An Educational Day at the SCCA, Lesson 5: I'm Not Quite Sure SCCA Has Mastered Customer Service Just Yet

As I was leaving the infusion center today I overheard a conversation between the guy in the alcove next to me and a pharmacist. I have never heard two people, both speaking English, who were so clearly speaking two different languages in my life.

At core, the basic issue was that the patient's labs were such that they couldn't give him his scheduled infusion. But that was just the start of the problem. 

The pharmacist had come to the infusion center to let the patient know that while they had made up his drugs, they weren't actually going to be giving them to him but instead would be putting the drugs on a shelf so they'd be available for him the next day.She said this like it was good news.

At this point the patient began questioning, and nearly every question he asked began with the same word, "Who?" The patient wanted an agent. In his formulation, a decision had been made and he wanted to know who had made that decision. This, however, was not the pharmacist's view of things, and there was no way she was going to assign agency. She kept saying things like "our policies won't allow..." or "the labs were such that...." The closest she got to getting on the same page as the patient was when she confirmed that "Dr. X had been consulted." Listening to the two of them talk was actually pretty funny, at least to start.

Eventually, though, it got a little sad. Apparently the patient had to drive some two hours from his home to the SCCA and this was the third time he'd made the drive only to be told that he couldn't receive his treatment. Given this, his testiness seems pretty forgivable. If I'd been in his position, I can pretty much guarantee "testy" wouldn't describe it. It would seem to me that for patients that live close enough to Seattle to make a temporary relocation sort of pointless, but far enough away that it's not really convenient to get to South Lake Union, the SCCA ought to be able to hook up with their local doctor or a local lab so that they could go someplace local to get the key lab drawn, get an expedited result, and only if the labs were good enough make the drive to Seattle for the infusion. 

Two hours -- or rather four, since it's a round trip -- is a long time in a car for a blood draw and an hour or two sitting in a chair waiting.