Sometimes at university hospitals the doctors really don't have a lot to do with hiring/firing. There are clinic managers who report to supervisors and then coordinators and so on. So it's really different. The doctors only have input. My doctor was REALLY aware of some of the scheduling people, but they don't have authority to do anything. It's a business, yes, but it's a huge business, and because of this it takes a lot of complaints before anything happens. And it's all union and everything too. Very complicated. So be aware of this at university hospitals or clinics within big hospitals. Sometimes it can be very difficult to fire someone!

I just woo my head nurse. I adore her anyways, and once when my surgery was "accidentally" canceled for no particular reason, just dropped from the books, I turned to her for help. I had to have surgery that week it was planned because it was my spring break from school. She got me back in somehow and I was so incredibly greatful. I brought her flowers and chocolate because man, she deserved it. She cried! No one had ever thanked her for going above and beyond like that. She's mid-50s and I consistently see her doing more than necessary for people and no one had given her even a card before. So I inadvertently won her heart over. I just learned that being really nice to your nurses and showing your appreciation to those who are good to you can get you really far. I don't deal with scheduling anymore. The nurses take care of it for me.

(A couple of years later the same nurse came in on a Saturday morning to look at a revision incision for my spinal stim- 12 inches down my spine- that was starting to get red and just didn't look right. She put me on big gun antibiotics and had me come back Monday morning. I was in surgery an hour later and my entire stimulator had to come out. I had a massive infection in my spine and was in the hospital for a long time. My doctor told me that if Ann hadn't put me on those antibiotics when she did the infection would have been too far gone by Monday and "my outcome would have been different". Nice way of saying dead! So make friends with your nurses! You never know when they'll be there for you.)

I always ask the nurse, at a new doctor's, what can I do to help you make this happen? This let's the nurse know that I know that she's busy, frazzled and probably doesn't want to try to fit me in over someone else. And I laugh and joke with her or him about how pesky I am. Believe it or not, but it goes a long way and tends to work. Try it!