I might have accidentally “traumatized” a patient.
So I 33f am a CMA in a cardiology office. I’ve been in the healthcare field for the better part of the last 13 years. I have received multiple, I don’t want to call it an award, but they would pass out like little certificates if we received positive patient feedback. I get compliments from my patients almost daily. I am very friendly, very down to earth while also staying professional. I have excellent relationships with a lot of the patients that we have to see more often. Well let’s fast forward to today. Today I had a 22 year old female come in who was accompanied by her brother and grandmother. Our triage room is not very big so it’s pretty difficult to have more than just myself and the patient in there. Well when I called the girl to come back with me, grandma and brother came too. So I put the grandma and the brother into the room she was going to see the dr in while I take her to triage and all of that. Well it didn’t seem like a big issue. I got her in there took her BP asked her some questions, did an ekg etc. I could tell she seemed a little bit nervous/ anxious, but I really didn’t think much of it. There were some things she told me that her grandmother would know more about, which is really not a shock seeing as a lot of 22 year olds I have come in here bring a parent and they do most of the talking. So once I got her triaged, I took her to the room with grandma and I sat down to ask her some questions as well. So grandma tells me that she is autistic and was probably uncomfortable due to the fact that things happened so fast and they got separated. Mind you at this point I am apologizing because it was not intentional to make her uncomfortable. When I left the room everything seemed fine. I let the Dr know what happened before she went in. Well about 20 ish minutes later the Dr walks out with the patient and they left. She tells me that she did not see the patient because once she got in there grandma basically had a fit because why would she want to be seen at a drs office that is going to traumatize the girl. Brittany, the dr, tried talking to her and explaining that it wasn’t intentional and she also was apologizing profusely. Well I sent a message to my office manager to let her know what happened in case this grandmother would call and make a complaint. What I didn’t know was Brittany and had also called to talk to her about the situation. Here’s where the issue lies, my manager basically said well let’s just hope she doesn’t file a complaint. To me that basically was her saying you’re on your own if she does complain.
Now here is where I start to get a little pissed off. I am the mother of an autistic 12 year old girl, if I had her at the dr and they tried to separate her from me, I would make it clear that she is autistic and won’t be able to go in alone. Had the grandma said anything or made any indication that she wanted or needed to go in with the patient it wouldn’t have been an issue. So basically there’s a chance I can be written up and get in trouble for this. If that were the case should I file a grievance with HR since this was a situation that wasn’t in my control? I mean it’s not like I could just look at her and assume she’s autistic. I guess basically I’m just asking if anyone has been through anything like this? Should I just go to HR before she even gets a chance to file a complaint? I’m really at a loss as to what to do because I love my job and I’m pretty damned good at it. We are a branch of a bigger office inside of a local hospital, so there is no manage here, and it’s typically just me the registration girl and one or both of the physicians I work are here. There was no one to get to kind of step in and solve the problem. Any advice would be appreciated.