Okay so, I work in dietary on the room service side. I took up a meal tray to a patient this morning and asked her if she had any questions or needed help with anything.
She told me that she would like help putting her bed up because her fingers hurt too much to use the buttons (something wrong with her hands I think).
I smiled and told her that I’d be happy to help her sit the bed up and I did just that.
So far, no issues.
Then, she asked me if I would pull her up so she was sitting up a bit straighter in bed.
According to what I know from my training and hospital policy, hospital staff that aren’t trained to safely help patients move around or get out of bed etc. shouldn’t attempt to do so because of liability issues.
I politely told her that I wasn’t trained to help move her around like that because I’m not a nurse and that I work in Dietary. She seemed to understand what I said and asked what the difference was and I explained that I was only trained to handle food and basic things like the buttons on the bed etc.
I then told her that I would be more than happy to get a nurse for her and she told me she’d like that.
Throughout this conversation, she has been the sweetest lady ever and she event called my name pretty and we chit chatted a bit about little stuff like hobbies. She never gave me any hint of being angry with me.
I told her to have an amazing day and that I’d get the nurse for her and walked out to talk to the nurse like I said I would.
The nurse acknowledged me (also super sweet btw) and said she’d head in there when she finished something up.
Well, fast forward a little, I’m on the other side of the patient area handing out more trays and all of a sudden I hear screaming from the other side. Someone saying “Help me! You’re suppose to help me!” And I didn’t think anything of it initially because it’s a hospital and people are going through things.
I realized a moment later that I recognized the voice and it was the same lady screaming inside her room that she needed help and that it was their job to help her.
Soon after the nurse goes in I hear her yell something like, “That girl said she wasn’t allowed to touch me!”
I felt so so bad for that nurse and I even apologized to her for making the sweet lady upset and she told me I didn’t do anything wrong and not to worry about it, but I’m not to sure she was honest with me anymore because when I went up to deliver lunch trays, a different nurse wouldn’t let me in the room and I thought it was because she had been placed on precaution so I asked about it and she told me, “No…you’re just not allowed in there anymore.” and I didn’t get an explanation.
I’m worried I did something wrong. I’ve only been working here for a little while and I’ve never had this issue before. Can someone tell me what the reason might be?

Okay so, I work in dietary on the room service side. I took up a meal tray to a patient this morning and asked her if she had any questions or needed help with anything.
She told me that she would like help putting her bed up because her fingers hurt too much to use the buttons (something wrong with her hands I think).
I smiled and told her that I’d be happy to help her sit the bed up and I did just that.
So far, no issues.
Then, she asked me if I would pull her up so she was sitting up a bit straighter in bed.
According to what I know from my training and hospital policy, hospital staff that aren’t trained to safely help patients move around or get out of bed etc. shouldn’t attempt to do so because of liability issues.
I politely told her that I wasn’t trained to help move her around like that because I’m not a nurse and that I work in Dietary. She seemed to understand what I said and asked what the difference was and I explained that I was only trained to handle food and basic things like the buttons on the bed etc.
I then told her that I would be more than happy to get a nurse for her and she told me she’d like that.
Throughout this conversation, she has been the sweetest lady ever and she event called my name pretty and we chit chatted a bit about little stuff like hobbies. She never gave me any hint of being angry with me.
I told her to have an amazing day and that I’d get the nurse for her and walked out to talk to the nurse like I said I would.
The nurse acknowledged me (also super sweet btw) and said she’d head in there when she finished something up.
Well, fast forward a little, I’m on the other side of the patient area handing out more trays and all of a sudden I hear screaming from the other side. Someone saying “Help me! You’re suppose to help me!” And I didn’t think anything of it initially because it’s a hospital and people are going through things.
I realized a moment later that I recognized the voice and it was the same lady screaming inside her room that she needed help and that it was their job to help her.
Soon after the nurse goes in I hear her yell something like, “That girl said she wasn’t allowed to touch me!”
I felt so so bad for that nurse and I even apologized to her for making the sweet lady upset and she told me I didn’t do anything wrong and not to worry about it, but I’m not to sure she was honest with me anymore because when I went up to deliver lunch trays, a different nurse wouldn’t let me in the room and I thought it was because she had been placed on precaution so I asked about it and she told me, “No…you’re just not allowed in there anymore.” and I didn’t get an explanation.
I’m worried I did something wrong. I’ve only been working here for a little while and I’ve never had this issue before. Can someone tell me what the reason might be?

My surgery to remove my internal and external hemorrhoids was scheduled for June 9. I should start by saying that I have suffered from hemorrhoids since I was 16 years old. Over time, due to poor diet and other factors, they gradually became worse, to the point where bleeding became frequent and painful episodes started happening more and more often.
I had grade 4 and grade 5 hemorrhoids that were thrombosed. After my last painful episode, which left me unable to work for almost seven days due to severe swelling and discomfort, my doctor suggested surgery. He described it as a “very simple” procedure. However, he was honest when he warned me that it would be painful and uncomfortable, but that I would be fine within 15 days.
I went through all the necessary tests and routine checkups, and on June 9, I underwent surgery to remove my internal and external hemorrhoids.
I have to admit that everything went much better than I expected, with one major exception: going to the bathroom. Having a bowel movement was extremely painful, to the point that on a couple of occasions I almost passed out.
As the days went by, I noticed that I had a lump that wasn’t going away or getting any better. It was so large that it rubbed against my underwear and made it uncomfortable to sit down. My medical leave ended, and I still had this lump hanging from my anus.
I went to a follow-up appointment with my general surgeon, who told me that the lump was a hemorrhoid. However, his main concern was that I was having a significant amount of discharge from the anus and that I might have an abscess. I was admitted to the hospital as an emergency case and underwent a perianal ultrasound.
Although the abscess was ruled out, the result was the same as what the previous doctor had told me: it was a grade 3 hemorrhoid.
I COULD NOT BELIEVE IT. I went into denial.
As part of the treatment for the suspected abscess, I was given a very strong antibiotic, which caused severe diarrhea as soon as I got home. This significantly delayed my recovery. The intense discomfort came back, along with the pain when going to the bathroom and the bleeding. Everything was going wrong. Really, really wrong.
After four days of suffering and another trip to the emergency room, the diarrhea finally stopped, and I started the healing process all over again.
But the lump wasn’t improving. It wasn’t going away. It wasn’t getting smaller.
During my follow-up appointment with the colorectal surgeon, he confirmed what I feared the most and what I had been desperately denying: it was a hemorrhoid. A hemorrhoid that I hadn’t had before.
I felt like I was going to die.
Because of its size, there was a possibility that I would need another surgery, but we had to wait and see. My treatment was changed, and I was scheduled for another follow-up appointment in a month.
I want you to understand how devastating this news was for me. Just imagining myself back in an operating room and having to go through those first days of recovery all over again terrified me. I became depressed. I cried a lot. I went through a very serious emotional crisis.
And on top of all of this, I had to return to work. I work in finance, which means I have to sit in an office for more than eight hours a day.
The first few days were manageable. I bought a donut cushion to sit on and did stretches every 40 minutes. But as the days went by, I started feeling worse. I had a constant burning sensation that wouldn’t go away, until eventually it became unbearable and I had to go to the emergency room immediately.
I had developed a fissure in the hemorrhoid.
ABSOLUTELY HORRIBLE!!!
Once again, this completely knocked me down. I had a severe emotional breakdown. I barely moved from my bed. I didn’t eat. I couldn’t do anything. I was emotionally destroyed and physically in pain.
The pain was very similar to what I experienced during the first days after surgery, and going to the bathroom was pure hell.
With medication, plenty of rest, and sitz baths, things gradually started getting better. The hemorrhoid decreased in size, and at my follow-up appointment I received the great news that we would continue with the current treatment, with the hope that within another month or so, the hemorrhoid would be absorbed and I would be able to return to my normal life.
Nowadays, I still don’t feel very confident about my recovery. Some days I improve and feel like I’m making progress, while on other days I feel like I’ve taken three steps backward. It’s honestly quite frustrating.
I feel like the emotional aftermath has been significant. I still have days when I feel like I’m never going to get out of this. I become depressed and cry, or I get lost in my thoughts for hours.
Even when I get up after using the bathroom, I check to make sure there is no blood. I move carefully because I’m afraid of developing another fissure.
I feel like this is affecting me, and every day I spend going through this, I become a little more exhausted.
I’m writing all of this because I would really like to hear from you. Has anyone else gone through something similar? Do you feel bad about yourself because of it?
Some days I regret having the surgery. Other days, I understand that life is just like this—a kind of hellish lottery where you either win big or lose big.
I am currently going to therapy. I’m only just beginning this process of mental healing, and I believe that this part of my recovery is extremely important.

Press release from the American Heart Association about CPR Verification Stations and Self Guided Learning for BLS, ACLS, and PALS courses.
https://newsroom.heart.org/news/resuscitation-science-training-and-technology-leaders-launch-new-self-guided-resuscitation-learning-model-nationwide

Struggling with disorganized boss

I became a medial receptionist just about 6 months ago. When I started this job, my boss knew I had never previously worked as a receptionist and had only had schooling relevant to Health Information. She offered to "train the right candidate" - that person being me.

So here is the thing. My boss is HORRIBLY disorganized. She is the practice owner and only person I directly report to and work with. We have one other part-time telehealth physician and a remote scribe. So this means everything else falls on me.

She is consistently 45-60 minutes late for appointments. We do 80% telehealth, with one day a week being in person. She is horrible with follow up, submits prescriptions in the wrong dose or to the wrong pharmacy, and takes forever to complete tasks that most physicians do immediately after visits end.

I deal with so many calls from patients expecting xyz from me, telling me the doctor told them to call me, then when I follow up with the doctor, of course she "forgot to tell me". She misschedules patients constantly or tells them they are scheduled and forgets to put it into the system.

We have several different HIPAA compliant platforms I use to organize all patient tasks and inquiries. I make it so easy for her to access all the things that need to be done, and she still does not complete them unless I remind her.

The hardest part is, she is a really nice boss otherwise. She is flexible and understanding. But when I have a question about how to do something, it turns into one of two situations: 1) She tells me she will teach me, then when doing so, seems confused and inexperienced with what we are talking about OR 2) tells me she will show me, starts showing me, says something is wrong with the program and she has to "call someone" then there is no follow up.

I'm kind of at a loss. I really enjoy this work but feel like I am disadvantaged by my boss at times. It is extremely hard coming up with excused for her missing approintments, running late, and inputting info incorrectly. What more can I do?

UPDATE 1 2/9/26
Turns out it was so illegal. She has no right to access even her own records much less a family member. Regardless of permission. She isnt even aloud to look at her own records except through the patient portal. You cannot sit with your doctor and view your own records legally. The kicker is what she did with the info caused both harm to my wife and I as well as some of our business association. She broke the law federally and civilly. She most likely will loose her license and her job. She could be charged with harassment on a local level. There is so much more I'll make sure an update once it's done!

The situation Female wakes up for work and wife notices that she is off. (she is an er nurse of 25 or more years) Rushed to ER has a bad time. Within the hour wife is told it's brain cancer yada yada transfers to a more equipped hospital. These two are legally married and do not share passwords for medical records with anyone except the drs who treat them. There is some family discord and a sibling works as an NP in a SMALL TOWN doctors office that the patient has not been seen in years decades even. The sibling pulls her record reads the doctors notes from the day and calls other family members with the information and at some point one of the family members told slipped it to the wife. They not only told family they told business associates of the patient. Not sure why. Is this legal. Patient is out of the hospital now and is peeved she doesnt share her password because she doesnt want her family in her private medical records. Patient is 53 legally married and both are of able and sound mind. Is this ok to do and how in the heck could they do it?

I would love to work health records or something that has less customer service. I have never been a medical receptionist and I have no idea if this is the right path. I'm hesistant because I don't want to be sticking doing that. I have been a receptionist before but I don't know if I should pursue.

I'm 25 and figuring things out. I love solving problems, I'm good at helping people and I enjoy constantly learning new things all the time. I have been an events coordinator and also love to organize and plan. Not sure if there is a career like that in the health admin field

I started my new job at the beginning of November. I was told that I was going to be sent to a different location for training. This clinic is smaller compared to my home office. There’s only one doctor, one nurse practitioner, and a pediatrician. The person who is training me is a really sweet lady, but I still feel lost. I ask questions and write everything down. When she’s showing me how to do something she doesn’t really stop to explain she just wants me to watch. I checked-in patients for a week so I somewhat I have that down. Where I’m really struggling is with open cases and answering phone calls. I’ve been on phones for three days. When a pt calls asking to make an appointment and I’m barely getting their info down my trainer is already whispering at me what days are available through her computer. It makes it harder on me because I feel like I’m still adjusting to the system and of course I’m a little slow. When answering difficult phone calls instead of guiding me she just tells me to put the patient on hold and she ends up taking the call, but I can’t hear what the patient is saying so it makes it difficult for me to learn how to handle those calls. For open cases she reads the case, but doesn’t let me look at it and just tells me that you have to respond back. I start at my home office next week and I’m extremely nervous. I still don’t have all the applications that I would need on my laptop. I’m scared that the other receptionists at my home office will think I’m dumb. I’ve always worked retail and been mostly in management so this is a little different for me and I’m still adjusting. Does anyone have any tips? I just feel unsure about this job because it’s something new. I also get really nervous and overthink things when I’m doing them that I feel like I’m messing up because of it.

How do you usually check if a patient’s insurance will cover their visit?
Is it mostly calling the insurance company, using a website, or something else? Any tips or things I should watch out for? especially when i need to re-verify for a new procedure.

I have worked in the medical profession as an STNA/PCA for over 20 years. My most recent job change came a little over 2 years ago when left the LTAC I was working in during COVID and joined an outpatient procedure suite where the doctors do Epidurals, Joints, and RFAs.

Now because we are attached to a hospital system we technically run as a "surgery center". So standard questions apply.

 About a year ago a male patient comes in, does there insurance check and gets registered. I bring this patient back and go through my usual shpeel. As I am getting the patient's vitals the nurse usually jumps in with their questions. And as per standard one one the questions is, in the case of an emergency would you accept a blood transfusion or blood products? Most people say yes. There are the few that say no (ie religious, or personal reasons, only if it's from a Democrat or Republican, whatever). 

This time the patient looks at myself and the nurse and says "My wife usually answers those questions." I just looked at the nurse wondering if I had heard the patient correctly. 

This is a slightly older than middle aged man saying that his wife answers whether or not he can receive a blood transfusion if there were an medical need to save his life?

Things like this just completely baffled me. Surely I'm not alone in that thinking?

hello, this is my first job and it’s as a front desk receptionist. i would consider this my first real job as i had a job on filing but it wasn’t too much work and then worked at fast food for a week but didnt do so well. I just completed my second day but i cant help but feel overwhelmed? it’s making me doubt myself as this second day consisted of watching someone complete check/ins and outs, interact with patients, make calls and appointments throughout and she did it so quickly it made me worried if i can do the same. there’s a lot of words i don’t understand yet and im worried if i retained all the information that i was given. i was wondering if this was normal experience at first then it gets better or an isolated one? thank you for reading!

I want to die of embarrassment. I accidentally texted a patient a voice message meant for my wife.

Its 11pm and our 1 year old was refusing to sleep. Shes fussing and crying as my wife tries to put her to sleep.

Lately, ive been taking her to my home office and rocking her to sleep while playing cocomelon. This usually puts her to sleep in about 15 minutes.

My wife doesnt believe our daughter stops crying when i take her out there (its setup in a detached cabana by the pool). So since she was questioning if our baby stops crying when i take her out, i sent a silly voice message. However, I accidentally sent it to my female patient, in spanish. The patient speaks spanish. It was something to the effect of "im not crying mami, im with papi, the boring, i sleep better with boring papi."

Have you ever done something similar? Share your faux pas here.

Hello! I recently applied to pediatric associates for a medical receptionist position. I really want the job but my background is in vet med reception and the other experience I have is working for a school for kids with autism. Do you think I would get the job or even an interview?

I work in a major hospital in a large city. YES I'm empathetic and sympathetic to people's situations. But here's the thing...when I register you to see a patient...please don't assume I know you from the day before. Please don't come to my window telling me the back story of who you're visiting. Please don't walk up and say you're visiting without stating whom you're visiting i.e. Im here to see my father (pause) without saying the name. Please don't stick an ID in my face unless you are asked for the ID. Please stop spelling names unless you are asked to spell your name. I'm totally assuming you think I am stupid when you spell a name like Jim Brown, Tom White or Robert Green. Believe or not their are some people that actually know how to spell and I am one of those people. Please don't overreact when you have never been to this hospital, trying to go to the maternity ward and you are asked for ID which BTW people in this day and age don't find the need to have, scream and have temper tantrums because no one told them they needed ID. How old are we?? I was always told to have ID since I was 18??? Please don't get an attitude when you are asked to get a new time dated stamp your pass says Thursday but it's now Saturday. We understand you've been staying at the hospital and you left to go home and freshen up. Just update your pass. And please don't get upset when you are asked to stand in line instead of being 2 inches from the person who is being helped when their are signs actually telling you where to stand. And please don't walk up telling me the room number of the patient...very rarely do we go by that because rooms change frequently.Thats all for now I may think of some more later! Thanks!

I recently got a job offer for a medical receptionist float position, meaning if they need me to travel 45 minutes from my home town to their other facility to cover lunches or cover someone’s day off or “ in case of an emergency “ I would have to, also meaning in my home town I would have to travel 15 minutes between the two facilities that are in my home town, whenever they need me at whichever facility needs the coverage. I was just wondering has anyone ever had a job like this ? Is it worth it?

My wife started working for a hospital recently and is being told that she has to bring her own folders and to do the scanning needed she needs to bring her own scanner. This sounds hokey to me is this a thing in hospitals?

some dude who drank household cleaner and had his large intestine hooked up so he can eat again. he was african american. I saw it on an er story or whatever.

Having worked reception for GPs before, I know that there are some clinics that have 'emergency' appointments that are blocked off and not booked for regular appointments, only saved for urgent ones. That being said, the neurologist I currently work for doesn't do that. They have times set aside for various levels of urgency, but they're very strictly for different kinds of appointments (eg urgent new patient, regular new patient, review, etc). Not only that but even within these categories he's booked out months in advance. So when I tell people that the very next available appointment is a few months out and they ask me if there are any 'emergency times' I can put them in... well... no, there aren't??? If there was an earlier time available I would have told them that. I don't get anything from hiding appointments from people.

Besides that, I'm not a nurse or a doctor. I'm not medically trained at all. I don't have the authority or experience to triage neurological disorders and figure out if it's actually 'urgent' compared to all of the other cases. I understand that people want to get big problems like that solved quickly, but how am I meant to know if dizzy spells are more or less serious than someone's epilepsy or migraines? The doctor got their referral and told me which category of urgency it's in, I'm certainly not going to ignore his instructions bc of someone over the phone pressuring me with long pauses and a condescending tone.

So this is something that still bothers me and I think it will help to share. I’m a PCT at my local hospital and I work on one of the upper units in critical care. Not intensive but telemetry. I had this one pt she came in for a mild stroke. She was doing fantastic, she was amazing and sweet and her family was just the same. They asked us the day before about doing a birthday party for their mother and was wondering about our safety regulations. I work nights so the party happened before I came in. I got onto the unit and was clocking in as I head the code alarm go off and I responded. She choked on some candy she got for her birthday and was already blue when the day shift NA found her. (Which the NA couldn’t be bothered to help) I jumped in and started helping with compressions. This went on for about 30 minutes. The doctor was present at this time and the family was called with the update as the code was active. The family was instructed to wait away from her room but then the doctor went out and collected the family. (Husband, daughters, sons, grandchildren.) at this point the chest compressions have destroyed her chest and isn’t responding. Complete mush when you went down the chest didn’t come back up. I was still in active compression as they wheeled in her entire family. (We are still in the active code.) the husband pushed past and was grabbing onto her the sons and daughters crowded the room and the wailing still tears at my heart when I think of this moment. The looks I got as I’m actively pumping this woman’s chest made me start to tear up and I just think it was wrong to bring them all into that. Along with it was wrong to put us through that. Does anyone have any thoughts?

For anyone working in the medical field, as a receptionist, do you handle Release of information or is that a different department?

Also, for any medical receptionists, who have worked in hospital vs a physician’s office, or a smaller office, like clinics. What was the difference between them vs your job duties and your experience working there?

And have you ever had to learn CPR for your job?

Hi, Was just curious for any medical receptionists out there.

Have you ever been sued by a patient and what happened? I know doctors get sued from time to time but was curious if that happens to medical receptionists as well.

Hi, was just wondering for anyone working as one what do medical receptionists typically do?

Did you do any schooling in order to become a medical receptionist? Or is the on-job training enough? Thinking of getting the RHIT.

Is the job easy to learn and do? Do you earn a good enough salary? What do you typically earn? Are the hours good?

Are there any specialties you enjoy working in over the other? Like in a dental office, vs neurology, etc.

A middle-aged man came to the ER to be evaluated for night sweats. He feels fine when he goes to bed and he wakes up drenched in sweat. Night sweats are a sign of tuberculosis, so some follow-up questions are in order.

He has no fever, no cough, no pain, no other complaints whatsoever.

He does use a blanket, but it's not very thick.

He then adds, "I take care of my disabled son whose bed is next to mine. I keep the thermostat at 76F for him, and the vent is right above my bed."

Well, there you go.