<p>The answer to that, Pizzagirl(post 37) is the same as - why rock stars marry supermodels, or why people climb mountains- because they can. You are SO right, it isn’t customer service, but they are in the position that they can do it.</p>
<p>Post 16 is certainly a good sound response, if those “extras” are extremely rare. I know of delays such as- asking Doc to look at Johnny’s toe during Lisa’s appt, and discussing an unexpected tumor. And I don’t doubt that helicopter transfer occurred, and I do believe it should get priority. But way too often, it isn’t such an emergency, and is a much more common reason for delay. While I cannot speak for all doctors, or parent’s Hubby, my past doctors found ordinary delays occurred often. Typically more than once, practically every day. There is where the trouble lies. If a doc finds himself working over day after day, or cutting later patients short to finish on time, then there is a simple answer- he/she is scheduling too many patients.
Once a Doc knows there are so many unexpected delays that add up, there is NO excuse for continuing to schedule too many patients in a day, if that is, he values his employers(the patients) He needs to allow more time for patients, or have fewer patients, or work longer hours, or work more often, or get more help, or some combination if he cares. To do it over and over again, and to use the “I’m running late” excuse again and again, well it just doesn’t fly. If such delays occur frequently then the doc should add to the “average patient” time to make allowances for it.</p>
<p>As we might tell any worker- if you work an 8 hour day, and each job averages 1/2 hour, then don’t schedule 19 jobs in one day.</p>
<p>I always trust the doctor to take care of the neediest patients. If I (or my loved-ones) am waiting, I try to tell myself when I’m… in need of serious hand-holding/really sick/have an emergency, etc., I want the doc to spend a few more minutes with me. If there’s communication and an apology, I’m OK with waits. “So sorry about your wait.” goes a long way in my world…
Primary care providers seem to be the worst offenders due to all the unknowns related to scheduling. They also, unfortunately, make the least money. That needs to change, but suppose that is another thread altogether!</p>
<p>momcat2… thanks for that link!! all those instances are valid…had to laugh at bodily functions…dont know how many times we are running behind and i’m looking for H…find him in the bathroom ! my H doesnt even take a lunch he works right through and still runs behind…he is at the hospital by 7:30…gets to office by 9:30 then works straight through until 5 with patients, does calls until 7:30, then to another hosp until finished, usually about 10pm. the worst culprit for us was in that article…“and another thing i wanted to ask about…”</p>
<p>adding… this wasnt posted as an excuse…and its not that he sees too many patients Some days only sees 15-20.its his specialty which is time consuming, HIS poor time management and the things in that article all come into play…</p>
<p>and primary care guys dont get paid less (a specialist and a primary care are paid exactly the same based on the level of visit…the primary care probably has more lower level visits though</p>
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<p>Because a lot of the people in those jobs aren’t rocket scientists and just don’t think about marketing, sales, or the simple things that would make the patient experience better. Seriously, every time I go to H’s office, I look around and think … if I ran this place as an office manager, here are five things I’d do to improve the patient experience.</p>
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<p>Ah, you must have seen Ric Ocasek and Paulina Porizkova on the Colbert Report the other night, too :-)</p>
<p>My father´s oncologist was one of those doctors who would spend too much time with his patients. It was fairly normal for us to wait for 1+ hours for him. But he would check on my dad during his off hours whenever my dad was in the hospital for chemo.</p>
<p>Few years later, the doctor moved to a different hospital. Unfortunately, during one of my dad regular check up, his new doctor thought his cancer had returned. They were ready to start the treatment, but I decided to contact his old doctor. This doctor scheduled for a meeting right away, requested for all of my dad test results and history within days. After examinating everything, told my dad that he didn´t believe the cancer has returned. It was 3 years ago, and my dad is still going strong.</p>
<p>IMO, rocket scientist or not, has next to nothing to do with it. It is a sign of poor office management. I notice the difference between a well run office and one that is poorly run rather quickly. It begins with the initial phone call. There have been docs that have lost our business before we ever set foot into their offices based upon how accomodating, pleasant and efficient the person on the phone was when one of us called for an initial appointment. Also, when we get there, I find it important that the office looks generally clean!</p>
<p>Funny reference, Pizzagirl, but no I didn’t see that.
It will “date” me but I remember that line from a Duran Duran interview, back when they were hot on the charts.</p>
<p>Of course the risk of telling someone the doc is running a half hour late is
- Reception may be instructed NOT to give such info
- a patient might not have the time to wait and no charge would be justified or
- a patient might run errands, but the call for him might come when the patient was out, then he’d miss his turn, and what a mess that would be.
- The receptionist might be perceived as intelligent and caring, and that would blow the image many of them have cultivated for decades.</p>
<p>I think it largely comes down to complacency. Past doctors I experienced didn’t need higher efficiency or better time management skills because they were earning enough from the way they were running things to satisfied them. “If it ain’t broke…” as the expression goes.
As I said earlier, if there weren’t a manufactured shortage of docs and nurses, it would mean more competition and better service at better prices- but that’s why there is a manufactured shortage- to limit those numbers entering the field.</p>
<p>I always ask when I check in if the doctor is running on time. Over the years, I have dumped an eye doctor, podiatrist & 2 dermatologists that were consistently 20+ minutes late for every appointment. I understand the occasional emergency arises, but when it’s every appointment, there’s a problem with the practice. </p>
<p>Even when doctors I like are late, I make it a point of letting them know what time my appointment was if they stroll in the door more that 20 minutes late. (nothing rude, just “it’s 5:30pm and my appointment was for 5pm”) The primary reason I get so annoyed when doctors are running late is that I work in NYC and all my doctors are in NJ, so I need to leave early or arrive late for an appointment. </p>
<p>In business, being 20+ minutes late to a scheduled meeting with customers is unacceptable.</p>
<p>H had been seeing an opthamologist regularly. We are in a small town and this is THE guy to see. H was by far the youngest patient by about 15 years. Like one of the docs above, there were 2 apt. times given one in the morning and one in the afternoon. You may have had a 9 a.m. apt., but it was likely you wouldn’t be seen until after 11. People just kept disappearing into the back and no one seemed to ever come out. There were 2-3 staff people you saw and you were shunted from one waiting room to one exam room to another before you saw the dr. for 5 mn if you were lucky. </p>
<p>They were also big on the hard sell for surgery. Tried to get him to have lasik, first by telling him that contacts were damaging his eyes (not true according to subsequent docs), so he gave them up. Then by telling him he could get rid of his glasses. Well, in questioning he learned that since he needs glasses for distance and for reading, the surgery would only fix one. The last visit was a REALLY hard sell on immediate cataract surgery. Wanted a down payment on the spot, even though we have insurance that will cover almost all of it. That, in addition, to the interminable waits for 5 mn with the dr., caused him to never go back.</p>
<p>Scheduled a visit with the new guy in town whom he loves, had the cataract surgery right away, and is going great. The most he’s waited with the new guy was 10 mn. And the staff is pleasant to boot–what a concept!</p>
<p>"How long do you wait before leaving?
Recently had a Dr appt,checked in with receptionist,was told to sit down and he’d get to me(thgis was before he even got my name) after 45 minutes i got up, went to receptionist said i was leaving, and did…Even if i was escorted to examination room,the Dr has 3, so i would likley have waited another 15 minutes…</p>
<p>What irks me is the fact i realize Dr’s can run late,people can be sick( i was having a consultation about blood work done) but this was too long…i asked for Dr to call me with results, or send them to me…this was last week,so who knows if it is in mail…Likely going to change doc, as this was out of network, but CONVENIENT…since the convenience is gone, no reason to pay out of network costs…</p>
<p>What would you have done?"</p>
<p>Happened to me years ago and I complained to the receptionist and told her my time was valuable also and that the sitting in the waiting room for over an hour and then 30 more minutes in the exam room was unacceptable and if the doctor couldn’t handle his patient load he should hire another doctor but he was probably too cheap. She then looked at me and with a straight face said “so where
would you like your records sent.” I was fired by the doctor!</p>
<p>I’ve seen both sides. There are many occasions where a patient makes an appointment for two kids and doesn’t show up leaving a hole, or comes late so that it affects the next appointment. Then there are those who simply take longer than planned. Or some who try to get an entire consult over the phone for free.</p>
<p>My OB was ALWAYS late. Never less than 45 minutes late, the worst was 1 1/2 hours. I could understand it if he was at the hospital with a delivery, but one morning I had the first appointment of the day, the front office told me he had no patients in the hospital (and thus no rounds to make), and he STILL strolled in 1/2 hour late! But I stayed with him, because I had 2 really complicated pregnancies (in one case, life-threatening complications which he caught early) and he handled them beautifully. He took as much time with me as I needed. I just hated sitting in his crowded waiting room though, especially when it was my second child and I had to entertain a toddler! They used to have the most obnoxious daytime programming on the TV - finally one day I went to the front desk and asked if I could change the channel. Sesame Street beats Jerry Springer any day.</p>
<p>But once I was in with the tech who was drawing my blood, and the doctor popped in. He started chatting about the weekend and recipes, until I finally said, “Doctor! You have a waiting room full of patients! STOP chatting with us and get moving!” He laughed and left, and the tech said, “THANK YOU - he won’t listen to use when we tell him that!”</p>
<p>That is so funny! I am amazed at all these late dr. stories. I haven’t had that much trouble with late drs. except once. With that dr. I waited about half an hour in the outer office, half an hour in the exam room, and then just walked out and never returned.</p>
<p>We see a nurse practitioner for our primary care provider and she is wonderful. No major waiting.</p>