Does your doctor only see patients a few times a week?

[disfan07]

I've been wondering if the schedules that my doctors keep is normal or if it is because they all teach and work in the hospital as well.

My dermatologist and my gynecologist both see patients 9-5 5 days a week.

My Internist only sees patients 2 days a week
My cardiologist only sees patients 2 full days a week and 1 additional morning
My pulmonologist only sees patients 2 full days per week and 1 additional afternoon
My allergist/immunologist only sees patients 1 day per week

Does anyone else have a doctor with limited hours?

 

[anotherdisneygal]

Does your doctor see patients in other practices on the days s/he isn't in the local office? Or are they on call for a busy hospital (where they would get called in a lot and have to cancel office hours)?

 

[Mickey's Minion]

I've been wondering if the schedules that my doctors keep is normal or if it is because they all teach and work in the hospital as well.

My dermatologist and my gynecologist both see patients 9-5 5 days a week.

My Internist only sees patients 2 days a week
My cardiologist only sees patients 2 full days a week and 1 additional morning
My pulmonologist only sees patients 2 full days per week and 1 additional afternoon
My allergist/immunologist only sees patients 1 day per week

Does anyone else have a doctor with limited hours?

Yes. It seems quite common for my specialists to have limited office hours. The other days are scheduled for procedures. For instance, my cardiologist has certain days for office visits and the other days he is in the hospital doing procedures such as heart caths.

 

[disfan07]

yeah my cardiologist doesnt surprise me because she is an electrphysiologist so she does EP studys, caths, etc. but she has no set days to do those. Basically, her schedule each week, depends on teh patients schedule. Some weeks she does procedures mondays adn fridays, other weeks its thursday adn fridays, etc.

None of them see patients in other offices. My allergist teaches at UCLA (she works at cedars-sinai) and than is on staff at cedars, my internist teaches meds/peds residents at cedars adn I have no idea what my pulmonologist does when he's not in the office.

The craziest one was my internist....it is quite interesting to have an internist you can only see twice a week.

 

[pirateofthecarolinas]

My DS7's pediatric urologist only sees patients 1 day a month. I thought the receptionist was kidding when she told me. He does research, teaches and performs surgery.

He was nominated for a Nobel Prize in Medicine this year!

 

[iwrbnd]

My husband is a family practice doctor and he sees patients everyday all day. He does hospital rounds before clinic opens and after it closes. Yep, I rarely see him since he works from 7am until around 8pm! Luckily when he is home he's 100% husband and father and we love him lots!

 

[locolala]

My neurologist is only in once every other week.. yeah, one day, every other week. It can take MONTHS to get an appointment. I dunno what he does when he's not at the naval hospital but I sure hope it's important.

 

[Mickey's Minion]

The craziest one was my internist....it is quite interesting to have an internist you can only see twice a week.

My family practice doc is a busy mom in real life. She sees patients 3x per week. I think it great that she has a solution to balance work and home that works for her family.

Like anybody in any profession, even Docs have the option to work part time. Kudos to them if it works for them. It is a job, not some command performance for everybody who wants their services.

 

[clarabelle]

My husband is a family practice doctor and he sees patients everyday all day. He does hospital rounds before clinic opens and after it closes. Yep, I rarely see him since he works from 7am until around 8pm! Luckily when he is home he's 100% husband and father and we love him lots!

Sing it sister
My DH- family doc 5 days a week. Got rid of the hospital last year. He works about 60 hours a week in the office

 

[bigbabyblues]

My OB sees patients everyday, pregnant in the morning, non-pregnant in the afternoon; our ped sees patients 4 days a week. My youngest DS had to have skull surgery when he was a baby, and that was sort of a pain--the neurosurgeon saw patients only on Wednesday, the plastic surgeon saw patients only on Thursday, and we had to drive more than 2 hours each way. I understand it was because of surgeries, other offices, etc., but it made it hard with so many appointments.

 

[crz4mm2]

Yes, limited office hours.

 

[Poohbear123]

My Dr. has Thursdays, Sat and Sun off...he has a 2 hour lunch the other 4 days he works, and does NO Hospital rounds. He is usually OUT of the office by 6pm everyday he actually works...I swear he is THE laziest Dr. I have EVER had. (However, if the new Health Care Bill kicks in, he will have NO room to breathe)...

 

[disfan07]

My family practice doc is a busy mom in real life. She sees patients 3x per week. I think it great that she has a solution to balance work and home that works for her family.

Like anybody in any profession, even Docs have the option to work part time. Kudos to them if it works for them. It is a job, not some command performance for everybody who wants their services.

Seriously...this sounds very condesending. I dont expect them to be there all day everyday, etc.

She only sees patients 2 days per week. She WORKS 5 days a week so she's not working part time. She's working full time. I was just so surprised that she only worked in her office twice a week considering how in demand she is.

Getting an appointment with her is like winning the lottery.

Believe me, I understand that they have families.

She has 2 kids, my dermatologist has 2 with one on the way and my allergist has 1 with one on the way and my cardiologist has 1 kid


What I was saying was that the specialists having weird hours isnt as unexpected. It was just more shocking that my internist works full times but only clocks about 15 hours of office patient care a week.

None of my doctors work part-time. They all work full-time PLUS answering phone calls and emails after hours. They just work limited hours in office.
I was just wondering if anyone else had doctors liek this because I had never experienced it before.

 

[golfgal]

Most specialists we have seen over the years only have office hours on a limited basis for various reasons. Our old GP had Tuesday off and only saw patients until 2:00 so she could be home for her kids when they got home from school. Everyone knew this so you just planned accordingly. I don't see any problem with it.

 

[iwrbnd]

Sing it sister
My DH- family doc 5 days a week. Got rid of the hospital last year. He works about 60 hours a week in the office

I'm not alone? Is your DH glad he gave up the hospital?

I saw someone post their doctor gets a 2 hr lunch break! Wow, my husband needs to work there because he sees patients through lunch!

 

[golfgal]

Sing it sister
My DH- family doc 5 days a week. Got rid of the hospital last year. He works about 60 hours a week in the office

I wish my DH only worked 60 hours/week and he isn't a dr.

 

[Mickey's Minion]

I wish my DH only worked 60 hours/week and he isn't a dr.

ditto

 

[Mickey's Minion]

Seriously...this sounds very condesending. I dont expect them to be there all day everyday, etc.

She only sees patients 2 days per week. She WORKS 5 days a week so she's not working part time. She's working full time. I was just so surprised that she only worked in her office twice a week considering how in demand she is.

Getting an appointment with her is like winning the lottery.

Believe me, I understand that they have families.

She has 2 kids, my dermatologist has 2 with one on the way and my allergist has 1 with one on the way and my cardiologist has 1 kid


What I was saying was that the specialists having weird hours isnt as unexpected. It was just more shocking that my internist works full times but only clocks about 15 hours of office patient care a week.

None of my doctors work part-time. They all work full-time PLUS answering phone calls and emails after hours. They just work limited hours in office.
I was just wondering if anyone else had doctors liek this because I had never experienced it before.

Not condescending, just the attitudes like the poster above who said her doctor is the laziest doctor on the planet because he closes his office for 2 hours for lunch or closes at 6.

Mine does the same, however that doesn't mean they are all on lunch break. That is usually when they catch up on the back load of patients sitting in the waiting room.

My family practice doc is also a good friend outside of the office and I see her struggling with the "lazy" doctor attitude all the time because she chooses to have part time office hours. They don't realize all the times her holidays, her evenings with her family, her sleep is interrupted because their child has had a high fever for 4 days and now, midnight, is the time they have to call.

 

[akcire]

My surgeon only has office hours one day every two weeks. The other 9 days he is doing surgery. (Also emergency appointments from past surgeries--per the nurse--I never needed one).

My eye doctor only keeps office hours two days in the office I visit. She then has hours one day a week in another office, and does surgery 2 days a week.

My primary is a little older and a devout Catholic, she only keeps office hours 3 days a week and volunteers 2 days a week at a free clinic. She is not very money driven (has one employee part time) and her office is slightly larger than a broom closet. Her appointments tend to run 1 hour and she likes to gab. I really like her, but she is NEVER accepting new patients. I think we figured she sees about 30 paying patients a week. She is really good about seeing you if you are sick and can always fit you in. She also does 6-8 weeks of mission trips a year.

 

[clarabelle]

I wish my DH only worked 60 hours/week and he isn't a dr.

I don't doubt it.
I think Americans as a rule work more hours than they used to and more than many other countries.
I wasn't saying that all doctors work more than other people -just relating my experience as it pertains to the original post.

And I was sympathizing with Iwrbnd

I think most primary care doctors spend a lot of time the office. I think the OPs doctor is a little unusual for a PC doc. Maybe they see patients in more than one office?