Diagnosed With a Bad Case of Hate-to-Wait-itis
See, this is the kind of thing that drives me crazy. My daughter needed to go to the pediatrician today due to pressure in her ears. I got her out of school a little early to make a 2:45 appointment, with the hope that she could get in on the second half of marching band practice (which runs from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m.)
We got to the doctor more than ten minutes early. No problem waiting that long. Our appointment time passed, and we waited some more. And some more. And some more. And some more.
And all this time, I'm confronted with a sign by the front window: "Patients Arriving More Than 15 Minutes Late Will Have to Reschedule Their Appointment."
Well, okay. Doctors seeing patients more than thirty minutes late, though, are A-OK.
It was thirty-five minutes after our appointment time when we got in to see ... the nurse, who did an ear test, weighed my daughter, and showed us to an examining room. And then another 25 minutes or so before we got to see ... the medical student, who gave a preliminary examination. And finally, a little after 4 p.m., an hour and fifteen minutes after our scheduled appointment, came the doctor, who cleaned some wax out of the patient's ears, reported that the ear test had come out fine, and recommended some ear drops.
And you know, if I disliked the people in this medical practice, I'd drop it in a second. All that wait time, all I could think was, "This is it. We've got to find another doctor."
But when we actually do get to see somebody, they're great. The nurses are very nice and helpful, in person and on phone calls. The doctor has a good rapport with my daughter and tolerates me pretty well. I'm really happy with the time we spend being examined. It's the time we spend waiting that kills me.
I know doctors are pinched by insurance payments and so must overbook, and are also subject to emergencies. Intellectually, I understand. Emotionally, those waiting minutes just eat at me, bringing me near tears sometimes because we are so powerless to do anything but walk out, and we can't walk out because the kid needs medical attention.
Perhaps the solution is to just budget two hours for any doctor's visit, regardless of the reason, and be happily surprised if it's less than that. When my kids were young, and really couldn't wait, I did change practices due to waiting-room considerations. Now, with older kids, it's just a maddening inconvenience. And I'm not altogether sure another practice is going to be any better anyway.
How long do you usually wait for the doctor? Share your thoughts in the comments.
My OB is a 2 hour wait to see him, with an extra half hour or so during the appointment itself. Newcomers to the waiting and waiting and waiting room watch those of us who’ve become experienced at counting who was there before us, so we know when our turn is coming up. And he is *wonderful* – worth the wait.
Our paediatrician doesn’t have a long wait, but then again, he’s new to the area, and I find his accent hard to understand sometimes. He’s worth it, though.
My family doctor takes longer as the day goes by. She changes practices every 5-8 years or so, whenever she’d been getting too overbooked. Her most recent move was a short time ago, so things aren’t bad in the waiting room – yet. But we’ll see how it goes.
I find I have not had these waits as much recently. Things have improved in my area (perhaps due to competition in a large metro region?). But they have happened in the past, and what has made me the most upset is that no one offers the waiting patients any updates or explanation. Surely the office personnel must be aware that they are behind schedule, and they should have some idea of how much. This should be conveyed to the folks who are waiting — will it be 10 more minutes or 2 hours? Geez, the things I could do in that time…
Making patients wait is just rude and a reflection of incompetent management and lousy service. A doctor’s office is supposed to be a professional business and the office team should act accordingly. I understand that emergencies come up…fine…then TELL us and provide the option of re-scheduling!
One thing I have thought of is an education process that could be used during well-checks or less time-critical appointments:
First, allow about 15 minutes wait, then visit the reception desk, politely and ask when you can expect to be seen, then determine whether it is worth it to you to reschedule (make it clear you will not pay for appointments that THEY missed).
If the receptionist says he/she does not know…politely explain that your appointment time has passed and you have other commitments…she/he may still not know, or he/she may disappear into the back for a while “to check”. If this does not inspire some action, try telling her you will be happy to leave your cell phone number, and they can call you 15 minutes before the DOCTOR can actually see you (not just the nurse + 25 minute additional wait in the examination room), or POLITELY insist on being able to reschedule at a time convenient to you. While keeping your tone polite, feel free to speak loudly enough for the other occupants in the lobby to hear. Even if you don’t get in on time for this appointment, perhaps you will inspire change…or at least make yourself feel better for having tried.
PS – Option #2: quit trying to entertain your youngster and let her run rampant through the lobby. That usually works.
The doc isn’t always the bad guy in all of this. I’ve worked in the medical field for over 20 years and I get very frustrated when I hear complaints about wait-times. As always, there are 2 sides to every story. Many times patients are late for their appointments. If every patient came to their appointment even 5 minutes late, that creates a huge backlog in wait times for other patients. A lot of times patients will schedule themselves to see the doctor for 1 ailment, yet when they get into the exam room they have 5 problems which will go way past the 15-minute time-frame. What is the doctor to do then? Clinics want their doctors to tell the patient they will have to reschedule if they want to talk about those problems. Sometimes they do, but what if the problem is urgent? What if the physician spots an atypical-looking mole that looks suspiciously precancerous? Take the time to do a biopsy now to catch the malignancy from spreading god knows to where (lymph nodes?), or tell the patient, I’m sorry but I have to keep on schedule? There are many variants to a physician’s day. Docs work their tails off for their patients, care about them, and want the best for them. Physicians these days are certainly not in it for the money. All I can say is walk in the shoes of the person on the other side of the desk. One tip: If you’re concerned about a long wait, call up 1/2 hour before your appt. time. If the wait is unreasonable ask if you can reschedule.
I agree with Mari that if the patient/parent was notified of the wait time, it would usually be much more tolerable. The first pediatrician we had when my son was a baby had HORRENDOUS wait times and a TERRIBLE receptionist. He had a reputation as the best pediatrician for kids with Down Syndrome; the other parents in our parent group raved about him. On our first visit there (arriving on time) we were told that it would be a short wait. We asked how long and were told 20 minutes. We went to a coffee shop and rushed back in 20 minutes. Then we waited an hour and a half before seeing the doctor! During the exam he left the room *3* times to take phone calls!
I wrote it off as unusual because he was very apologetic, and did seem great otherwise. However the second visit was the same (about two hours in the waiting room), and I had called before leaving home to see if there was going to be a wait and was told that there wasn’t.
After that I tried the tactic of asking for the first appointment of the day. Guess what? I STILL had to wait two hours to see him – he had had a breakfast meeting that ran late! At that point I switched to a different pediatrician and I’ve never regretted it. I only wish I’d spoken to him or written a letter to let him know what I thought of his system and his rude, lying receptionist.
The average wait at the doctors office is long. Enough to make you SICK !!!!
Lawrence Brownlee, MD – Tustin, Orange County, California. Started a concierge practice at the suggestion of some of his patients. Now there is little or in most cases NO WAIT Time !!!
And there are many doctors across the country who have Little or Zero wait time, also. Contact http://www.mdelite.com and we can help you find a concierge doctor in your area. oscar@mdelite.com