The problem is that in their booking system, they’re booking the doctor to see you at 3:00, not you to see the doctor. They have no way of entering your earlier 2:45 appointment with the office staff (although it would probably be very simple to configure the system to do this).
But I’m not concerned with what they enter into their system. Just like I’m not concerned about the time the staff arrives in the office or leaves. There’s no reason they can’t tell me 2:45 and put 3:00 in the system , just like there’s no reason they can’t list the hours on the door as 9-4 even if the staff comes in at 8 and leaves at 6.
I don't know why some places insist on publicizing the times that are irrelevant. I don't want to know what time the restaurant wants the employees to leave - I want to know what's the latest time I can sit down and order. Other businesses manage it - laundromats usually post the last wash time, not the closing time and even in the medical field, whenever I've had surgery or other procedures, I've been told when to arrive , not the time the procedure is scheduled for.
Doctors are not the only people that can be late. I think that in some circumstances, being asked to be 15 minutes early for your appointment is to prevent YOU from being late.
So you have to be there at 2:45 for an appointment at 3:00 that will happen at 3:30 or later?
WHAT A COUNTRY!
Right on, t-bonham@scc.net! (Post #19).
I’ve never done this, nor has it ever happened to me. But I’m ready now!
Waiting until 5pm for a 3 pm appointment irritated me. When asked what time of day I wanted the next appointment, I said “whenever I won’t have to wait two hours after I show up on time.” She scheduled me for the first appointment of the day. I’ll see if this works next month.
And unless you get to set the appointment time, the time is really 2:45 with no real penalty for being a bit late - in that you won’t screw up the schedule.
I go get my INR checked often enough that the desk staff knows me by sight, and I’ve found that five minutes early is plenty of time, since there isn’t a line at the times I go and there is no real paperwork. And since the test is short they are pretty much always on time.
I felt the same way about doctors being late until my wife’s retina tore and we went to the very busy specialist on an emergency basis. We did wait a long time, but when he saw her someone else was probably delayed also. So I’m a bit more forgiving now.
However a doctor who is always three hours late either has more patients than he or she can handle or has serious time management problems.
It usually does in my experience.
It’s sort of similar to a flight, but not in the way you indicate. After all, nobody books a flight with an airport. They book it with an airline. The point of contact is with the airline or the hospital, not the airport or the doctor. If you want to cancel your flight, don’t bother calling the airport - call the airline. If you want to cancel your doctor’s appointment you’ll want to call the clinic, unless the doctor happens to be a personal friend of yours.
A better comparison is between (a) the difference between the time you need to fill out paperwork and the time you actually see the doctor, and (b) the difference between boarding the plane and departure. Straight from Delta’s website: “… you are required to be at the gate and ready to board at least 15 minutes before your scheduled departure time.” This makes me wonder why they bother telling us the departure time. Just tell us “be there at X” instead of “we need to leave at X so be there at X - 15 minutes.”
I know this is of infinitesimal importance, but I think they should just stop telling us the departure time and just tell us the boarding time. For one, it would be the time people really want to know. (“What is the latest I can get to the gate before I’m late for the flight, possibly causing me to miss the flight entirely?”) Secondly, the departure times aren’t particularly reliable anyway. Likewise, people are really interested in “When do I need to be at the doctor’s office?”, and it’s better to just tell them directly to be there at 2:45 than to give them dubious promises about meeting the doctor at 3:00.
wow, if I make an “appointment” with my doctor and arrive at the appointed time, I’d usually wait for an HOUR!! So generally the time given would be more of a “don’t arrive before” type of thing.
Find punctuality a bit difficult so it’s usually no hassle
When I go to see a new doctor I am told to come 15 minutes early to do paper work . If my appointment is at 3:15 and I get there at 3:00 , that NOT my appointment time ! I am written down at 3:15 in the doctor’s appointment book.
I am not seen until at least 4:00 if I am lucky !
I’ve never experienced the OP’s issue. We set an appointment to see the doctor and then they ask me to show up a few minutes early to do the paperwork.
I agree with the OP. Tell me what time to show up. That is my appointment time. The doctor’s office needs to manage their staff issues after that. I might not be able to show up if you magically add 15 minutes to the beginning of the time we just agreed to. I know it’s hard to imagine, but other people do have things to do.
Having worked at a doctor’s office years ago, I think it’s a relic of paper scheduling. The appointment was marked down on an actual calendar and it was the “doctor’s time”. Now it’s all computer-based scheduling, and things can be a great deal more sophisticated. There is no need for this weird “your appointment is at 3 but it’s really at 2:45.”
Check in time 15 minutes early so they can get you in the room, take vitals, ask what you are there for, which again the doctor asks when they eventually get in there.
Otherwise I think they tell you 15 early for the people who ALWAYS run late in their lives!
Not like they call you in at the 15 minute check in time!:dubious:
I’m with the OP. If they have forms for me to fill out, they can email them to me and I can have them back well in time.
That would probably violate some silly rule/law intended to protect your privacy.
This is a valid point. Doctors’ offices are, without exception IME, focused on serving the doctor, not serving the patient. There is no concept of customer service.
I have taken my kids to the same pediatrician for about 20 years and never once were we seen any earlier than 20 minutes past the *appointment *time. Once we were called back over 20 minutes after the appointment time then I was left alone with a sick, restless 2-year-old in an exam room for another 30 minutes before anyone showed up.
I am not trying to hijack the thread to a different topic, just emphasizing that the doctor’s office doesn’t give a flying fuck about your schedule.
In addition to consent and paperwork, some procedures take a lot more time to set up. If you need complex anesthesia, casting material, extra hands, special lighting or equipment… Takes more time, and preferably that of non-physician staff.
Yep. In the military, if you’re not there 10 minutes early you’re late.