I think you can tell a doctor to manage their schedule better - I have! I have one doctor where they call me if they are running late which is fabulous. My dentist has also occasionally called and asked if I can come earlier when a patient has cancelled. I always bring reading with me though - either work related magazines or my Kindle, which keeps me from getting too grouchy.
In my area, most of the physicians have become employees of one of the two local hospitals. I see doctors connected to both hospitals and always get surveys after the visits. One of the questions has to do with wait times. It would be ideal if more did this so everyone could provide feedback, particularly on this issue.
I’m another who always takes something to read. My visits with my former primary care doc, now retired, were typically late in the afternoon and I always had to wait a long time. He was a former neighbor with kids the same age as mine and always had lots of interest in me and my family, so I forgave the long waits as I knew he would take good care of me. It wasn’t uncommon for the lights to be turned down with only one desk staffer left to check me out. I won’t miss the wait time, but I do miss him.
30 years ago, my OB was about to perform an amniocentesis on me, when he got a message that his patient in labor was eight centimeters dilated. We all agreed that, instead of his rushing to stick a 12-inch needle in my abdoment, I should come back later that day. I didn’t mind the inconvenience!
My opinion
When the hospital owned practice asks how long you waited and find that one of their doctors is consistently off schedule.
They aren’t going to schedule less patients, they are going to tell the doctor to spend less time per patient.
Hospitals are about metrics and making money. Not about more care. It’s about billing and the doctor making their salary and profit for the corporation
Not to this doctor. He is onerous but good. He has to everything is way. I will put up with him since I would trust him operating on my eye more than anyone else. A few hours of wait, once a year is small by comparison.
My mammogram place also has a long wait. Another one I have to devote the entire day. Again, I trust their doctors in reading it right.
On the other hand, I did walk out of my gynecologist’s office after waiting an hour and never went back. He was replacable.
At the place I get my mammos done, there’s hardly any wait, and the results are read later that day. If there’s a problem, they would call me and I would go back.
Any doctor who is running 3 hours behind should have his staff let you know. There is no way I would wait 3 hours for any doctor. That is just inexcusable.
I have called docs that run late before leaving the office or home to ask if they are on schedule and if not, how much later I should arrive. The front desk is usually honest. They tend to be the ones who bear the brunt of patient frustration.
I had a Dr I would wait for a LONG time in exam room. I would start thinking to myself I may switch. Then when she came in I always loved her. She spends as much time as needed, never felt rushed, answered all questions. That’s when I would always be reminded she is doing this for everyone. My Ob was the same way. It’s worth the wait to me to have physicians I am comfortable with. Unfortunately both these physicians have moved on and I absolutely miss what I had with them including the wait.
On the other side of the coin I have had two extremely bad incidences of Dr’s rushing in and rushing out. Couldn’t ask questions and got no info. In one case when I told the nurse I wanted him to return because I didn’t get my questions answered, she stomped out and actually slammed the exam room door on her way out. Ummmmmm, NO, that is completely unacceptable. I was so angry I Got my questions answered, refused the treatment and never went back.
In the other case it was a stress test. (I’ve had them before so I knew what’s expected). He was running late, waltzed in, put me on treadmill for one minute and said “that’s enough” and ran out. I’m still convinced those results were not accurate, how could they have been?
I’ll take the waiting any day over that kind of treatment. I always plan on a few hours for any medical appointment.
When DS was a baby, I scheduled a Saturday appointment for him with the lead pediatrician in a practice. (I had only met with her in her office and did not know it they ran it like a mid-sized clinic.) We arrived early to checked in and waited. It was his first appointment outside of the hospital and the doctor’s NICU visits. I patiently sat there with my new baby until hours later when the staff turned the lights off to go home. It was then that they informed me that the doctor wasn’t even there and that they didn’t know why I was scheduled. Nice lady and she was great in the hospital but that was it. The next pediatrician I selected runs a tight office and stays pretty much one time. 20 yrs, three children, no complaints. He does his rounds before and after office hours and the hospital connected to office building.
I don’t mind waiting a reasonable amount of time for caring doctors but communication is key.
This is like when choosing airline flights, where the first flight of the morning is less likely to be delayed.
Of course, the cause is analogous for both airline flights and physicians – scheduling for optimistic conditions without considering normal delays.
We had to go to several clinics at the regional children’s hospital when my son was young. There was a sign at the front desk in each clinic saying, “If you have been waiting more than 15 minutes please let us know.” We never had to do that.
Interesting topic as I’m doing mammogram now. It seems like forever
Today, many doctors’ schedules are out of their control. Management dictates how many patients are seen and how the schedule is set up. I agree it is best to schedule first thing in the morning or after lunch. I rarely wait, I’m quite healthy and don’t need too many doctor appts. I won’t wait 3 hours for anything routine, probably not even 1.
I’m a solo dentist and I run on time. More than 10 minutes behind and I am personally telling the patient how long it will be. If they want to reschedule, so be it. On occasion, an emergency sets me behind, but not often because I have time built into my schedule every day to manage the person who needs to be seen today. We also call people in early if someone has cancelled. We respect everyone’s time, not just our own.
My ophthalmologist is usually behind. My office is 4 blocks away, and if I happen to have a later afternoon appt, I will call and see how far behind he is. The staff is fine with me coming later and I appreciate not sitting around with 10 other people who are waiting. (I only take late afternoon because the eye dilation lasts twice as long for me as for most people. It takes all day to go away and I can see nothing for 12 hours.)
My old ophthalmologist was usually behind but I figured I was going to sit around getting dilated anyway so carved out several hours. After we moved, my first visit to my new ophthalmologist was the same situation. But on my next annual visit, it was a totally different situation - prompt, timely, and shorter dilation time. They also had a patient concierge - not sure if that was part of the reason or if they just decided to completely change their operation. I was almost sorry because they had an old Matthew McConaughey movie playing on the tv in the waiting room and I got interested.
On my first visit to my new dermatologist, I arrived about 10 minutes early because I had left extra time to find the location. Even before the actual time of my appointment, the doctor came out to ask the receptionist why I had been waiting so long ;). I was very impressed.
I met with my new doctor this morning. I was the first appointment of the day. He took me early. Spent over an hour with me. He took my entire history himself, no forms to fill out in advance. He is affiliated with a hospital system but he and his wife independently own their joint practice. It was refreshing after coming from a big practice owned by a hospital.
Our new dentist’s office texts if they are running more than 15 minutes late. So does the hairdresser.
Not a chance that I would ever wait more than an hour for any appointment. 1/2 hour is pushing it for me.
I feel medical care has taken a sharp turn in the last decade, and not for the better.
My family sees many specialists, at 3 different hospital systems throughout the state, due to various chronic disease. Here’s what I particularly hate that is happening much more frequently:
- 20 minute phone trees to make or cancel an appointment
- Taking you back to the exam room and then leaving you for an hour. At least leave me with the blaring tv.
- Trying to make an appt at the interval the dr. stated, and being told "the doctors on call schedule isn't posted yet" (for June and July?) This is a weekly game for 3 different types of our specialists.
- Coding errors that take 12-18 months to resolve with their billing department (hospital owned)
- Telling you what time to be there instead of what time your appt. is. Thank you, but I can budget driving and paperwork completion time. When you lie and tell me 30 minutes earlier, then I waste another half-hour, in addition to ridiculous wait times
I thought I was just getting cranky until H had multiple cardiac arrests and spent a month in ICU in a new-to-us area and hospital. Wow! Completely different experience. They really walked the talk–from janitors to food people to nurses and techs up to the highest level doctors.
I used to have a family doctor that I saw once a year just for med maintenance. (I’m never sick). She left town and my new doctor is horrible. He requires to see me every 3 months at $140 each visit, no lab and no extra time spent with me. He routinely has a 1-2 hour wait, but I don’t have many options. I dread going for no reason and taking this time away from someone who might be sick.
I go to a well run large clinic for most of my appointments and they have a white board for each department where they note if a dr is running more than 10 or 15 minutes behind schedule. If I don’t see my drs name when I arrive, I ask if s/he is running on time. If the dr were running 30+ minutes behind (very rarely), I’d like to know as I could potentially run an errand. At the very least, there’s something psychologically comforting about knowing in advance that you have a wait and (re) setting your expectations.
I live in a suburb of a big city with lots of choice for physicians including two large medical schools/research institutions/hospitals. I can’t imagine anyone around here being willing to wait 3 hours for a doctor when there’s so much choice, aside from, perhaps, that one unique specialist/second opinion type.
Twenty-five years ago I had to visit a specialist. I had left my kids (my youngest was two months old and breastfed only) with my mother-in-law. I waited in the waiting room quite a bit, and then over an hour in the room. I could hear the doctor’s staff outside talking and laughing. I knew my baby would be screaming if I had to wait much longer, so I got dressed and told the staff I couldn’t wait any longer.
The doctor sent me a handwritten note apologizing for the wait! She even offered to pay my parking. She explained that she had had an emergency (which, if any of her staff had bothered to tell me, I would have understood). I was very impressed (and honestly, if not for my hungry baby, I would have stayed).