Incompetence!

I went by the hospital this morning to drop off my big jug of pee, and what an ordeal that turned out to be. The nurse at my OB's office told me to drop it off at labor & delivery, so I went there first and they acted like they had no idea what I was even talking about. They sent me to the lab, who had not received any kind of order from my doctor to do the tests (way to go doc, thanks for helping me keep my stress levels down!), so they acted like they had no idea what I was talking about too. The lady at the lab called my doctor's office and they agreed to fax over a prescription for the tests right away.

After she hung up, the lab lady started telling me that she had no record of me in the computer system so I would have to go to patient registration first. This is hilarious because SHE PERSONALLY (I know this from her name tag) had just sent me a bill for $18 for the processing of my glucose test. She also insisted that I was going to have to have another round of blood work done by the hospital lab because the blood the doctor took on Monday wasn't good enough for her. I am having none of this, so I call my doctor and they say to ignore the crazy lady because their blood work is more than sufficient. While I'm on the phone, the order arrives via fax, and the mean lab lady calls my doctor back to argue and insist that they ordered the wrong tests. Why she thinks she would know better than my doctor what tests I'm supposed to have is beyond me. Anyway, at least the doctor talked her out of doing more blood work.

Of course, she still sent me to patient registration (pre-registration is a myth no matter what anyone says), which was all the way on the other side of the hospital campus, and I had to wait my turn to re-register with all the information I'd already given them when I registered for my glucose test. This is doubly hilarious because not only had the nurse giving the maternity tour last night told me that as long as I was already in the system I'd be good to go when I arrived to deliver the baby, but we have also received THREE separate bills from the hospital for my glucose test, two of which were refunded about a week after we paid them.

Ah, the incompetence. Today's encounter didn't make me feel at all better about having a smooth hospital visit when the baby arrives, and I'm sure that's great for my anxiety. I will also be completely shocked if these labs get processed correctly and the information gets sent back to my doctor.