I was Late for Doctor's Appointment

[swanmom]

Hope this doesn't seem off topic but... the thought just occurred to me that this is what civilized discourse is all about. We don't all agree and have differerent points of view but there's no bashing or rudeness. This is what I come to the DIS for!

 

[Galahad]

When I have a doctor's or dentist's appointment I call their office when I am ready to leave my office to go to the appointment. Usually, they are willing to tell me if they are running late and will OK my delaying my trip to their office by that amount of time. Doesn't always work, but it is a good compromise.

 

[Jodi1980]

The receptionist asked the nurse and I guess the nurse said to make another appointment.

 

[suzannen]

If you were 20 minutes late, I could understand rescheduling, and if you were late for every single appointment, I could understand, but if I ever had a doctor's office reschedule due to my being late by 7 minutes - I would change doctors. It may be his reception people and not him, but that is not the "personal caring" message that I want from my doctor, busy or not. Luckily, I live in NY where there are so many great doctors, it's easy to change, which may not be true for others in different areas, so that colors my reaction.

 

[jfulcer]

Originally posted by Deb in IA
And yes, mamajoan, sometimes doctors DO run over with certain patients.

Deb, I was reading your post too fast and had to stop, back up, and wipe my soda off the screen. I thought you wrote:

<i>
And yes, mamajoan, sometimes doctors DO run over certain patients.</i>

I got the mental image of Deb crazyily driving some SUV through the parking lot...

 

[Micca]

Although being late for appointments is inappropriate, I think seven minutes is forgiveable. Most people in a Dr's waiting room aren't having a wonderful day to start with and they have come there to feel better. It would be nice if the staff could show a little empathy to the patients. If the doc is truly so overbooked, perhaps the patient could be given a choice. i.e., "we had you down for 1:30...would you care to wait or book another appointment?"

 

[mamajoan]

jfulcer

ROFLMAO... I had to re-read Deb's post too.. except I was worried she might be hinting she was gonna "run over" THIS patient..ie Mamajoan!
LOL

Gotta get these bifocals adjusted!!

Happy Halloween!

 

[Boots]

I too agree that seven minutes shouldn't have made that big of a difference. {{{{HUGS}}}}

 

[SonjaB]

I work in an Oral Surgery office and while scheduling is not the main portion of my job, it's part of it (as with everyone in the office, except the doctors) and appointment times are a two-way street. It is no more acceptable for patients to be "notoriously" (you know, the people who are late for EVERYTHING in life ALL the time) late than for the doctor to be overbooking and running late as a matter of course. Things DO happen on both sides and we do our best to accomodate patients getting lost, caught in traffic, etc. and most patients are understanding about emergencies. As far as the receptionist's treatment of you, that is NEVER acceptable. If you are given rude service by someone at my office, I can assure you my doctors want to know about it. I believe most doctors want to know what kind of experience their patients are having from check-in to walkout. My advice is to report the receptionist to the doctor, he/she probably wants to know.

As a side note, it only takes a couple of late patients to throw a schedule off. If we have 20 patients in a day, about 4 of those (typically) are 5 to 15 minutes late. Factor in one or two patients needing extra time for an infinite number of reasons, another two to three needing to be seen as emergencies and you have a doctor running late without double-booking.

 

[Kermit]

I agree that making patients reschedule for being 7 minutes late is probably excessive. While everyone should try their hardest to be there on time (or preferably just a few minutes early), accidents happen, and they should be willing to cooperate.

It is a little more understandable when the doctor is running late. As others have said, appointments can run over their expected time. Plus, sometimes the doctor has to go meet a patient at the hospital. I try not to let it bother me unless the staff is unwilling to admit how long you'll be waiting when you get there and when you have to habitually wait for over an hour for appointments because the doctor is overbooked. I used to have a doctor who always kept us waiting at least an hour and a half, frequently longer. And the receptionist wouldn't tell you he was running late, so you couldn't leave and come back. He wasn't my doctor for long.

 

[missymouse3367]

At the office where I work we have a 15 min late policy. We always try to work the late sick people in. If pts. are 10 min or so I will tell them that the Dr. moved on to the next pt in order to stay on time. We strive very hard to stay on time. On the defense of the Dr. if a pt says they are depressed ar have chest pain they have to address that issue. So many pts come in for a cold and expect to have so much more done " while I am here I thought the Dr. could take a look @ my______." I also have been on the other side and have waited and it I too get anoyed if the wait is extremely long.