This blog post is a writing assignment for MAST 1060: Medical Office Procedures, part of the Health Care Management (HC23) Associate of Applied Science Degree program at Southern Crescent Technical College.

“Scenario: Mr. Murray VanNelson, a retired male patient, comes into the office and checks in at the window. He seems agitated and sits down in a full waiting room and stares at the receptionist with a nasty look on his face. It is almost as if steam is coming out of his ears. You later find out that he is mad because he feels he always has to wait for the doctor and no one respects the time he takes out of his day each time an appointment is necessary. Role-play the communication between the administrative medical assistant and the patient” (French, 2019, Job Skill 4-10).

This scenario requires two people: Mr. VanNelson, a retired patient, and Amy, a medical assistant. Mr. VanNelson appeared angry while he waited in the waiting room. He is now with Amy in the exam room, where she discovers the reason for his anger.

Since Mr. VanNelson is agitated, Amy gives Mr. VanNelson a little extra space, sitting on the same level as him. She begins collecting updates on his medical history and asks a few questions for verification. Mr. VanNelson suddenly interrupts her and loudly says, “I already gave you that information! Why do I have to do it again?” Amy remains calm and informs him that they must keep updated records on their patients. She says they do this by asking questions to discover any changes occurring since the patient’s last visit. Amy illustrates this concept’s importance by giving an example of the dangers that could happen if they treated a patient not knowing about a new medication. She calmly emphasizes that maintaining current and complete records is for his safety.

Mr. VanNelson angrily exclaims, “It just makes this take even longer! I had an appointment at 9:00. It is 9:45, and I still have not seen the doctor. This always happens, and I always have to wait! Why can’t I just see the doctor at 9:00 when I had my appointment? Isn’t that what appointments are for?” Amy remains calm and silent while listening to Mr. VanNelson until he completes his complaint. She maintains eye contact with him while listening and responding, and her posture remains open. Amy realizes he is sick and does not feel well, and she would like to focus on helping him get better rather than his anger. Amy says, “That’s a difficult one, Mr. VanNelson. I understand how you feel, but sometimes occurrences happen that we cannot control. Sometimes an emergency happens, or we work in extremely sick patients who need to see the doctor quickly. Sometimes a patient encounter takes longer than expected, and we do not want to rush or jeopardize patient care. Some patients arrive late. We ask patients to come 15 minutes early to help prevent that situation, and we do our best to work around these occurrences to stick as closely as possible to the schedule. Every decision we make we make out of concern for our patients. I will tell the office manager about your concerns. She is on vacation this week, but I will tell her when she returns on Monday.”

Amy’s tasks are now complete, and she thinks allowing Mr. VanNelson some time alone to cool down before the doctor comes would be best. Amy tells him the doctor will see him next and will be in to see him soon (French, 2019, 4-3i, Procedure 4-9, Job Skill 4-11).

References

French, L. L. (2018). Administrative Medical Assisting. (8th ed.). Boston, MA: Cengage Learning.

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