Why is a Doctor's time more valuable than mine?

[birdiesunshine]

No matter what dr. appt I have chiropractor, primary physician, pediatrician for DD, gynocologist. etc. etc. etc. it never fails I end up waiting 30 minutes or so to actually get in to see them and then my visit lasts 5 minutes. Why make my appt. for 9am when I never get seen until 9:30am
I understand the more appts. they cram in, the more money they make but isn't it a little rude!!

 

[Dan Murphy]

If over 30 minute wait, I leave.

 

[nealymouse]

years ago I read where a record producer billed a Dr. for making him wait to long. Story said the Dr paid his bill.

I think of that alot while waiting and waiting and waiting....................

 

[punkin]

Did you tell the Doctor? Honestly, if you are waiting longer than 30 minutes, you should be rescheduled. Emergencies do come up, but the polite thing to do is to let you have the choice of staying or rescheduling. If your doctors do this habitually, you need to tell them that this is why you are switching to another doctor and then follow through.

 

[NMAmy]

I love my primary care doctor. I never wait longer than 5 minutes to get in.

That said, she's on vacation this week and of course, dd forgot to tell me she needed a sports physical before next Monday. I had to set up an appt with the other doctor in her office--the guy whose side of the waiting room always looks like Ellis Island while my dr's side is totally empty. I'm NOT looking forward to Friday.

 

[BeNJeNWaFFLe]

This really bugs me when it happens. My general physician is great at making appointments and making sure you are seen at that time. I've never had more than a 5 minute wait. The gyn, well thats a 30 minute wait on average. But I know the office assistant and I know why you wait awhile. It isn't the doctors fault so I can't really complain.

Now I broke my finger 4 weeks ago. I had to see an orthopedic. I had an appointment for 1:45. I get there at 1:30. Fill out some forms and was ready to go into the office on time. I waited in the waiting room until about 2:45. Finally I went into the room and I waited another 25 minutes. I saw the doctor for a whopping 5 minutes. It was the biggest waste of time! There aren't many other good orthopedics near me who take my insurance so I don't have much of a choice. I have an appointment Friday to see him again. (Hopefully I can take my splint off once and for all.) Let's see how long I wait for this time.

 

[TwinMom7]

I agree with Dan - 30 minutes and I'm gone, unless I'm just terribly SICK!

I sure can't complain about our dentist and daughter's orthodontist - both places take us back almost immediately and with the orthodontist, she's in and out in less than a half hour!!

 

[WatchinCaptKangaroo]

I waited 45 minutes past my appoitment time to get into the room and then another 20 minutes for the doctor to show up. The office staff and doctor was too busy chatting with the drug rep at the window to keep on schedule and I think the only reason I was put in a room is because I actually told the drug rep that she was throwing off the schedule even more than it was. The recepetionist was not happy with me and started lecturing me on how I should know that I will have to wait at the doctors office yadda yadda yadda... Oh well.

During my appoitment the doctor left the room to take a phone call. After waiting 15 minutes I walked out, said I wanted my co-pay back and I'd reschedule but my time was just as valuable as her time and I needed to get back to work.

They put me back in my room and the doctor came back, finished, apologized and gave me a boatload of samples.

Her front office staff has since been replaced.

Oh the other hand my dentist is right on time. If you are late they will not see you if you will cause the schedule to be thrown off.

 

[Tigger_Magic]

Yes, it is rude and most clinics will not change, even if you complain. It's the nature of medicine today (which is a sad commentary in itself).

 

[minkydog]

I waited 45 minutes past my appoitment time to get into the room and then another 20 minutes for the doctor to show up. The office staff and doctor was too busy chatting with the drug rep at the window to keep on schedule and I think the only reason I was put in a room is because I actually told the drug rep that she was throwing off the schedule even more than it was. The recepetionist was not happy with me and started lecturing me on how I should know that I will have to wait at the doctors office yadda yadda yadda... Oh well.

During my appoitment the doctor left the room to take a phone call. After waiting 15 minutes I walked out, said I wanted my co-pay back and I'd reschedule but my time was just as valuable as her time and I needed to get back to work.

They put me back in my room and the doctor came back, finished, apologized and gave me a boatload of samples.

Her front office staff has since been replaced.

Wow, way to take that bull by the horns!

I used to work for a doctor who routinely was 90 minutes behind schedule because he'd take everybody who called.The only way to be seen on time was to have either a 8am or 2pm appointment. Otherwise, prepare to set a spell. Staying over until 7 or 8pm was not unusual. I complained(once) to the office manager and she said,"Well, when you go to an OB don't you expect to wait?" Uh, not 90 minutes... Besides, those guys are delivering babies, not looking at infected ears & knocking warts off kids' hands . I didn't last long at that practice.

 

[laura001]

Come on to my office, the longest wait you will have is 5-10 min (80% of the time, a 1-2 min wait)...unless I am DIS Often your physician will overbook, he/she needs a strong minded receptionist to keep the flow going and stay on time! If you are upset with the time you have to wait, by all means, tell your Dr., if you are still not happy, change. There is no reason that your time is not important also.

 

[birdiesunshine]

My most recent incident which is what prompted me to start this thread was on Monday I went to see my chiropractor, after 1/2 hr I said to the girl at the front desk as she ushered me into the room "am I next?" and she told me there was one person in front of me. I mentioned I was really in a rush. She told me she would tell my dr. Well, two minutes later he came in and said he heard I was in a rush, adjusted me for "2" minutes and said "see ya Friday!" and he was out the door.
He missed the point that I was in a rush and wanted to be seen right away but I didn't want to miss the other precious 10 minutes of my visit. Geesh, I can't win either way

 

[AuntieM03]

I work for a surgeon. Alot of times he is held up at the hospital and gets in late. When we make our appointments we make a point of telling patients they may have a wait. There are also times that patients take a long time. Sometimes they have just been told they have a terminal disease, so you can't really rush them out because you have people waiting. Realizing those are extreme cases, and on the other end of the spectrum I used to work with a nurse practitioner and nurse mid-wife in an obgyn office that always ran about an hour behind because they were in their office chatting. The patients would complain up the ying-yang to us, but not say a word to the people that needed to hear it.

 

[Jeafl]

A couple of weeks ago I had an appointment with an ophthalmologist. They told me several times over the phone that if I needed to cancel and didn't give them 24 hours notice, they would charge me for the visit. Well, they called me 25 MINUTES before my appt. and told me that the doctor wasn't feeling good and he wanted to go home. I asked if I should send them a bill since they didn't give me 24 hours notice. They were not amused.

That was on a Friday. I rescheduled for the following Tuesday at 4:30 pm. At 3:00 that afternoon they called and said they were cancelling again because he was still sick. They didn't know that earlier that day??? They rescheduled again for the following week. When I arrived for my appointment they put me right into a room where I promptly waited 50 MINUTES while he chatted with some old woman in the next room. I could tell from the conversation that they were friends. When he finally came into my room, he rushed through the exam in 5 minutes because he was "behind". I told him exactly what I thought of the way the practice was run, and he told me that I was welcome to go elsewhere. So from now on, I will.

No, actually I am

 

[jennyl772003]

I used to go to a Dr that would usually take me early! I would arrive up to 20 minutes early and would almost always be taken back immediatly. The Dr would come in a few minutes later. I was usually done before it was even my actual appointment time!

Why do I think this happened? My Dr was a resident. He gave a crap about his patients!

My Dr. now doesn't make me wait very long either. He's the son of the Dr that delivered DH, so he knows the whole family, calls us by name, asks how everyone else is, etc.

 

[pearlieq]

My personal record was 3 hours late! I couldn't beleive it, but she was far away from my house and I had already made the trip, so I stuck it out. I recently had to go back there one time to get a perscription I needed, and had a 90 minute wait. Needless to say, I'm shopping for a new GP!!!

I don't get how things can get THAT behind. I know things can come up, but 3 hours is incomprehensible!

I know my Dr got stuck at the hospital once, and I know people show up late, and parents some times bring in siblings and pull a "while we're here..." on the doctor. I can see why all that would get you a little behind, but this is nuts!

Plus, once I get in there, I'm lucky to get the doctor to sit down for 5 minutes and not talk over me. Maybe I just got mixed in with a bad practice...

 

[Mercy]

WELL... my son was going to this dermatologist. We went for maybe 4 visits or so. EVERY TIME WE WENT WE WOULD WAIT 2 HOURS!!!! Then another 15-20 min. in the exam room. IT WAS INSANE!! The actual exam was maybe 10-15 min.

I remember one time, everyone in the waiting room was complaining and one of the patients said she had been coming to him for years and it's ALWAYS been like this!! Well needless to say we switched dermatologist.

But the weird thing was, he was such a kind, mild mannered doctor, you felt like screaming at him when he finally did come in the room... but you just couldn't.

 

[LisaNJ25]

I cant stand when that happens.. I can see a few minutes but once it turns to 20-30 it gets nuts. I would prefer to be told when I get there that they are running behind so I have the option to reschedule.

Once my OB got stuck with a delivery. The receptionist say he may make it since the hospital was across the street... I knew better lol and just rescheduled.

 

[LisaR]

I love when they tell you on the phone that you need to come in 15 minutes early to fill out paperwork. Then you wait 45 minutes to be seen. When you complain and say you have been waiting for 45 minutes, they say technically it has only been 30 minutes because I came in 15 minutes early liked they told me to do!

 

[MouseWorshipin]

Sometimes doctors, especially specialists, have to go to the hospital to take care of a patient, and it sets the whole day behind. Babies and heart attacks and stuff don't happen on schedule, KWIM?

I once showed up for an OB visit and they told me it would be a long wait and the doctor was in a bad mood, because he'd had a hard delivery and the baby died, did I want to wait?

Sometimes a surgeon ends up spending an extra 45 minutes in the OR.

While sometimes it is just over-booking, other times there are very good resons that we have to wait.