Dear Patient,

[low-key]

Hey deb I know you were frustrated, but this was wrong fight to pick on a message board, we all get mad at our Doctors for waiting way past scheduled appointments

 

[CaliBear]

But in the rest of the professional world, this would not fly. Dentists, orthodontists, anesthesiologists, lawyers, judges, etc. are also not twiddling their thumbs but they know they have to manage their time well and they do.

With medical doctors, more times than not it seems like they don't answer to anyone, when it comes to appointment waits and I'm not talking about emergencies. I believe this is because they know it's not easy to just find a new doctor and that the patients will have to suck it up.

This. I can't believe anyone would post "time to get a new dr" or "I wouldn't wait" as if your health is just optional to treat that day. I do bring Kindle and phone, but that is beside the point. This is a constant problem with American doctors. The lack of consideration shown to patients and their time is appalling, and yet they won't wait for us if we have an emergency or are caught in traffic. I have never had this problem with the dentist.

Outside the US, on a tiny, overcrowded island, I can WALK IN and see a doctor within 15 minutes without insurance and pay between 30-40 dollars. That would never, ever happen in the US. Why? Something is wrong with the time management practices of most US doctors IME.

 

[anniemae]

I think the dr.s are so overbooked they just do the best they can. It's not always easy to "just reschedule." My dr. is booked solid for a year and a half for a physical. Once, I called to reschedule and the receptionist said, "I wouldn't."

 

[mnrose]

Wow. All these people who wait for hours for their doctors.

I have to say that this simply hasn't happened to me...in the last decade or so. My doctors try very, very hard to be "on time" for their apppointments, and they do an excellent job.

I try to be 10-15 minutes early for my appointments, just because I don't want to risk being late. I know a doctor's time is valuable (as is mine). It's a two way street.

The last time I had waits for the doctor was when I was seeing my OB GYN when I was pregnant (with twins). Her office was across the street from the hospital and she would be called away for deliveries with some regularity, and then you could expect to wait. This never bothered me either. It's the nature of the game in the OB world. If you want the doctor to personally deliver YOUR babies, then you needed to expect that she would do the same for others and that this might delay your appointment time.

If I had a doctor who was habitually late, I'd be finding a new one. Stop complaining and vote with your feet.

 

[Christine]

I think doctors are under a lot of pressure due to insurance. In order to participate with these insurance companies and adhere to their rates, a doctor has to see XXX amount of patients a day just to make it worth their while. There was an article in the Washington Post just last week about primary care doctors having burnout. Many who take "all" the insurances are forced to see 25-28 patients per day. They book 15 minute appointments. Realistically, with human beings and various problems, what's the chance that they can stick to that schedule. I think it's appalling, really.

One of my doctors decided to drop all insurance plans. Of course, he lost a lot of patients because of it because if you want to see him you must self-pay and file yourself. However, he said that prior to doing that, he was feeling like he was giving horrible care, he had to hire this huge staff to manage all the paperwork and he felt like he wasn't making any money either. After getting out of that, his staff went down to one administrative assistant. I still go to him and self pay and it's great. No waits, leisurely appointments, non-stressed out doctor!

 

[DawnM]

I don't wait that long for my doctor. Now, the ER or Urgent care can be a whole different matter.

The difference for me is that when I go see the doctor, I am usually relatively healthy, so going on my iPad or reading is fine.

When I go to the ER or UC, I am sick or in pain and have no desire to read or entertain myself. I just want to get out of there!

Growing up I was always seen immediately. My father is a physician and people knew him, so I was shown professional courtesy.

Once I grew up and was on my own, no one cared anymore who my father was as they didn't know him. It was a rude awakening to have to wait just like everyone else.

 

[yeahdisney]

I once filled in for a practice that the doctor only let you have two complaints, diseases, issues, whichever patient wanted to talk about per visit. The doctor would tell you time to make another appt to discuss the next issue. That practice also had you make an appt if you wanted labs ordered each time you asked for medication refill, lab work reviewed each had to be a separate appt. they stayed on time but the patients were not happy and were leaving that practice.

Basically it can be hard to stay on time. Throw in hospital rounds. Throw in doctor to doctor calls. Hospital calls to doctors ect, things that need to be answered NOW.

I often wonder what would patients suggestions be.

 

[arminnie]

In my experience, due to increased competition, I haven't waited for a doctor's appointment for quite a long time. And frankly, I won't! If the doctor has an emergency and is delayed, I'll reschedule rather than sit patiently. If an office is so poorly run that patients habitually are inconvenienced, I'd be concerned about the level of care.Q

I'm with you. I've rarely had to wait more than a few minutes in the last three decades. And I've lived in about 4 different cities in different parts of the country.

I do understand that an emergency or unexpected situation can throw things off - but that's not something that should be happening to every patient every single day.

And with today's technology even for an emergency room visit a quick check online can give the expected wait times at each facility.

 

[MINNIEsotanice]

I work in a clinic and we rarely run behind. We have a process called self rooming. Once the patient checks in they are assigned a room right away and immediately walk themselves back to that room. This process involves no waiting in the lobby. It is really slick and helps the process go faster and generally keeps the providers on time.

If a patient arrives late we will most likely always see them. It isn't good patient care to have them reschedule so we do what we can to accommodate them. It is very rare we make them reschedule.

 

[cheerful chickadee]

I think it's worse when you check in, they call you back within minutes so you're thinking "awesome, this seems to be going quickly" but then they leave you sitting in the exam room for 30 minutes or more. Even worse is when it's the ob/gyn and you're in the paper bra and blanket thingy. Kinda hard to stick your head out the door and keep yourself decent while asking "did you all forget about me back here? my appt. was 45 minutes ago?"

 

[TLSnell1981]

I anticipate long wait times at the doctors office. I hate waiting 3 months for an appointment.

 

[lauradis]

Between the 3 of us we go about twice year to the dr. one physical one sick apt. Never late, nor do we wait forever.

Heck we see our dr socially more then professionally lol

 

[arminnie]

I anticipate long wait times at the doctors office. I hate waiting 3 months for an appointment.

Yeah I can wait forever for an appointment but I almost never wait in the office.

I dated an ob/gyn dr. casually at one time. I remember his telling me how he tripled scheduled, etc. to run more people thru. I was appalled. That's why he was never elevated to BF status.

 

[booger73]

Here's the Washington Post article

Interesting read at least - regardless of where you stand on the issue

http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/a-growing-number-of-primary-care-doctors-are-burning-out-how-does-this-affect-patients/2014/03/31/2e8bce24-a951-11e3-b61e-8051b8b52d06_story.html

 

[Mermaid02]

You're probably waiting so long to be seen because 1.People come in over an hour late and demand to be seen 2. People bring up 3 other issues with the doctor, we schedule them the appropriate amount of time for the issue they called for (not the 6 other problems they just thought of) 3. because someone is a lot sicker than you, be glad you aren't them OR 4. because your doc is a jerk and is in his office on Yahoo when he should be in with you (as the secretary, I've seen it happen).

 

[Disneychick75]

You're probably waiting so long to be seen because 1.People come in over an hour late and demand to be seen 2. People bring up 3 other issues with the doctor, we schedule them the appropriate amount of time for the issue they called for (not the 6 other problems they just thought of) 3. because someone is a lot sicker than you, be glad you aren't them OR 4. because your doc is a jerk and is in his office on Yahoo when he should be in with you (as the secretary, I've seen it happen).

Don't forget meeting with sales reps.

 

[PizzieDuster]

Sorry can't resist...Dear Doctor, I checked in at 8:45 for my 9:00 appt, why am I still sitting here waiting at 11:00?

And why is your front desk lady so rude when I asked how much longer?


"I dated an ob/gyn dr. casually at one time. I remember his telling me how he tripled scheduled, etc. to run more people thru. I was appalled. That's why he was never elevated to BF status."

 

[becpee]

Sorry can't resist...Dear Doctor, I checked in at 8:45 for my 9:00 appt, why am I still sitting here waiting at 11:00?

I guess it's universal then, doesn't matter what country you live in

 

[SirDuff]

I try to get one of the first appointments of the day. At my recent yearly exam, I had an 8am appointment but got there around 7:30am (it is fairly far away and I take public transit, so I always give myself a cushion - everything worked perfectly that time). I expect to wait, but when I walked in my physician was there (the receptionist wasn't there yet) and saw me immediately. I was out before my appointment was even supposed to start. And then, they had an open slot where I was supposed to be, which should have helped keep things on schedule.

On the other hand, at my ultrasound a few days later, I wasn't called back for 30 minutes past my appointment time. Wouldn't have been so bad if it weren't for the full bladder! I was only seen at the 30 minute mark because I went back to the reception desk to complain (I had also gone up at the 15 minute mark). I get that things get get behind (though, again, I booked an early appointment), but full bladder thing really shortened my ability to wait.

 

[MrsJackSparrow4Life]

Just a few things that lead to wait times that have nothing to do with the Doctor/Provider just wanting to make your day go badly (or them just sitting on their butt twiddling their thumbs):

Patient before you called in saying they have a sinus infection, we put them in for 15 minutes and they come in with a laundry list of things they really want to talk about.

Patient before you comes in for their 15 minute follow up appointment, at end of appointment when provider is leaving the room they mention "oh by the way I have been having chest pain." Which leads to an unscheduled ekg, stat lab work that has to be taken directly to the lab and a 30 minute exam.

Providers having to double book appointments due to people constantly no-showing and them needing to get their RVUs in for the month. If they have too many no shows and don't get their RVUs in the for the month the PTB dock their pay and threaten to fire them (this is only for the providers that work in a health system not the private practice doctors). Risk management says we can't fire a patient due to no shows alone so we have to double book them.

Person walking in off the street with an emergency situation (heart attack, stroke, etc). Everyone in the clinic has to help out and go into triage mode when this happens, leading to all the providers schedules getting back up.

Every single one of these situations happens about 4 days out of 5 in the clinic I work for and I live in a small city. If more than one happens in the same hour our day is pretty much shot.