...