HNL Lab Medicine

NESter

Good service.

PS PS

Emmaus, PA; Saturday May 14th, 2022 8:19AM I walked in through the North entrance closest to the main road. Despite the pandemic, I still expect to be walking into an office with clear indications such as A) A person to greet you at B) A check-in window with C) Welcoming, Obvious, and traditional guidance that you're in the right place. Instead, what I found is that you immediately step into a room full of non-employees (I guess) sitting silently in a waiting room of some kind (I also guess). Assuming I must have walked in through the back door I calmly show myself through the only other path there; a doorway with either a fully opened or no door at all which I expect would lead to a proper check-in and receiving area. NOPE…. Instead, I had unknowingly freely walked right into the area of exam rooms face-to-face with Phlebotomists and patients in the process of drawing blood. The first employee I passed was tending to their patient and didn’t pay me any mind (Maybe because my healthcare uniform resembled their own), which I respect. The second employee did the same. At that point it was necessary for me to announce my presence because A) It’s clear this is a violation of the patients’ privacy and B) If I continue walking, I’ll probably end up in the employee breakroom eating their lunch and driving their car home. I calmly asked where their check in-area was at. Now that they were aware (and seemingly surprised) that someone managed to walk through an open doorway I’m immediately informed I cannot be in that area. (DUH, OBVIOUSLY I’m not supposed to be there, that much is abundantly clear. I’m glad you finally noticed.) Since I wasn’t in the mood to feel embarrassed or guilty for YOUR flawed facility, I remained where I was standing and calmly restated my original, perfectly reasonable question (Which shouldn’t have to be asked). Where is your check in-area at? Only then am I made aware that check-in is done at a touchscreen tablet mounted on the wall immediately to my left as I enter the door to the unmarked waiting area. This upsets me because I work in healthcare and customer service. A) Who walks into any medical facility and even considers for an instant that the unmarked thing on the wall that is easily overlooked as nothing more than a thermostat is going to be the “check-in window”; and on top of that the ONLY Check-in option in case you did notice it but wanted to check-in with a live person B) How can you have ZERO physical barriers in place to keep people like me from just waddling in and interrupting you while performing a procedure on a patient? HIPAA, Security, Privacy, Common Sense, People Flow/Visitor Traffic Control are all things that existed before COVID…Why wasn’t this facility properly setup for these basic things when I visited? I wasn’t so much offended personally as I was offended and embarrassed on behalf, the HNL colleagues, current patients, and potential patients that must have gone through or were at risk of going through the exact situation. I chose to leave and postpone the bloodwork I needed. I did not feel the care or services I needed were accessible to me at this specific facility at that specific time. As a patient, depending who you are, these are little things or these can be big things……..But as the service/care provider…THESE ARE ALWAYS big things that should be properly addressed from the beginning. Pandemic not a valid excuse since doors, semiotics, People-Flow, Facility Services, Architects, and HIPAA all existed prior. I'm giving this location a second try soon; Please tell me these items have been addressed since May 2022 to meet basic best-practices of healthcare.

Benjamin Noah

Gave this place a few chances because they’re close to home, but it’s been three strikes in a row for them now. Last week, they lost one of my labs, so I have to get it done again today. Time before that, they did one incorrectly, so I had to have that redone, too. Every time it’s been a long wait, even if I’m the only person there… It’s just worth driving a little further to have labs done quickly and correctly the first time.

Angela Gero

Staff are very professional. Facility is clean and comfortable. Wait times are not too bad, except over their lunch break.