January 24, 2007

Well today is a good story to tell. The patient I saw today was diagnosed with a mitral valve prolapse without regurgitation in 2003, and has never required an antibiotic pre-medication. I did my physicians consult early yesterday to make sure it would be all ready for our appointment today. When I called the physicians office they verified that she was a patient of record and such and told me to go ahead and fax over the consult, which I did. Well all day long I kept checking for a return fax and even called a few times to check the status on the consult and never heard anything back. I was thinking it would be here this morning when I arrived but still it was not. So I went ahead and started to do as much non-invasive treatment as I could (radiographs, dental charting, intraoral photographs, PE's, nutritional counseling, etc). I called again and this time I talked directly to the doctor who informed me that the patient was seen by another physician that was no longer practicing in that office and therefore they could not do a consult. So, now the patient has to go to the office and either see one of the physicians or sign a release for her records to be sent to a new physician. Once this is done then I can get my physicians consult! Wow.
Despite the craziness of it all, I feel like I used the patient's and my time wisely and did as much treatment as I could. I sure did learn a lot and hope that I will be better prepared for similar situations in the future.