CMO Patient Bulletin
Special Bulletin-
To all PDQ Patients- A Special Bulletin
I am sure you are all aware the numbers are increasing at such a rapid rate, it has now come to the point we cannot keep up with the volume.
Partially due to the upcoming holiday, as well as the fact we have been leading the pack in terms of Covid testing and Covid treatments, the requests for telehealth, swabbing and antibody testing, and beginning treatment in new or worsening cases, has reached a breaking point.
We have hired new staff as well as providers, but have precious little time to train them. Even double and triple booking our doctors has failed to meet the demand.
What we ask from you at this time is simple understanding and appreciation for the situation. If we cannot get back to you timely, we are not ignoring you. We will work our way down the list until we reach everyone who wants to reach us.
The staff reports to me a fair number of patients who express a lot of anger and hostility. We do not blame you for your frustration. This is something we in no way could have prepared for. Please realize our staff is literally risking their lives in many cases and putting in double shifts.
Please hold back on the temptation to leave a negative review, or use profanity at our staff.
We are performing at a level I never thought possible. I have never in my career seen this many sick patients all at once, some very serious.
As far as what you can do, as we have asked, please use Mousecalls or Live Chat from our apps or websites whenever possible.
If you do not receive a timely answer, wait about 12 hours before trying again. Otherwise the lines just get more backed up.
If you have a non-Covid related issue, consider coming into the offices; we do not allow sick patients to enter so it is relatively safe to come in than trying to reach us via phone.
We do not see an end in sight, yet will work hard to answer all inquiries. We will be triaging the sicker patients. We will be increasing our testing hours, but we will not be able to do testing on this Thursday Christmas Eve, Friday Christmas Day, Saturday, or Sunday this week.
We just received word today December 21st, that the labs that process our PCR swabs have informed us that they are unable to keep up with the volume. They will not be answering our phone calls to inquire on ETA’s for results and also cannot guarantee results before Christmas Day. This appears to be a problem throughout Orange County Although we WILL be testing Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday this week prior to the holiday, we have no way to assure results this week.
Thank you in advance for your understanding. As things improve–or worsen–we will let you know.
Gregg DeNicola MD
Chief Medical Officer
PDQ Urgent Care and More