I’d like to distinguish two things. One is a doctor being late, making me wait. I think this is justified sometimes and is an abuse of patient time sometimes, but usually you can’t tell which with much confidence. I don’t mind this much, and not at all if it’s a doctor I have learned will spend more time with me when I need it. But, the other is this misunderstanding of what an appointment is. As Sigmagirl said so cleanly, " If you want me to be there at 3:30, tell me to be there at 3:30. If the doctor is going to see me at 4:00, that’s HIS appointment. MY appointment, to fill out forms, is at 3:30."
If anybody’s interested, the appointment was at a very large medical center I’d never visited before, in a city most of which I don’t know, and the night before I was Googling maps and calling people who know the city to make sure I’d be there at the new appointment time. I actually got there 45 minutes early because a major traffic jam area partway there was for some reason completely clear.
The scheduling department never invited the doctor. And they have no more appointments available for any of the doctors through the end of the schedules they have posted, and can’t tell me when further schedules will be posted. So, no doctor, no appointment to see one, and no word on when I can make an appointment. I spent four and a half hours on this adventure, not to mention the time preparing and filling out the many pages they faxed me, without accomplishing anything at all.
I work in a doctor’s office, and sometimes people can be very rude about having to wait. I just explain to them that there were a few patients with very complex problems or treatments, that the doctor had to spend extra time with them, and that they can rest assured that if they ever come into the office with an emergent problem, the doctor will spend that extra time with them, too.
My own gyno has awful waits. My first appointment with her, I waited an hour and a half before leaving. When she called me to apologize (rare), she discovered that I work in a doctor’s office, and she promised me that I would never have to wait. She said that it should be a perk of working at a doctor’s office. I still wait.
Anyone that starts their first visit with informing the staff of their rules, their stipulations, or their threats will not get very far in our office. There is no reason whatsoever to start a relationship with your doctor by alienating his staff. They are people, too, mostly just doing their jobs, although I know that some of them do get attitudes. Can’t really blame them much, though, when you see what they have to put up with on a daily basis from rude patients. Just like in any arena in life- if you’re nice to us, we’ll be nice to you.
One of the four doctors I work for is very strict about new patients arriving on time. He’s obsessed with staying on time, and if they miss that 15-minute paperwork appointment and show up at their appointment time, I have to let them know that they will be “worked in”, which means that they could be there for up to 4 hours. They get pissed, but it’s his rule, not mine. They are welcome to reschedule.
If a doctor is late because of a legitimate emergency, that’s obviously fine.
If a doctor is late because they’re irresponsible/a jerk/some other reason - such as the ophthalmologist I saw twice and spent a grand total of five hours waiting for, including one hour because he was out to lunch* - then…well, they’re a jerk, or they’re irresponsible, or what have you, and I sure as hell don’t want to have someone like that as a doctor of any flavor.
*My parents made me see him when I was a teenager. Appointment one: Sat and waited for two hours before being seen, literally had to argue with him about whether or not at sixteen I got a say in my treatment. Parents made me go back again. Sat and waited another two hours. Had a similar argument. At the third appointment, after I’d waited for an hour, I walked out.
Mine too. Or, if she had been called across the street for a birth, a nurse or PA would offer to do my exam and pap smear if I wanted, or I could reschedule.
I have walked out of offices, though- twice. Both times, I sat in an exam room for an hour. One time, they had forgotten I was in there. :rolleyes: Never went back.
Good night, where on Earth did you find such a crazy office? :eek:
I’m very sorry that my new insurance doesn’t cover my current favorite GP. His nurses know me well and work me in when and where they can, call me when an appointment is being preempted for some emergency, and when I’m in? I’m out again in usually no more than an hour, usually a lot less than that. It feels like an eternity in there, but I have a simple policy in regard to doctors I cannot make timely appointments with and who do not see me in a timely manner.
I pick another damn GP. Unless I have a very compelling reason to go to that one.
OK, let’s consider for a moment that this doctor/clinic/office sees hundreds of patients a day. Just knowing that undefinable thing called “human nature” as I do from having observed my fellow humans for over 30 years, I’m guessing more than half think a 4:00 appointment means they can sashay in at four-ish and be seen by the doctor. And most of those will put off until the last minute leaving for the appointment, grossly underesitmate the time needed to get there and actually arrive a good five to fifteen minutes later than their scheduled appointment. And then they’ll bitch like bitter old women when they have to wait while the staff tries to squeeze them into what’s left of the day’s schedule.
I’m not saying that this actually happens, mind you. I’m just supposing …
>Anyone that starts their first visit with informing the staff of their rules, their stipulations, or their threats will not get very far in our office.
>Just like in any arena in life- if you’re nice to us, we’ll be nice to you.
I hear you. But most of the doctor’s offices I visit have signs with warnings about payment being expected at time of visit, or 24 hours notice required to cancel appointments, or wear a mask if you are coughing or sneezing, or you must present an insurance card. Isn’t it pretty typical for a patient’s visit to start with these rules, stipulations, or threats from the office, before they’re even talking with a doctor?
>We would have seen you. That was mean of them.
Thanks. Though, I was supposed to see a specialist in a narrow area of interest within a specialty. They said that there were only two doctors in that narrow area of interest, and neither of them were there. For all I know that was true. The waiting area served several different functions within the clinic, and I only saw two other people come through, so for all I know they were being truthful. And they were very apologetic.
