Yes. Monday morning I will gather all four doctors that I work for together and let them know that their wait times are unacceptable for patient satisfaction and if I *EVER * see another patient wait for more than, what, 15 minutes? then by god I will… oh, wait, no I won’t. Sorry 'bout that!
I was sitting waiting during my 7 month old son’s MRI for hours, not knowing if the tumor on his back was cancerous or how many of his internal organs were involved, worried because this was his first time under general anesthesia, at one point something unbearable on one of those day time talk shows came on the television and I started bawling. I don’t remember what it was but it was something about children. The staff changed the channel. Waiting is bad enough, but having those talk shows on makes it that much more unbearable. They had been unwilling to change the channel earlier when asked but relented after I completely fell apart.
If I have to inexplicably wait for more than 40 minutes, I find a new doctor. That said, I am willing to wait much longer, hours even, if the delay is explained, such as emergency surgery or a birth etc.
I really appreciate it when there is some part of the waiting area away from tv.
OK?
When you have a string of back-to-back appointments, SOMEBODY is going to be waiting for somebody else at some point during the day. As the OP has experienced, little unforeseens can subtract a little time from your day here and there.
Now seriously people, all you who complain about waiting for your doctor, are you really suggesting that it’s more efficient for the setup to be that the doctor is more likely to have to wait than it is for the patients to have to wait? That the doctor should have down time between patients is more desirable than that the patients should have the burden of that downtime?
What do you think your healthcare costs would be like then?
Or, does it make sense that the day should be scheduled to minimize a doctor’s downtime between patients, and maximize the number of patients he/she can see in a day?
The only way for this to happen is to have a patient ready and *waiting *for the doctor.
Suck it up.
I think you posted this in the wrong thread.
OK. You owe me a new keyboard.
No but I would certainly get the staff together on the issue and at the next staff meeting bring it up with solutions.
I am sure you have a bright group that can figure this out if patients are often irritable and upset with wait times.
I usually advocate physicians extenders. One to work WITH the doctor and one to work on their own. In other words, the MA calls back the patient, initial vitals, history etc is done. PA comes in the room…he does the exam, asks the questions, get all the information for the doctor. The doctor comes in and can spend only 7.5 minutes without the patient feeling they didn’t get cared for. They had 30 minutes face to face time with a clinician in all.
The lone PA treats basic illnesses and follow ups and that income supplements the salary increases needed to cover the added employees along with cutting down wait times for simple problems.
Obviously I don’t know what kind of practice this is (and your doctor’s aren’t paying for my opinion) so my ideas are just that.