<p>I am not an MD but am in another health profession and see patients. I am so stressed out by the feeling of being constantly under the gun in terms of time pressure, I am leaving my job! I do apologize when I have kept people waiting. I even warn those I am seeing later if I am running behind and they really appreciate being told and tell me so. (I am rarely more than 30 min behind, usually.)</p>
<p>Here is what we can all collectively do to help with the wait situation. ARRIVE ON TIME!! In fact, arrive early to do any necessary paperwork. Before I was in this profession, I was one of the guilty ones. I had assumed that the docs always ran late, so if I came late, it would not be a big deal. Well, it is. If I get behind by a late patient early in the day, I am messed up. I occasionally miss lunch as a result. The type of appointments I have are booked for 30 minutes, and the actual testing really takes most of that time! Sometimes for complicated cases, it can take even longer. Our practice does have a policy that people more than 15 min late can be asked to reschedule. But sometimes the patient is well on time but the foreign language interpreter is late. Or people can also get squeezed in for emergencies.</p>
<p>After this experience, I will never be late for an appointment again. Call me reformed.</p>
<p>My first ob-gyn, who delivered both of my kids, was never late, and he also rarely had more than 2 patients in the waiting room. He didn’t belong to any insurance, we were responsible for all paperwork. If he had a delivery, he would have his assistant call us before we left for our appointments. </p>
<p>I do find more doctors are closer to being on time now. There used to be a time when it was more of a norm to always wait for one’s doctor. I think they are using technology to better manage their time. Some of my doctors ask me to fill out forms online prior to my appt, it cuts down on taking too long to fill out forms in person or not have information on hand (medications, insurance card).</p>
<p>As far as doctors need to time to do writeup for each patient, and it may account for them being late for next patient(s). I response to that is to factor that time when scheduling patients. It really isn’t that hard.</p>
<p>I had a cardiologist who was CHRONICALLY late. He also did NOT list my allergies, which I disclosed at my first visit to their practice and did NOT keep records of tests his office performed on me in my file. There were also NO records of the 15-30 minute talk his partner and I had about my allergies and whether a chemical dye in a stress test presented an unreasonable risk. </p>
<p>My last appointment with him was when I had waited well over an hour and he waltzed in with no excuse or apology and them five minutes into the appointment, went to take a phone call and upon returning announced he was in a rush! He had not looked at the test results of the tests he had ordered and had no copies so I share MY copies and waited for him to give his opinion about them. </p>
<p>He the ordered me tobretirn in 6 or 12 months and have a cardiac stress test, which his partner had advised me was a BAD idea and then huffed out of the room!</p>
<p>I refused to return and told his office staff and the referring MDs why. He was horribly inconsiderate of patients’ time, took no care or interest of their allergies and could in fact have caused me anaphylactic shock or worse, and beyond that, kept sloppy, useless medical records. </p>
<p>The referring MDs said they had heard some rumors but his office had such a good rep. I countered that they would kill someone soon if they weren’t A LOT more careful. </p>
<p>Ok, op, explain yourself!! (Sorry I really dislike the confrontational tone of your thread title). If you are late or have to cancel at the last minute or bring your toddler children with you to your appt (who might need supervision while you are in your appt) do you personally call the Dr (not just the staff) to apologize?</p>
<p>More and more practices are now owned by large groups or hospitals, and have put ridiculous expectations on the number of patients a doctor is required to see per day. That leaves unfortunately very little time to review a chart, spend much time with a patient, take calls from other Drs on shared cases, answer questions from PA’s also seeing patients (eg if the MD has to approve or sign off on a med change or something), etc. Some practices overbook because they anticipate late cancellations, but they also have to fit in an emergency. If the emergency was you, you would want to be seen. My pediatrician’s office had a sign int he exam rooms that said something like " we apologize for any wait you incur, but we give ample time to each patient, and w will do the same for you".</p>
<p>Some practices are large with many exam rooms. The nurse may do the preliminary review of issues with you and then get you ready for the Dr. The Dr. goes from exam room to exam room, and probably does not know what time your appt was or when you were placed in the exam room. Maybe the charts show this, maybe they don’t. And most Drs as noted in the post above apologize if they know they are running particularly late, but some may just get down to business with a patient.</p>
<p>Sorry but the original post and title just sounds like entitlement. The outrageous wait at the dentist incident told above is inexcusable. But If my appt is at the end of the day, I am going to suspect that things might be running a bit behind because that isnt uncommon in many medical practices. My PCP schedules his appts from 6:30 am (no joke) to 3 pm. Thats his choice, and I choose the early ones as I know its unlikely there will be a wait. But if there is a wait when I am in an exam room, I bring in a magazine or platy on my cellphone. </p>
<p>Some fields do not schedule multiple patients in multiple exam rooms, so its easier for the Dr to know if they are late and can apologize. But then, if that hour is reserved for you and you cancel at the last minute, that appt hour can’t be given to another client who wanted it. So dont start another thread on how unfair it is to charge a patient for a late cancel.</p>
<p>There’s an orthopedist I used to go to whose receptionist advises patients to call before their appointment to check and see if the doctor is running late. I guess it’s a common occurrence in that office, but it’s not a bad idea. I used to give them a call about 45 minutes before my appointment. He was often running an hour behind schedule so it saved me a lot of time in the waiting room.</p>
<p>The only doctor I have ever had to wait more than 15 minutes for was a dermatologist. Every time I went to see their PA (but the doctor had the same on time issues), I waited at least 30-45 minutes in the waiting room.</p>
<p>But you know…I really liked these doctors, and thought their care was outstanding…so I didn’t mind the wait. </p>
<p>To the OP…if you really can’t stand the wait…switch doctors.</p>
<p>I will say, I think the quality of the magazines in the waiting room ins inversely proportional to the amount of time you have to wait.</p>
<p>In my opinion here is what is wrong with doctors offices. They are located in buildings where there are only doctors offices…or maybe in a hospital where there is a lousy restaurant or cafe.</p>
<p>When I go to target to drop off a RX, they send me a tex message when it’s complete. I can browse around, or leave the store and go elsewhere in the plaza. Plenty to do to occupy my time. I get the text, and return to get my RX.</p>
<p>If doctors offices could send a text five minutes prior to being ready for you…they would be great…IF there was something else to do nearby. But usually, there isn’t anything else nearby!</p>
<p>The OP only waited ten minutes in the office before being ushered into the exam room to wait 30 more minutes. Isn’t this juggling? Or “triage”? It would not surprise me one bit if the actual doctor has no clue what time you were scheduled. He or she is bouncing from room to room and being managed by the front office I would think. Personally, I don’t care so much about apologies but I’m not in love with this system.</p>
<p>Someone apologizing to me for something that isn’t his/her fault doesn’t give me my time back or make my day better. Unless the entire medical system is overhauled to put a value on patient convenience (and why would TPTB do that?), I don’t see long waits changing any time soon.</p>
<p>Our family has had many doctors over the years. The ones I like best are the ones that leave a certain number of appointment slots open just for emergencies. So, there may be 6 or so time slots scattered throughout the day to absorb the emergencies and the appointments that run late. It helps the doctor to stay on time for the scheduled appointments.</p>
<p>I have a D who had medical issues and saw many different types of doctors all through high school. No one has been able to give us answers and she seems to be past the issues now. She did have many specialists, as well as pediatricians and surgeons involved. We never had to wait more than a few minutes for an appointment and often were the ones slowing the office down.</p>
<p>The doctors were always time conscience and the front desk staff very polite and friendly. </p>
<p>That’s a great idea Thumper.
Our bank allows you to sign in and then recieve a text when you are next up.
Very reasonable.
And BTW, I do call the dr office when I am going to be late because of an unexpected accident or emergency.
Generally, I am early if I can manage it, in the hopes they can take me ahead of time.</p>
<p>My doctor appointment “rule of thumb” is that I should be checking out of the office/scheduling the next visit within an hour of my original appointment time. The purpose of the appointment can take 10 minutes or 60 minutes. I really don’t care. Let me wait in the waiting room or the examination room. Have a plentiful supply of good magazine. Just get me out of there within an hour. After 60 minutes, I give myself permission to get annoyed. I think I have some sort of medical ADD!. </p>
<p>My H is a physician and he feels this from both sides of the situation. On the one hand, he is pretty much required to schedule patients in 15 minute appts, even though he knows this is not really enough time for most people he sees. He knows from the start that he will be running late for all appts after the 1st one of the day, and he hates it. He does apologize, and most people are understanding esp when they see he devotes full attention and time to their problems and concerns and is not giving them the bum’s rush to try to “catch up”.</p>
<p>On the other hand, he has patients every single day who are considerably late themselves or who simply never bother to show up. This is not a problem when patients call to let the office know, but without a phone call? He once went to an outreach clinic where his last appt of the day was scheduled for 1pm (he was there all morning). He waited until 2pm for the patient, tried to call the patient, nothing. So he left. Patient showed up at 4pm, knowing he was 3 hours late, and still was angry the doctor wasn’t there anymore. </p>
<p>In summary, he wants to give his full attention to all patients, make everyone feel comfortable and listened to–but sometimes it is difficult to do that and stay on the schedule demanded by his bosses with the added nuisance of late and no show patients.</p>
<p>H is a primary care doc who works for a corporation. He is “graded” on patient satisfaction, which affects his pay… His schedule has a lot of time for “walk-ins” and he is usually on time. He does everything to please his patients, listen to them, not rush them. But he has to balance that with pressure from the company to see more patients, faster. So far he has resisted doing records in the exam room, but a lot of younger docs do this routinely now. (If it makes you feel better, imagine how many hours the docs’ spouse/kids spend waiting or never seeing the doc at all H has been solo for 7 years now and I wouldn’t wish this lifestyle on anyone.)
Part of the problem is that when a doc gets popular/has a good reputation, or that specialty is in short supply in an area, his/her schedule is always overbooked, and waits are always long. And he/she doesn’t need to care about patient satisfaction/manners because there are 100 other patients trying to get in the door. You can leave a doc like this, and they will never even notice.
If I need to make appointments, I always try to get the first appointment in the morning or first after lunch. Then the doc is not likely to be behind (may be late in the morning, though. . .)
Our dentist is not popular, she is slow, and very particular about her work. She is a foreigner (but US trained). Her office is basic, has shabby decor. Some people don’t like her place because it looks low class–little storefront, strip mall. But some patients from nearby “flashier,” overbooked/long-wait, rush-you-out places have switched to her because they want to be treated like human beings and can overlook her worn out/tiny waiting room. I like the fact that she is slow/particular. She is concerned about doing the best job she can with every procedure, and constantly checking to make sure I’m not in pain. I never wait there, because she doesn’t have enough patients to fill up her schedule. (That is another strategy–switch to a doctor/dentist who is new, not-so-popular–but certified with clean record, of course-- who is more likely to appreciate your business and less likely to have a full schedule.)</p>
<p>Me too, also dentists. Only if it’s a regular recurring thing - that, to me, means their office isn’t scheduling properly. I am fortunate that my current doc and dentist make me wait 10 minutes, maybe.</p>
<p>Maybe Drs. offices should start giving out appts in 3 hr. windows like all the delivery companies and repairmen. “We will see you between 8-11 am”. Somehow its ok for the companies that come to our homes to expect us to wait around for up to half a day for them. Some will call 20 minutes before they arrive, or if they are on their way, but not all. And more often than not they are running way behind schedule as well.</p>
<p>Well, I think the problem is that you are given an appointment time that they often know is unrealistic and they don’t care. Some of them will actually scold you for being late when everybody knows you were not getting seen at the appointed time, anyway. Nobody likes those home visit window, either. But, at least you are at home. The Dr. problem is that some patients see this as any other appointment where we would expect not to wait around for an hour. The OP wants an apology for what is probably a routine part of some practices office operation. The doctor is not waiting for you at your appointment time and often wouldn’t have a clue if you never showed up. I don’t think it’s their fault, though. And, I expect it will get worse not better.</p>
H has been solo for 7 years now and I wouldn’t wish this lifestyle on anyone.)