Why is my time less important than the Dr's. time?

[MELSMICE]

I had to take one of my DD's for a recheck today. It was with an eye Dr. I made the first appt. of the morning because of school - it was at 8 a.m. Traffic was heavy but we made it to the office at 7:59. I figured we'd be in & out & she'd make it to school for her 2nd class.

Well, we sat in the waiting room for 20 minutes & finally the Dr. came "waltzing" in the front door. She arrived in the office at 8:20!!!!!!!!!!!!! I could have made the appt. for 8:30 a.m. & would have if I would have known this was the service I was going to receive.

It just annoys me when people feel their time is more important than mine!!!

 

[TheGoofster]

I had to take one of my DD's for a recheck today. It was with an eye Dr. I made the first appt. of the morning because of school - it was at 8 a.m. Traffic was heavy but we made it to the office at 7:59. I figured we'd be in & out & she'd make it to school for her 2nd class.

Well, we sat in the waiting room for 20 minutes & finally the Dr. came "waltzing" in the front door. She arrived in the office at 8:20!!!!!!!!!!!!! I could have made the appt. for 8:30 a.m. & would have if I would have known this was the service I was going to receive.

It just annoys me when people feel their time is more important than mine!!!

Hey, and don't forget. You are paying a lot of money for the privilege of seeing him walk in late!!!

 

[PlutosFriend]

Did the Dr apologize I hope?

 

[luvwinnie]

This is a big pet peeve of mine!

 

[missypie]

I'm a lawyer. I always think that if I made my clients wait to see me as long as doctors make their patients wait, I'd have zero clients.

 

[disney junky]

We just changed MD's and the new office is run by the staff, not the doctors if that makes sense. I have not had to wait at all beyond my appointed time and in one case, got in early. There are numerous doctors and you may get to see any one of them, but you can request a specific doctor. In that case, you might have to wait, but you are told that up front.

 

[VioltePrincess]

I tend to give doctors the benefit of the doubt.

yes, a lot of them could use lessons in time management -- they schedule more patients in an hour than they can reasonably examine.

it's possible the doctor could have been late just because he didn't feel like getting up this morning. or that he routinely comes in late.

but it's also possible he hit unexpected traffic, just like any of us do when commuting to work.

or he may have been at a hospital or urgent care center all night and was delayed by the patients there. one of my doctors...well, when I have an appointment with him, I know the odds of waiting for 20 mintues or even an hour are pretty good, because he schedules all his patients in the afternoon and evening, after putting in a full morning of surgery and hospital rounds.

that being said, he should have offered an explanation and/or an apology.

 

[Goofyluver]

Maybe we should have some kind of regulation that states that we get to deduct our waiting time from the bill.

 

[DaisyD]

My time is just as important. If he keeps me waiting longer then 15 minutes then I tell the receptionist that I am about to leave unless he sees me in the next 5 minutes. It works every time!

 

[apirateslifeforme]

...but it's also possible he hit unexpected traffic, just like any of us do when commuting to work.

This happened to me when I was in the hospital, being prepped for major surgery! I was already freaking out a bit because we didn't really know what was going on to begin with - there was no way to know until the doctor got in there to see what was going on - and then to have her stuck in traffic for an extra 30 minutes...I was in full-on panic mode by that point.

 

[MELSMICE]

Did the Dr apologize I hope?

No apology, no explanation.

 

[DVC-Don]

I once had a local MD doctor who wanted to make an appointment to see me. Upon hearing I did not have an opening that week he tells my receptionist "Look, I think I'm more important than most of those others and I need to see him today". When she told me that, I told her to tell the "important" doctor I had no openings till the next month. I don't need that type of attitude.

 

[Jpgirl]

I've actually quit a couple of doctors because of this and I'm getting ready to quit another. The last one was my ds' psychiatrist-after waiting over an hour for the third time in a row I asked him if he thought his time was more valuable than mine. He replied he was very busy and had had an emergency. I told him this was the third time in a row that he had been over an hour late. I also told him that if I had more patience I would try him one more time and if he was late I would charge him what I charge my clients-$60.00 and hour-that's what my time is worth to me when I am working. He just stared at me, and then I went on to tell him that since I don't have that kind of patience that this would be our last visit. There are so many psychiatrists in Houston that I shouldn't have a problem finding one qualified to treat my son and be respectful of our time. Then I took the prescriptions and walked out. I did find another one but he's just as late. I'm ready to quit him too but he's really helped my son so I hesitate. But I don't hesitate to tell him I don't appreciate waiting. I understand emergencies and such but on the whole waayyy too many doctors aren't considerate of their patient's time. I had a good family doc in Ohio that was almost always on time. The 30 plus years I saw him-he was maybe late 10 times.

 

[Chattyaholic]

Is the eye doctor an opthalmologist who also does surgeries?

Maybe she was at the hospital "making rounds" and one of her patients kept her a little longer, so she was late getting into the office.

Maybe she has children and had to drop them off at school and got caught in traffic.

So many reasons why she could have been late.

I'm not one to fuss over a doctor not seeing me right on time. As long as he/she gives me their full attention when they do get around to me, that's all that matters.

 

[escape]

I can understand the doctor getting "tied up" but what's keeping the doctor from apologizing?

My ob/gyn apologizes if I have to wait more than 15 minutes. Once, I had to postpone my appt. time for a couple of hours (after driving 1 1/2 hours to get there) due to an emergency delivery she had to attend. When I finally got in to see her, she was very apologetic and made sure my time with her wasn't rushed.

Now, on the other hand, DH, DFIL and DMIL all see a certain neurosurgeon due to various problems. This NS has kept my FIL waiting for up to three hours on visit or two. If he wasn't so good at what he does, I'd look else where if I were them. There's nothing like sitting in a back brace, in pain, for three hours waiting to see a doctor for a 5-min. visit.

 

[Poppinsme]

I work in health care at a very busy Hospital in New Orleans Louisiana. We are so busy. Since Hurricane Katrina health care in this area has been beyond stressed. It is very possible in your neck of the woods that the Doc was running late, caught in traffic, at an emergency, out late the night before from an emergency, etc. Try giving some slack or ask. S*** happens. Be glad you dont live HERE. In ER now it can be anywhere from 12 to 36 Hrs. before you get a room or even seen. Doctor appointments are very hard to get and can take weeks. So many people here are clogging the ER because we dont have enough Docs. I dread flu season. You ONLY waited 20 mins., how wonderful. Thanks for letting me vent.

 

[Kimberly]

Most physicians make runs to the hospital early in the morning. Who knows what was going on beforehand?

 

[escape]

Poppinsme, that's a whole different situation. You guys deserve a big for all you do.

And I do agree with you, **** happens. I don't expect an apology for waiting some. Actually, I expect having to wait. However, if it's more than an hour, it would be nice to get some type of explanation and/or maybe an apology, if warranted.

 

[goaliewife]

I once had a local MD doctor who wanted to make an appointment to see me. Upon hearing I did not have an opening that week he tells my receptionist "Look, I think I'm more important than most of those others and I need to see him today". When she told me that, I told her to tell the "important" doctor I had no openings till the next month. I don't need that type of attitude.

It's funny you should say this. Having worked for docs and now working for a hospital, we call it the "God syndrome." Some of them need to be brought down a peg or five.

Being the first appt of the day, an explanation would have been nice. Traffic, trouble in the hospital, whatever....

But in the same light, a lot of doctor office double book patients like airlines double book flights because of cancellations. So if you have an appt later in the day, and you are waiting an excessive amount of time, maybe everyone showed up that day.......or maybe the doc got hung up at the hospital at lunch time as sometimes they go there to do rounds.

I don't care to wait in the waiting room either, but then again, I don't want the doctor rushing me through his exam room either because he is behind schedule. I want to have an appt where I feel like I matter.

It seems to be a viscious cycle.

 

[Acklander]

They way I look at it, if the Doctor is late it's because of someone elses emergency, not mine, so I count my blessings. That being said - I know that Dr.'s over schedule. Sometimes it's the only way a person can get in to see a Dr. - If I have an appointment I just bring a good book with me, show up a little early so I can be the first of the people in my time slot to be seen and hope for the best. I'd rather wait a while to be seen by a good dr. I feel comfortable with, than to be seen right away by a dr. I didn't trust.