Medical Communication Tools - John Dunn, Consultant, Ambertec, P.E., P.C.

A pair of hand-held flags, puffs of smoke, drumbeats, telegraphs, flashing lights and other tools have each served well in their respective time frames and milieus for communication purposes. Then in the year 1876, we were introduced to the telephone. This too became a useful communication tool despite the modern day abuses by robocalling telemarketers.

The advent of the internet further expanded our communication tool kit. Included therein are services used by medical offices to send "important" messages to patients. It has become my opinion that such systems are being misused, not by intent, but as a result of casual incompetence.

As a case in point, consider the following very urgent message that once came my way from a medical office:

I could not imagine what this piece of drivel was intended to convey. It not only need not have been sent, it should not have been sent.

My doctors have been using several different medical messaging services. I have nothing kind or charitable to say about any of them. I hate them all. (The services, not the doctors.)

Sometimes I cannot get to my messages because my user name isn't recognized or my password isn't recognized and when I try to correct those problems, corrective procedures fail.

In one case when my user name was not being accepted, I tried all kinds of variations. I tried going with a space and without, going with capitals letters and without, going with a number and without, and every single one of them was rejected. I never did manage to access that message and in the end, it didn't matter. I simply kept my next appointment at the proper day and time and the message's non-delivery was never discussed.

Sometimes I come across an identity verification scheme where I have to receive a code number at my e-mail address which I must then enter into the message service page to continue on to the vital message awaiting my attention. Now and then that vital message turns out to be a reminder of an appointment I need to keep on a particular day and hour during the following week but once it turned out to be for an appointment that I had kept several days before.

I guess it's a measure of successful security that Vladimir Putin never intercepted that data.

I would someday like to see common sense be more commonly applied to using these message channels but I really don't think it's ever going to happen.

Comments

[John Dunn]

Apart from the above essay, I have posted about hospital respirator issues, refrigerator issues, slow PC issues, vaccination refusal issues, collapsed utility wire issues and the list covers more as well.

It is not with the intention of conducting a gripe fest. It is my hope that by bringing these issues to at least some measure of light, that readers will be better able to cope, or at least understand that they do not face similar issues just by themselves.

There is also the hope that some of them might be amenable to remedy.

I hope so anyway because there are more to come.

[John Dunn]

The following just came in via one of those medical messaging services about some testing I underwent a few days ago:

"There is no component information for this result."

In other words, they are telling me that they have nothing to tell me. (sigh)