I visited the Airdrie Urgent Care Clinic on Sunday, June 4th 2017 at approximately 7pm. The reason for my visit was that I had been experiencing unusual cold-like symptoms that were severe and prolonged.
When I arrived I was prompted by a sign near triage stating that I had to stop behind a red line and wait until a triage nurse could see me. My fiancé and I stood there for 20 minutes, all the while, two nurses and an administrative worker stood at a desk chatting a meter away from us. For those 20 minutes we listened to them complain about patients, co-workers and their personal lives without any kind of acknowledgement that we were even stood there. Meanwhile, a line behind us started to form which included elderly people and families with young children. When they finally finished their conversations a nurse called me over to her desk to promptly tell me that it was a 4 hour wait, I said that it was no problem as I was in a considerable amount of pain. She checked my vitals, filled a chart and had me register with the administrative staff.
I proceeded to wait three and a half hours until I was called up (which is not my concern, we live in a large city with many surrounding communities and wait times add up), when I was called it was a new nurse who quickly tried to usher me into another area to be looked at by a doctor and when I could not keep up, she barked at me saying, "that chair in the back, go sit there" and did not acknowledge me further.
After another 20 minutes a young doctor came to see me, he asked about my history, checked my ears, throat, glands and head. Told me it was a common cold, to drink plenty of fluids and take some advil. He also mentioned that he noticed that I had been swabbed for strep throat two months prior and that he felt he didn't need to test again for it because of this and sent me home.
Today, Monday, June 5th 2017 I decided to see another doctor for a second opinion. He did all the same tests and immediately prescribed me an antibiotic to treat my symptoms, which turns out was strep throat as well as an ear infection.
I am thoroughly disappointed with the treatment I received at Airdrie urgent care, I understand that being a health services professional is a difficult job that requires a lot from a person, but I was not treated with any decency or respect from any of the staff working on this occasion. For patients to wait hours on end to see a doctor, only to receive less than 5 minutes of a doctors time and be sent home with no answers is a shame. I would recommend that AHS not only trains their staff to better treat and respect their patients, but also how to behave in the workplace in general. Lunchroom gossip needs to be saved for the lunchroom, not the front desk where 20+ people can hear you and are waiting to be served. In addition, I would recommend that for patients (who are usually in pain/miserable/exhausted as is from whatever is ailing them) be treated with some kind of courtesy or kindness from AHS staff in order to provide a positive experience for both parties. I saw several young families come through those doors with injured and sick little ones who were treated the exact same way I was, and the waiting room was filled with chatter of how disappointing the treatment from staff was. Lastly, Doctors need to be able to either have more time or more patience in order to better diagnose and recommend treatment for their patients; having two visit two doctors offices in a 24 hour period is not enjoyable and much of my ordeal could have been avoided if the doctor who saw me at Airdrie Urgent Care had actually taken the time to do his job properly. read more