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It's typical to wait 45 minutes to an hour at my doctor's office. The worst time was having to wait an hour and a half for my one year old's wellness check up. The wait isn't worth that silly 2 minute check up, so no more routine check ups for my kids anymore.
I want to ad that my PCP is one that is walk in, NO appointment needed. I have never had to wait over a hour to see him, even on a busy day. I reckon he has me spoiled....
You can see his parking lot from the street and if it is full, you can run errans and come back later when he isn't so busy.. and that hour wait wouldn't be that long if those drug reps would go away! You never go in there, that there isn't at least 2 or 3 of them in there.
LOL, I had to laugh at the OP's message. I'm not laughing AT you but at the situation rather. You see, I have worked for doctors for about 10 years now. You honestly can't blame the doctors for their tardiness ALL the time, more times than not its the patient that says he / she needs to come in for a sore throat and then once they secure an appointment, they have 30 other issues going on and a doctor can't just turn patients away. Morally, they have to see their patients and unfortunately it puts them behind.
If patients were honest about what they need to be seen for and just not hoard the doctors time when they come in then everyone could be seen on time and their appointments would be much better.
Sorry for your experiences at that doctors office but believe me, I speak from experience it's not always the doctors and staffs fault.
Oh, come on, what self-respecting doctor sees a patient on time? Can't have uppity patients thinking they matter!
With al the broohaha about millions lacking health insurance thus lacking access to health care, well, then, why are offices always so crowded?
Once in a dentist--new patient---I sat and waited and waited, while some guys discussed a baseball game. I finally told the assistant I'd been waiting an hour for Dr. Deental, oh, then the guy who'd benn yacking right in front of me comes over, says he was delayed with an emergency. I just took off my little bib, said you were standing right in front of me discussing a baseball game, not an emergency. I left, refused to pay any bill. they tried to bill my insurance company, I reported them to their fraud line---billing for services never rendered, unless you consider putting you in a high chair and strappin1g a bib on you to be some sort of service Well..............bill was written off
LOL, I had to laugh at the OP's message. I'm not laughing AT you but at the situation rather. You see, I have worked for doctors for about 10 years now. You honestly can't blame the doctors for their tardiness ALL the time, more times than not its the patient that says he / she needs to come in for a sore throat and then once they secure an appointment, they have 30 other issues going on and a doctor can't just turn patients away. Morally, they have to see their patients and unfortunately it puts them behind.
If patients were honest about what they need to be seen for and just not hoard the doctors time when they come in then everyone could be seen on time and their appointments would be much better.
Sorry for your experiences at that doctors office but believe me, I speak from experience it's not always the doctors and staffs fault.
^^^^ YES YES YES!
I can totally relate that waiting an obscene amount of time for a scheduled appointment is annoying. But I have to also play the devil's advocate here when I say it is usually the patients that get a physician behind schedule.
I worked for a family practice office and if they had no patients, they'd run like clockwork. All the docs were extremely punctual and while a few did deliver babies, they each had an on-site nurse practitioner to cover them if they had to leave.
But when the patients book an appointment to have an ear infection looked at, and then get in the room with the doctor and start complaining about their wart, their annoying yeast infection, their rectal bleeding, and their chest pain, then we have a problem. Most physicians are kind and will listen and try to assist as best they can. But I did work for one that would cut people off and tell them to schedule another appointment. He was the same guy who had a 10 minute rule; didn't matter if you were 90 or a mom of 2 year old triplets, if you were 10 min+ late, you were rescheduled.
So keep this in mind the next time you schedule an appointment. Don't be afraid to tell the scheduler your reasons for the visit; believe me, there is nothing they haven't heard before, no matter how embarassing you may think it is. This prepares the doc and his staff for your appointment, and minimizes any delays caused to other people.
While I can speak from the doc's side of things, I'm also a patient. While I don't like to wait, especially when I don't feel well, my doc is worth the wait every time.
My old GYN doc was always late. He was always about 30 minutes behind. He is young and attractive and very thorough. Did I say, he's attractive. I would go across town for my visits. Oops, appointment.
Anyway, one day, I was 17 minutes late. Policy is 15 minutes or more reschedule. I came in and the receptionist said, you're over 15 minutes late. I said, really. I've waited for him 30 minutes before. You going to tell me to reschedule. She said, I'll talk with the doc. You do that miss. The doc said, sure I'll see you childfree.
I stopped my appointments with him, because of the wait time. Here's the thing, if he's thorough with you, then he's thorough with others.
And, I felt like I was cheating on my hubs. He was too handsome.
If patients were honest about what they need to be seen for and just not hoard the doctors time when they come in then everyone could be seen on time and their appointments would be much better.
I booked an appointment with my eye doctor several years ago and when asked WHY I needed to come in I told them I did not know, that was why I was coming in, that something was WRONG and I was not going to leave until she figured out what and how to fix it.... It was something I complained about EVERY time I went but was never addressed..
To me, you should have all problems addressed when you go and not just allowed ONE problem addressed. I give them the main reason I am coming in but I also say I have 2 other things that I want to discuss/address with the doctor.
I dropped one eye doctor for 3 hour waits in the waiting room and 45 more minutes in the exam room EVERY time I went. That one I saw last week, I asked if he was running behind on his appointments because of the long wait and she said "No, it's always like this on Wednesdays".. A lot of them are just over booking thinking our time isn't valuable too!
Other doctors I have seen, they take me right in as soon as I get there and I am walking out the door at my appointment scheduled time. I have quite a few like that so I see that as the doctors managing their time better and NOT overbooking...
I have no problem with long waits now and then if I am paid the courtesy of being told they are running behind by "XXX" minutes and would I mind waiting or would I like to reschedule? Given that option, some would reschedule and it would work out where they would end up on time with their appointments for the rest of the day.
Oftentimes patients simply can't wait and wait. Like me, they may be dependent on others for their transportation. My dh has to take time from work to run me around, he can't be expected to blow off an entire day!
I wish doctors would realize their little games with waiting make health care inacessible for many who are dependent on others for transportation.
I worked for a family practice office and if they had no patients, they'd run like clockwork.
lol If the doctors had no patients, the office would have to close.
I work in healthcare too. Some patients need more time than others. There's nothing that can be done about that. I have sympathy for schedulers, I have to schedule family meetings at work and it is almost impossible to keep on schedule. One person won't show up, one will show up without being scheduled, one talks forever, the other has nothing to say. For a doctor I like, I don't mind waiting 30 -45 minutes or even a bit longer. I understand that at a primary care practice, you're going to have people coming in who aren't feeling well and had to be squeezed in. If I'm just coming in for a routine appointment, I would want those people to go first, and I would hope that if I were sick, I would be see as soon as possible.
But if the doctor is routinely an hour or more late for appointments, I personally would switch doctors. (Especially if you are waiting to see the PA, not even the doctor!) That's just poor planning on the office's part. If you really don't want to switch doctors, you might want to ask the office staff if there are certain days and/or times of day that are most likely to not experience delays.
I have had more than my fair share of medical appointments this year. I haven't sat and waited for more than 15-20 minutes for any of them. Probably my average wait time has been 5 minutes. They have all been specialists though.
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Well..............bill was written off
