My daughter had an appointment today, and she had to walk out after waiting 45 minutes. The staff was short one technician due to a personal emergency. (This is the 2nd time this has happened.) They cannot reschedule for two weeks, but my wife feels they should make my daughter a priority. FYI: My daughter is having discomfort from one wire that needs trimming. Plus, she was supposed to have some other things done as well.
My wife feels they could get a temp tech first-thing in the morning knowing that they will be short-staffed. (While I know there are temp agencies in general, is there such a thing for medical jobs? And, can they really get a temp so quickly?) I think they should work my daughter into their schedule making her a priority - even if they have to stretch themselves a little thin UNTIL the workload can get back to normal.
What do you think is a reasonable solution? How would you argue this to the doctor?
Well, the nuclear option is to change orthodontists, which can be a complex hassle mid-treatment, but if you’re not satisfied with the care she’s receiving at this place, it’s not an unreasonable response.
I’m not sure what possible recourse you could have with the current one; if they’re short staffed and booked up, I feel like there’s not much if anything you can do about that.
If appointments usually run late, then I would be annoyed, but knowing they were short staffed because of an emergency, rather than just poor scheduling on their part, I probably would have waited, especially as they were unable to reschedule for two weeks and your daughter needed the wire trimmed.
I’ve been that person they squeezed in because of a loose wire and probably made someone else wait. I’ve also waited because they’re running behind. I liked my orthodontist and his staff, so just accepted waiting as part of the package.
As far as getting in a temp on short notice to fill in for a day, I don’t see that being possible for any kind of hands on position.
Better yet, you can threaten to change orthodontists, first. There’s no reason the orthodontist and/or tech couldn’t stay 45 minutes late and squeeze your daughter in after school or something. They wanted to pretend this was an unavoidable “act of god” scenario even though it’s happened twice before just to you. Make them uncomfortable enough to hire an adequately sized staff, or take your business elsewhere.
Being significantly late to an appointment they scheduled is something I’ll let slide once for a doctor, maybe, if it seems reasonable. But dammit, they are highly paid professionals, this shouldn’t be happening with any kind of regularity. Or else, I would start to think, what the hell else are they slacking on?
I have one kid in braces now and the older one had them off a few years ago. A wire that needs trimming cannot wait 2 weeks. Both of my kids have experienced this and it makes their mouth raw. It would take the tech just minutes to take care of it.
Agreed, it just needs to be adjusted/trimmed/bent. Call them in the morning, explain the situation and say “I’d like to have her stop in after school to get this taken care of, what time works for you”. For the moment, let the tightening slide for two weeks, but get the wire adjusted (I word them for three years) now.
A day or two before the next appointment, call them ‘to confirm’ and then say ‘are you sure, her last two appointments ran extremely late and she had to leave one of them because you were so short staffed, can you please make sure she’ll be seen on time…it’s happened twice now?’
They’ll say yes, they’ll patronize you, they’ll assure you everything will be fine. If they do anything other than that, I’d first offer to come in at a less busy time (that still works for you and your daughter), but after that, I’m not sure. The next person in line is the “office manager” (if it’s a small practice this may be the orthodontists wife/husband) and explain the problem again. I’d hesitate to give them suggestions on how to run their business, that makes people defensive, but breathing down their neck a bit, especially when they know it’s their fault can make things move a bit faster.
If you’re really not getting anywhere, if another appointment is messed up, call the office and say “I’d like to speak to Dr so and so?” they’ll ask why and just say “It’s a private matter about my daughter, could you have him give me a call when he has a few minutes”. Do it very nicely, like there’s no problem at all. You don’t want him to have his guards up when he calls. Don’t forget, he might not even know there’s a problem.
TL;DR call in the morning, tell them she needs to be seen this afternoon. Go from there.