When I worked for the Navy contractor, editing updates to USN technical publications, I learned a lot.
The most important, life-changing thing I learned was: copying something over is a great way to make a mistake. This includes trying to type things like my ridiculously long doctor-portal address. That's why computers have a copy-paste feature! To be copied, the address needs to be in the computer. Since it wasn't emailed to me, it's not in there.
And the danger of typing a mistake goes double for my GI-digestive health patient portal. Perhaps yours is like mine, with a tiny print, three-and-a-half inch long address, some caps in the user name, and an eight-digit password. What are the chances of typing this wrong 221 times? I am not a numbers typist.
I can't even find my digestive health portal address, etc, any more. It took an hour to fight my way into that portal, only to find that the information I wanted had not been input. The next time I tried it, the portal put me in a don't-loop for a half hour. I finally gave up.
Last week, I agreed to give my email address to my primary doctor so I could use a portal. It's the same portal program! And they have my e-mail address.
How to handle it? I want them to email me the address and password, so I can just copy them into a document and then copy them on line repeatedly. This should have been a choice in the design of the portal. It's probably as confidential as having this paper floating around the house and accidentally getting recycled.
I can't e-mail the doctor and ask them to e-mail me back, since I don't have their e-mail address. I would have to try to get someone there by phone. Right now their phone is not taking messages.
I will try them again between thunderstorms this afternoon.
Is your patient portal easier? Am I being unreasonable? Please leave a comment.
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