What tips would you offer? I like to look at the type of literature on offer to the waiting consu… uh patient, but I don’t know if this is really helpful given that they’re only trying to provide a read for the most general of the public… but still, it might give me a glimmer of hope to walk into a waiting room and see a few science or nature mags instead of just piles of automobile, fashion and gossip magazines.
This can be a misleading setup if the doctor I’m seeing is in a suite with a bunch of other doctors.
I don’t care much about the waiting room (I guess if I’m looking at a pediatrician I’d like it if they had separate spaces for sick kids and healthy kids just because of the vectors of illness amongst the little ones) or the space so long as it’s not shabby. I’d prefer something that didn’t look like a Hollywood set designer’s conception of “very good doctor’s waiting room” because it means that the practice is putting their fees into something more important than couches.
I probably won’t stay with a doctor whose office staff seems surly, short-tempered or incompetent, but that’s just because these people can represent a barrier between the patient and healthcare they need when they’re unwilling to facilitate communication between patient and doctor and that’s unacceptable.
I’d question the doctor about my specific concerns. How much experience is there in treating any chronic conditions that I might have? Is the emphasis on “let’s try this new hot (and expensive) drug that the pharma rep just gave me an hour long spiel over” or on a reasoned approach of trial with drugs and other non-pharmaceutical approaches to management?
I’d also ask questions to determine how sensitive (and, in some cases, how tolerant/accepting) the practice is to how certain aspects of my life will affect my health and need for certain healthcare. Factors such as my work, sexual orientation/practices, gender identity and religious expression/practices can present certain challenges to healthcare, demand certain recognitions and limit the appropriateness of certain courses of treatment and I’d want to know if the practice was capable of recognizing and acknowledging this and acting accordingly.