re: How long do you wait for Dr. Appoinrment

quote:

---

If you like your doctor...you can sit there and wait for your doctor?

---

20 minutes is about all I'll wait unless they have the common courtesy to let me know that they are x minutes behind and it will be roughly x minutes longer.

I would wait but I would also inquire regularly about what's going on. My main doctor is really great about not running behind but I have on specialist who I reluctantly go to. It doesn't matter if you book the first appointment of the day, you'll be there for 2 hours. Afternoon, she's always running behind, and honestly, she doesn't really seem to care. I've seen her talk to pharma reps while a patient is waiting. Luckily I only have to see her every 6 months.

Things are hit and miss in a doctor's office. I had 5 pts scheduled this afternoon with simple complaints. My first one threw my entire schedule out of whack when the complaint ended up being an extensive psych problem.

I hate making people wait, but sometimes it's out of my control.

I've had to wait for over an hour past appointment time for a superfluous follow-up eye doctor appointment before. I sat and just quietly steamed to myself in the waiting room. I was called and then asked to go back out into the waiting room, where watched them then call everyone else and then I sat for at least 15 minutes by myself. I had invested too much time already. I was pot committed to just waiting it out. If I was the type of person to make a scene, there wasn't a better opportunity because I was pissed off.

I've never walked out and once waited 90 minutes. I understand that patients can really throw off the schedule.

And it's Obama's fault.

quote:

---

Tough decision for him. Does he stay scrubbed in and complete the surgery to the best of his ability, or rush to the clinic so that dude waiting on the MRI follow up, or the multitude of other non-anesthetized, non-surgical patients, won't be slightly inconvenienced.

I'm sure it's a struggle for him to decide.

---

So every doctor can be called to surgery at any moment? I thought surgeon schedule surgeries. Obviously I'm missing something.

quote:

---

I've always wondered why doctors aren't more customer service oriented. Seems to be standard practice to make you wait and there's never an apology.

---

Most of these people major in microbiology or whatever in undergrad, then jump straight into medical training. They have no concept of management, marketing, or any other business/customer service skill. Maybe the guy on the OT thinking about getting a dual MD/MBA was on to something.

quote:

---

Things are hit and miss in a doctor's office. I had 5 pts scheduled this afternoon with simple complaints. My first one threw my entire schedule out of whack when the complaint ended up being an extensive psych problem.

I hate making people wait, but sometimes it's out of my control.

---

I think most people realize this. But if your doctor is always late, scheduling is the issue.

They have software packages that can manage appointment flow. How long does X doctor normally take, based on Y demographic information and past appts how long should it take.

Hospitals and drs offices are loathe to invest in automation though.

company I work for has this package. They have pretty much given up selling it to hospitals, and now focus on telcos. Tells you how little hospitals care about customers that the telcos (think comcast) care more about their customer experience than a medical provider.