I woke up this morning with the question running through my brain, I wonder what he’ll say? He is the Doctor, a Specialist or a Sports Doctor. I broke my left shoulder back on July 5th, my physician was concerned that the break wasn’t healing so he shipped me off to see this guru of bones for athletes.

Anyway, I had to drive to the next community to see him as wasn’t local to where I lived. The drive was beautiful, the sky was clear and I was taking my time enjoying the journey I was on. I found his office relatively easy and pulled into the parking lot wondering if I had to pay to park there, I didn’t…SWEET! I mean how often do you find free parking?

I went in and filled out the paperwork, then I waited, I waited and waited some more before finally getting into wait a little longer. The door opens, at last I’m thinking, and then he asks me why I was there! I said pardon, don’t you have my file on hand? Nope! I told him what happened and then he said, I want you to go a block and half and get some X-Rays done. It was like he wasn’t even listening! Feeling a little frustrated and annoyed at the same time I agreed to go. He gave me the paper and the address, he then gave me directions and off I went. Guess what? The directions were bogus, he sent me the wrong way and I was gone for almost 40 minutes before I came back with X-Rays in hand. Enough about that.

The good news is, the shoulder is healing but very slowly, and the break was actually a shatter but everything was pulling together just fine and he said I would be as good as new in about 6 more weeks of waiting. I said, I want to play sports again…when can I play soccer again? He felt the shoulder couldn’t take a hit or a fall just yet and preferred that I waited another 6 weeks. I asked why 6 weeks, I want you to come back and see me then and we can discuss it then. I thanked him even though I felt cheated, off home I went. Doctor’s are you listening?

While driving home I got to thinking, how would Social Media change the experience I just went through. Again, taking my time going home, I hammered on this thought and I just couldn’t find an answer. Maybe you have some thoughts on the topic, if so, leave your thoughts in the comments. I’m just not convinced that Social Media would have made the Doctor listen better, actually pay attention to what I was saying and or how I was feeling.  You have to keep in mind, in Canada our medical system is unique at best and the Doctors are pretty safe from public pressure when it comes to the customer service expectation. How could Doctors learn from these communities, could these communities make these kinds of changes in Doctors? As you can see my head was racing with questions and very few conclusions.

I would love to hear from communities on this particular topic, and hear some great ideas on how we or I could proceed so we could make this experience more positive. Or is this One Thing Social Media Can’t Change?