I moved offices in April 2014, for the first time in my career. Overall, it went quite smoothly.
But one problem persists, thanks to the Internet age.
The majority of search engines and rate-a-doc sites haven’t updated my address. I’ve e-mailed them about it, but get either no response or (even better) a response saying “We’ve reviewed your note and found our information is correct.” Apparently, I don’t know my correct address, in spite of driving there every day.
But what’s even more frustrating is when my patients follow these instructions. My secretary is quite conscientious about giving patients, new and old, the correct location when they make the appointment. My practice website even has a map.
Despite this, we still have a roughly 20% rate of people going to my old office across the street, then calling to see where we went. Worse, this even happens with patients who were never even seen at that office, yet have been to my new one several times.
Then they come in and yell at my staff for giving them the wrong address. They claim my website has the wrong address. It doesn’t, but I can’t control other sites.
The problem is that most don’t trust other people as much as they trust their phones. Rather than writing down my address when talking to my secretary, it’s easier to just tell Siri, “find Dr. Allan Block’s office.” Siri checks the Internet, where the majority of incorrect listings drown out my dinky little practice site. So people follow the phone’s instructions without questioning them. Even those who’ve previously been to this office, or think, “that doesn’t sound right,” will often follow the directions without question. After all, the Internet knows best.
I’m not knocking the rise of the smartphone. They’re awesome. I rely on Siri myself a great deal. But the phone is only as good as the data supplied, and isn’t capable of questioning it. If most sites list an incorrect address, then who am I to argue? I’m just the guy who’s actually renting the place.
The problem is that information itself is often unhelpful and misleading, and the Internet isn’t always right.
When I dictate an EEG report, I often end it with “clinical correlation is advised.” We need to keep that in mind for everyday life, too.
Dr. Block has a solo neurology practice in Scottsdale, Ariz.