Health care reform NOW!!!

My daughter was very sick last week, and after a phone consultation with a pediatric nurse, we took her to an immediate care center, where it could be determined whether she needed IV fluids. We decided to try a newly opened place, because we thought there would be no wait.

Well, we were the only people there besides the staff--three women in the reception area and a doctor we saw through the window, just sitting around. The woman who came forward to help was very friendly. And stunningly incompetent.

She obviously had no idea how to use the computer system, and had to keep asking for help from the other women, one of whom seemed to be wincing with a headache. When I showed her my insurance card, she seemed mystified. She sat and looked at her screen for several minutes. Then she turned around and asked the others what she should do if there was no ID number on the card. It actually says on the card that the ID number is my SSN. So I volunteered this information, hoping to speed up the agonizing process of registering.

Meanwhile, my daughter is so sick that she doesn't even try to get out of her daddy's lap to explore. Her eyes are sunken, her face pale, her lips cracked, her body limp. We are both very anxious about her health, having seen her in a similar state two years ago when she was hospitalized.

After half an hour of trying to get registered, the woman ushered us back to a room, where we were horrified to discover that she was also our NURSE!!! We exchanged glances while she ineptly took Grace's temperature. She asked us a series of bizarre questions regarding my daughter's vomiting, again displaying total ignorance of the computer she was using to document the encounter. After what seemed an eternity, she finally left the room.

The doctor seemed nice, and gave us suggestions for rehydrating Grace and preventing more vomiting. He finished up by telling us he'd have her prescription ready in a few moments. Hubby took Grace out to the car while I waited. I sat and sat and sat, watching some terrible Lifetime movie in the waiting room. I offered to pay the copay. The nurse seemed surprised--"oh? There's a copay? I didn't see that on your card." Argh!!!!

Meanwhile the doctor is standing a ways back, obviously doing something with a computer. After a half hour of waiting, he finally came out with a handwritten Rx. Argh! Double Argh!!

I'm guessing "immediate care" is just a suggestion.