From the Heart
I have a new nemesis … surveys.
Delivered by email, mail or phone, they seem to be an everyday occurrence. Everyone seems to want my opinion about everything. My first thought is, like it will matter.
Chuck and I have been on our phones, at the same time, and we seem to be answering the same questions that the callers ask us. We are taking a survey asked by our health providers.
So it seems as we grow older we will be getting more surveys. Ugh on both.
On Friday afternoon I received a call and 5 minutes and 41 seconds later I hung up. It was from the hospital where I had received care in their emergency room a couple of weeks ago for a dog bite. (Yes, yikes!)
I told the man that everything was excellent. I had no wait. The nurses and doctor were wonderful. My care was five star. On a scale from one to five, with 1 being poor and 5 being excellent, everything was a 5. Excellent.
Well that was not how the game is played and I had to abide by the rules. I had to answer every question such as …
- Did you receive prompt attention? On a scale from one to five with 5 being excellent and 1 being poor, how would you rate your care?
- Did the doctor and nurses coordinate your care expeditiously and thoroughly? On a scale from one to five with 5 being excellent and 1 being poor how would you rate your care?
- Did you have blood drawn? No, so thankfully, I did not have to answer questions about my blood draw. Did you have any x-rays? Uh, yes, I know, “on a scale from one to five …” Well, you know the drill.
Taking these surveys is painful. Maybe not as painful as a dog bite but though.
I know these surveys must be important (?). If they were not, then why do we have so many? Maybe I am just a rule follower. Maybe I have a hard time saying, “No, I do not have time to take a quick (?) survey.” I feel trapped into the conversation thinking okay, just a few more questions. Twenty questions later they are thanking me for my time and my food is cold.
When the caller says “brief” what exactly is his definition of “brief”? When the caller asks if I would have wanted them to do anything differently, how would I know? I had never been bitten by a dog before.
Tetanus shot, extra bandages, two prescriptions, one for pain and one for 10 days of antibiotics (8 a day equals 80), a battle story to tell and I was outta there! The ER staff could not have taken better care of me … in my humble opinion.
I wish I knew the name of the nurse that cleaned my wound and gave me the tetanus shot. She was so gentle. Even as the shock of the bite hit my body and I began to shake and my teeth began to chatter she reassured me that it was all normal. (Like there is anything normal about a dog bite.)
It was just adrenaline.
At the end of our conversation the caller asked why I answered excellent on each question. My answer was brief … because my care was excellent.