Question

Read the following scenarios and write a 3-4 sentence paragraph for each of the following patients on how you would respond to then regarding their appointments.

1. It is midday at a busy family practice clinic, two doctors are seeing patients today, you are the only person at the front desk; your coworker is at lunch.

• The new patient that was scheduled at noon showed up 15 minutes late and still needs to complete the required paperwork before she can be checked in; she is on her lunch hour and worried that the appointment may exceed her lunchtime. The medical assistant asked you if the patient has arrived; the doctor is ready for them. What do you tell the medical assistant?
• An established patient arrived on time for his 11:45 am appointment. It is now 12:15 he comes up to the front desk and starts complaining to you about having to wait and wants to know how much longer the wait it will be. How do you respond to this patient?
• At the same time the phone rings and you are expected to answer it by the 3rd ring. What do you tell/ask the caller?

2. You are one of the medical assistants in the clinic and are responsible to review patient emails for your provider in the online portal and respond within 8 hours. You note there are two emails:

• The 1st patient has reviewed their recent test results now posted in their online chart and emailed two hours ago requesting to speak with the doctor immediately. You review the doctors notes and see he has asked you to schedule an appointment for this patient to discuss the results. You reply to this patient and offer two appointment times. The patient replies back and states they do not want to wait for an appointment and want to speak wit the doctor immediately. How would your respond?
• The 2nd patient, established, emailed at 8am that morning and it is now noon. He is requesting an appointment for a "personal problem" as soon as possible, no details are provided and to keep it private requested the appointment be scheduled through the online portal. How would you respond?

Answer 1

To medical assistant i would say that the patient is ready, complete the paper work and sends the patient who came up on time with the medical assistant.

I would not make the patient wait who is complaining as the patient showed up on time and completes his paper work and send him before the patient who came late to the clinic

i would receive the call and ask the caller to hold on for some time.

2. i would show him two appointments and ask him to take one of them, if he’s not ready then i’ll try to convince the patient to take the appointment. If the patient is still insisting , then i would share the details of the patient to the doctor and ask doctor to talk to the patient as it is urgent.

I would first try to ask the problem of the patient if it looks serious i would make an appointment early. If the patients still doesnt want to tell his problem i would provide him with an email id of the doctor to discuss his problem personally