Question

Alice Jameson is a 69-year-old who has been suffering from flu-like symptoms for several days. She calls her primary care provider to make an appointment. The conversation went as follows:

Receptionist: “Mid-Town Medical Clinic, this is Marianne; please hold.”

After a 2- to 3-minute wait, the receptionist comes back on the line.

Receptionist: “Thank you for holding. Can I help you?”

Patient: “This is Alice Jameson. I am feeling terrible. I think I have the flu. But I shouldn’t have the flu; I got the flu shot last fall. Can I see my doctor?”

Receptionist: “Alice, we are so busy with flu patients, I don’t have an opening until day after tomorrow. Can you come at 3:30 in the afternoon?”

After a brief pause, Alice responds, hesitantly.

Patient: “No, I don’t think so. If I don’t get better, I guess I’ll go to my neighborhood emergency care clinic.”

Receptionist: “Okay. Bye.”

The receptionist at Mid-Town Medical Clinic does not learn that Alice has had a fever of 101 degrees for 2 days and does not recall that she had surgery to place an artificial heart valve just 8 months ago until after the call was ended.

Step 2: Create a new thread and answer all three parts of the initial prompt below:
Explain the mistakes the receptionist made during the call.
Describe the possible consequences of the mistakes made by the receptionist.
Explain a resolution to this situation.

Answer 1

I'll help with a little of this.

The receptionist mistakes: Not asking about symptoms, temperature, and duration. Checking the patients information on file after getting her name! Unprofessional language "Okay. Bye."*

Consequences: The patients condition could worsen and she could collapse.

*She should have at least referred the patient to an emergency clinic, but more than that, the receptionist should have communicated directly with the doctor to discuss the circumstances.

I'm going to leave the rest up to you!

Answer 2

The receptionist should have made more questions to Alice, to ge more information about Alices case. The mistake could lead Alice to death, since it could be a serious problem related to the surgery.

Step-by-step explanation:

Mistakes the receptionist made during the call: she should have asked more information about what Alice sympthons, what Alice was feeling, like: if she have fever, pain, if she had done some surgery procedures recently, if she took any medicine, how many days she was feeling sick, etc.

Consequences of the mistakes:

When the valve is clogged , it does not work fully, so you have a mechanical problem inside the heart. Therefore, you have to correct the valve and there is no remedy that makes this correction. When you get to that point where your heart reserve is really depleted, you need to change the valve, replace it on site, or do some sort of procedure to get the valve back to work. Its important to note that this surgery made by Alice could develop some problems with the artifical valve heart, causing her fever. So, the consequence of the receptionist mistake could lead to serious health problems, including death; but in case of a bacteria disease developed by the surgery, cpuld lead to a sepse, which its fatal for Alices body.

Situation resolution

The receptionist could have make more questions to Alice, and once she knew that Alice has been trhough cardiac surgery and all that information needed, she would have schedule an appointment with the doctor to Alice immediately, once she should be aware that wasnt a flu case.