who in the hell are you?

Have you ever heard the patient say: "Who in the hell are you now?"

I was thinking today how coming into a hospital is a ridiculous experience for the patients.  They tell their stories to people over and over.

First they tell it to the triage nurse.  Then they tell it to the nurse in the room.  Then they tell it to the physician assistant or NP.  Then they tell it to the ER doc. The ER doc tells it to the hospitalist or the resident who ask the patient the story.. The ER nurse tells it to the inpatient nurse who asks the patient the story when they get to the room. The resident may have a medical student come to see the patient.  They tell it to the  1st year resident who tells it to the the 3rd year resident.  The doctor, be they resident, hospitalist, intensivist, brings in the specialist.  The speicalist asks the patient again for the story.  So far the patient has told their story to eight people.

Now lets talk about how many people the patient comes in contact with just in the ER:

triage nurse
ER nurse
EMT
PA or NP
ER doc
lab person
xray person
CT or ultrasound person
registration
housekeeper?
volunteer?
charge nurse?
transport person

That is a potential 13 people going in and out of the room.

The lack of efficiency is astounding.  Why do so many different people have to ask the patient their story, espeically in this day of electronic records?  Why can't we read the story on the computer and not ask the patient the same questions?  Is it because we don't trust each other?  Is it because we are afraid of losing our little piece of the pie?

Its insanity the way we practice. I wonder if it will ever change.