Thursday, March 25, 2010

Customer Service

So I decided to let Dana-Farber know about my missing PCR test from December. I sent a letter to the head of the Quality Improvement and Patient Safety committee at the hospital. I received an immediate response and apology with indications that further investigations would be under way. The following day, I received a call from another person on the committee apologizing again. Yesterday, I received a letter reporting the findings of their investigation. My blood was drawn in December, sent to the laboratory at Brigham and Women's Hospital, but disappeared from there. Based on my complaint, they are implementing a performance enhancement regarding blood specimen tracking. What is amazing is that the hospital seems to have an extremely updated system. At my last blood draw, the phlebotomist used a wireless machine to scan my ID bracelet and another wireless device to print out the appropriate labels. Despite technology, there is always room for human error.

On another note, I spoke to my doctor today and he reported that my PCR test was still undetectable.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

We are grateful for your results and very proud of your effort in terms of Dana Farber

Amanda said...

Hi Jon,
I just wanted to drop you a note to say that you have a great blog here. Your insight is so valuable for anyone who wants to learn more about what it's really like to experience CML or go through insensitive medical treatment in general. Thanks for sharing your story.

I linked to your blog in this discussion on WEGO Health: http://community.wegohealth.com/profiles/blogs/what-is-cml because I think you're an awesome example of a Health Activist and I hope more people will visit your blog to learn more about CML.

I hope you'll come by our site sometime and consider joining our Leukemia group or Health Bloggers group. Then you can spread the word about great work you're doing while also helping to encourage others who may want to become activists in their own health communities. :)

Thanks for all you do!
-Amanda
amandad@wegohealth.com