I waited to see the doctor today for a fucking hour and a half!

The BBQ Pit
1

When they finally called my name I felt like I had won the friggin lottery!

Ahhhh…

I don’t pretend to know why I had to wait that long but there sure as hell must be some reason for it. Whatever it is it needs to be corrected. When I finally made it to the cubicle I waited another 15 to 20 minutes before he finally came in. By then my blood pressure was way up and I wanted to just kick him in the nuts.

I sure don’t want anyone else’s level of care to be slighted on my account but good lord my time just like my health is important too!
Yeah yeah I know the doctor is important and I am just a lowly patient but I took two hours off work just to sit in a waiting room and read out of date people magazines.

Ok I have vented and I feel better. But I realize this is the pit so go ahead and get your meat hooks out and hand tell me all about the other side of this issue that I am too ignorant to understand. Come on bring it.

2

I feel your pain. One of my pet peeves – I’m sure there’s some rational explanation for why they’re so over-booked that we have to wait forever. I so detest waiting (being of the impatient sort) that I never visit a doctor’s office unless I am close to death. I’ve caused a scene and walked out on more than one occasion. Do we not have enough doctors? There’s a health care crisis as it relates to people desiring to test-try the latest prescription drug (whether they need it or not) - is this causing the delays?? Doctors, speak up!

3

Fuck that, I don’t blame you. An orthopedic doctor I used to see regularly would keep me waiting like that. HOURS. Then I went to one of the best in NY. I brought a thick book to keep myself busy. 15 minutes BEFORE my appointment, they called me in. I went immediately to x-ray. Right into my room. The doc came right in and did my exam while the x-rays were processed. bang, bang, bang I was out in less then an hour. At one of the busiest practices I’d ever seen! And it’s always like that there! So I KNOW it can be done. That’s a huge pet peeve of mine.

4

HA!!!
[Other side of coin]

My parents (who run a rural GP) had to put a sign up saying to report to the receptionist if you have chest pains. Apparently some people were willing to wait in line while they were having a minor heart attack :rolleyes:

Mind you, there some GP’s out there that who enjoy yacking with their favourite patients regardless of double/triple afternoon bookings and how many walk-ins they have.

5

Don’t blame you at all. I fired the last doctor that kept me waiting. I dared to ask the doctor what had gone wrong since the nurses wouldn’t tell me a damned thing. He launched into a very graphic description of another patient’s emergency, and made it very obvious I should never dare to question him. That he would use another person’s medical misfortune to cow me into silence was too much. I’ve never been back and sent a letter telling him why.

There are plenty of options for them, to keep things on schedule or let you know, so you can make decisions about how to use your time. It’s a bad attitude or incompetance if they keep you waiting very often. OBGYNs get a partial pardon since sometimes babies don’t keep to the posted schedule.

6

When the doctor calls you in, just look up from the magazine you’re reading and say, “Look, I’m in the middle of a really interesting article. Just go back to your room and I’ll come in when I’m ready.”

7

Believe it or not, I continue to cheerfully be left waiting by my doctor. I know I am a weird case, but let me explain.

I’d always gone to this practice and just seen “whoever,” since my original doctor had moved on and for general things I never much cared who saw me, just whoever was available. They were all fine. When I was knocked up, however, I needed to pick one person for my consistent prenatal care. The nurse reviewed my choices with me and told me that Dr. B often ran late but that was because he spent time with his patients as needed. I decided I could live with that. I picked Dr. B. From then on, I always (a) tried to be one of the first appointments of the day, before he started running behind; and (b) brought something engrossing to read.

He’s still my doctor, five years later, and my son’s doctor, and my husband’s doctor.

I know it sucks to wait–it ESPECIALLY sucks when you didn’t know you might be cooling your heels. In my case, I know why (and I’ve benefitted from Dr. B’s commitment to taking time with his patients, a time or two), so it makes all the difference.

One could argue that they should simply schedule fewer patients for him. Not sure why they don’t, but perhaps they don’t think they should change the routine of the entire practice for one doctor. And maybe he makes up the time later in the day; I dunno.

As a general rule, I am trying to remember to keep a book with me all the time. It’s so much nicer waiting in line at the post office or waiting for the DMV when you’ve got something great to read. Word to the wise (and something I wish I were more consistent about), I guess.

8

This is quite an issue.

Professionally and personally I am on great terms with a ton of Doctors. They rely on me and we’re friends. My best bud is an ob/gyn, but I also know another, a urologist, an orthopedic surgeon, a couple of gps, some dentists, a couple of anesthesiologists, an ER doc, a whole other practice of Ob/Gyns, and a couple of crappy internal medicine types.

Not only do I know these guys, I know their wives and husbands, kids, Birthdays, home phone numbers, beeper numbers and cell phone numbers.

A few years ago I just knew the OB/Gyn. That kind of sucked 'cuz I used him as my Gp, and when I testicular swelling that turned out to be epididimitis. He wasn’t much help “I only do innies. Get to the emergency room!” Still, if I asked he could get me antibiotics or whetever I wanted.

Now that I know all these guys, I can get some serious access to medical care immediately for myself and family any time I need it. I try never to abuse the privilege because that’s the surest way to make it go away.

However, from knowing these guys as well as I do, I have occasion to be very surprised by some of their practices.

The great majority of Doctors I know are concerned overachieving workaholics who do their very best.

On the other side of the coin, there are some really self-absorbed jerks who look at their patients as an endless stream of sheep.

I have personal knowledge of Docs going out for a late lunch while a waiting room full of patients just sits there.

The best docs inevitably care about their patients wait time. It’s a part of their skill integrity and professionalism that a patient can see.

One GP I know treats migrant workers as well as bank Presidents. There is a sign in both Spanish and English in the waiting room. It says “If we keep you waiting more than 15 minutes past your appointment, please notify the front desk so that we may serve you immeidately.”

He’s the one I go to.

He gives a shit.

9

God you think you have it bad? I have to visit a neurologist every few months and when I do the wait is anywhere to 1 1/2 hours to 3 1/2. Keep in mind the actual APPOINTMENT takes less than 5 minutes.

Finished many a book there.

10

Speaking as a doctor who runs his practice pretty much on time … usually less than ten minutes wait unless there is some real unusual situation, and then the entrance to the room is introduced with an apology … why do you put up with it? I know that scheduling is a bit of black magic, it can’t be perfect unless we build in a lot of our time as thumb twiddle time, and some rooms turn into weigh anchor black holes … but these docs do it so poorly so often because they can. Go somewhere else. Complain on your way out of the practice. They won’t fix it if they do not know that it bugs the shit out of you.

Why do I mostly run on time? Am I just a caring considerate guy? Well, sure, :slight_smile: but I also know that patients choose us for lots of reasons.They can’t really appreciate my brilliant diagnostic acumen compare to Joe Scholck down the street. They choose me because they percieve that I give a shit (see above) and because bringing their kid in doesn’t use up their whole morning. If I fail on those counts I lose patients. I see an on time office as informed self interest.

11

Just throwing out a couple examples of why sometimes doctors run late, through my years of experience of working in their offices - though an hour and a half is pretty damned long to be delayed. This will also vary depending on what doctor type you’re seeing.

  • Emergency/urgent appointments end up overbooking the clinic. You say reserve a few slots for these? Doesn’t work, at least when I used to work in a pediatric cardiology office - we’d overbook past the reserved slots too. We always had some mother panicking because her teenager was having chest pains, and had gotten a referral to us from the ER after nothing showed up there. It’s nearly always just musculoskeletal pain, but all we’d need is one that we told could wait a few days/week, and the kid drops dead on the basketball court, and we get our ass sued off. So they get booked. We also had parents who’d fail to bring their kids in repeatedly, until suddenly their kids’ health took a nosedive, and then it’s “you have to see my child now!”
  • Not-so-emergency appointments and obnoxious parents - Parents who’d call in and say, “My child has a heart condition, he can’t wait a week to see the doctor!” You can’t believe what an effort of will it took - especially when the kid had a benign condition and was just having routine checkups now and then - to not say, “All of our patients do, we’re a cardiology office.” I’d check with the doctor, and the doctor would want to be agreeable, and would usually book the patient.
  • Late doctor. It happens. Some are worse than others. Sometimes they’re coming from seeing other patients and get stuck in traffic. Sometimes they’re just habitually late, like when they arrive an hour or more late to their first clinic of the morning. Sometimes they’re trying to get through their morning rounds to run to clinic, and other doctors keep stopping them to ask for their advice/to see one last patient/etc.
  • Other people coming in late. We had parents who knew the system, and knew that their kids were sick enough that they could come in late and we’d see them - eventually, but we’d see them. So it was a pain in the rear to try to squeeze patients in when people would pull crap like that.

I don’t think any of that would excuse an hour and a half delay, though. Yeesh.

12

Gah. Doctors. Waiting. The root of all evil. I’m bitter.

Three years ago, I had the privilege of a very nasty case of patellar tendonitis (growth spurt + training 2-3 hours a day, 6 days a week = bad. Working through the pain = 2 x bad). Finally broke down and got dragged to a the family doc, who recommended x-rays and seeing a physical therapist (or somethin’ similar, forget his exact ‘job’).

Next day, went to get x-rayed. Waited for two hours in the lobby, then another 45 minutes in a little changing room. Then waited another 45 minutes afterward to make sure the film came out right.

Day after that, at the highly-recommended physical therapists: waited two and a half hours. The diagnosis was nothin’ but bad, too. And no one has an immediate emergency where they must see the sports doc right now, so I’ve got no sympathy. Damn doctors…

13

My partner had a much needed surgery scheduled for last Wednesday, 18 June. He has suffered from sciatica for 15 years, and because of an implant, cannot have an MRI. In the last couple of years, the pain has intensified to where he is taking 4 percocet a day :eek: (yes, I know!:eek: ) It took a year to get the diagnosis he needed to have surgery (several specialists who saw him actually accused him of making up his pain to continue to take the meds). And, yes, we would drive 2 hours to the specialists (2 different cities), sit in waiting rooms for hours, and the appointment would be literally 5-10 minutes.

So, finally, last Wednesday…the surgery – he was as eager about it as a kid going to an amusement park! Finally, the surgery and treatment he needed…we live 90 miles from the hospital, and have a small farm, so I took him up the night before, and he stayed at a hotel what has a shuttle service to the hospital…got there Wednesday morning at 8am as required…mind you, no food or water since midnight, which also meant he couldn’t take any meds – finally at 4 pm, he is told, ‘Sorry, you’ve been bumped’ – and that they might get to him next week…he said, ‘But I’m stranded!’ They said, ‘Not our problem.’

One of the volunteer workers in the waiting room told him not to ring me, but instead hired him a cab – and put the 2 hour trip on the neurology dept’s tab.:smiley:

Anyway, he had his surgery yesterday morning and is now home with a very sore bottom…

14

I had a doctor once who was ALWAYS on time – but he had a very strict policy that he made known to his patients: The price to pay for him being on time was that you got 5 minutes of his time. If you needed more, you had to book it in advance. Hey, fine by me! It forced me to be organized when I went in there, usually with everything I needed to tell him in writing so I wouldn’t fumble around for it; and then the one time I knew I was going to need more time, I just booked it and it was no problem.

My feeling is that a lot of doctors feel they have to cram in as many patients as they have in order to try to make enough money to cover the huge office staff (mandated by paperwork requirements, both insurance and governmental) and the insurance premiums (which can range from outrageous to beyond ludicrous). I feel sorry for them, but having seen doctors who nevertheless manage to see patients on time, barring emergencies (such as our current doctor), within the current system, I still won’t put up with it.

My all-time favorite doctor visit, though, was the time when I was suffering from rather nasty chronic allergic asthma (fortunately cleared up since), and midday about the third day through a cold it rather quickly and nastily turned into bronchitis – I mean, it moved into my chest in 15 minutes. I could barely breathe. Hubby ran home from work, collected me, and took me to the doctor’s office – where the office manager REFUSED to let me see a doctor – I should have called first thing that morning and made an appointment, she yelled at me! Even though I TOLD her repeatedly I was an asthmatic and that the bronchitis had come on quite suddenly midday! So I went to the emergency room, then wrote the doctor a really nasty letter and fired him. As far as I know, the bitch is still working there. Sometimes there is no justice in the world.

15

Wow…I was just about to start my very OWN thread about such an experience that happened to me last night.

I’ve been having a few ‘eye’ issues over the last few weeks. I had been a patient at the Ocular Immunology clinic at our local Eye and Ear hospital over a number of years, but they gave me the ‘all clear, or at least as clear as things are gonna get’ last November. Now, rather than seeing my GP (who has no clue about my eye disorders) to get a referral to get ANOTHER appointment at the O.I. Clinic (and possibly wasting everyones time in the process), I decided to pop in to the Casualty Section of the E and E last night after work…just to see if they could see if there was anything obviously wrong, or whether I was just being a hypochondriac…:smiley:

Well, when I got there, the waiting room was virtually empty (a rare occurence for this hospital btw). I was given an acuity test within 2 minutes, then saw the ophthalmologist within 10. “Bewdy”, says me to myself…this is going to be over in no time. After the ophth. had done a quick once-over, she instilled some dilating drops so that she could do a more thorough exam. I waited for the drops to take effect, then a nurse popped by and bunged some more in for good measure. My eyes were not dilating quickly enough, so about 2 minutes later they put even MORE in. Sheesh…I’ve never needed more than 2 drops per eye in the past, but this added up to 6 per eye! Whatever…I was just chuffed that I was going to be getting out in time for dinner.

But the ophth. came back again, and as I squinted blurrily at her, she informed me that all the Cas. staff had to go off for a meeting. “We’ll only be an hour, so if you wanna go off and get something to eat while we’re gone, just make sure you’re back by 7.00 pm”. Wha? You’ve fucked-up my eyes, and now you’re telling me that I have to go walkabout while you have your meeting? Why the hell did you put the drops in if you knew that you had a meeting at 6.00? Why didn’t you tell me to piss off and come back later…?

But of course, it was more than an hour. I’d toddled/weaved my way up the road to find the local MacDonalds** (because the cafe at the hossie was well and truly closed by that time) and managed to get back by the required 7.00 pm. However, the quacks didn’t arrive back on the floor until 7.45. THAT’S A WHOLE TWO HOURS SINCE YOU PUT THE FIRST FUCKING DROPS IN MY EYES, AND NOW THEY’RE STARTING TO WEAR OFF AREN’T THEY!!! So they had to put more in…arrgggggggghhhh.

Anyway, they finally found some ‘vitreous detachment’ but hopefully no retinal tear. Mostly this condition is associated with older people (thanks for that info Doc…:rolleyes:), but given my sordid ocular past, nothing shocks me any more. I finally got home at 8.45 pm…after arriving at the hospital at 5.30. And the poor sods that came in AFTER me (and during the staff hiatus) had to wait much, much longer than that.

** Do not ever attempt to order something at Maccas if you have had eye treatment. You can’t see the menu, and as you ‘um’ and ‘ahh’ about what to eat, all the staff/customers think you are a whacked-out druggie with the munchies. Also, do not think about negotiating peak hour traffic (as a pedestrian). While YOUR sign might beep/say WALK, there are no guarantees that drivers are gonna give a shit about that one way or the other. Heh. You can’t jump out of the way if you can’t SEE the bastards bearing down on you!!

:smiley: :smiley:

16

I have all the same complaints as everyone else except

I once worked for a sour, old internist who ALWAYS ran late- I think he was just perpetually pissed and/or hated his job. One day, a patient finally got roomed and complained to the Doc “Doc, I’ve been here for well over 2 hours.” The Doc replied “Well, I’ve been here all day.”

Oh, Boo Hoo. What a jerk.

17

I’m gonna add my own rant here.

I had some serious female problems requiring two surgeries and lots of office visits. My problem is with OB/GYN offices that place their emphasis on the OB part. Yes, I realize that having babies is very important and that pregnant women are oh so precious, but FUCK. I got so sick of calling there to be put on hold, or going there to sit and wait forever, whilst woman after woman went before me because they were pregnant. It was so obvious that the pregnant women were the priority. And this wasn’t in just one doctor’s office, but two. I tried to switch, but found the same problem.

Why can’t they just have a specialist that’s a GYN without the friggin’ OB? My health is just as important as theirs, and at the time, I would bet that my pain level was much higher. I’d be sitting there gritting my teeth because of the pain while the preggers sat there and discussed whatever it is they discuss. Arghh. /rant

18

I went to the doctor for a post-op checkup yesterday and had an hour-long wait. I was glad that the dr. wasn’t my regular gyn, because there’s no way I’d put up with an hour long wait every time. My regular gyn (in the same office) is almost always on time, so I don’t know what his deal is.

19

The thing that gets me is that you can be cooling your heels in the waiting room for an hour (as I was one day when I went to see a specialist) but if you show up an hour late for your appointment they make you reschedule.

I’ve pointed this out on more than one occassion to the receptionist, and I am usually ushered in rather quickly after that.

20

Hear, hear!

I never wait more than 30 minutes for a doctor or dentist. I don’t freak out all over them (or their receptionists), I just calmly say, “My appointment was for a half-hour ago, and I can’t wait any longer. Tell him to reschedule me,” and I leave.