Doctor's devotion often worth the wait | The Columbus Dispatch

Dear Abby: About your column regarding excessive waits in doctors' offices . . . I am an interventional cardiologist and work 85 to 90 hours each week.

[scoobydoo]

Although I don't mind waiting for the doctor, (I always arrive 5 min late) I made an appointment for blood work and when I waited 45 min I pitched a real fit. They should tell you if you'll be waiting more than a half an hour. Period.

[sickofwaiting]

I'm still calling shenanigans on the doctors. 100% of the time I've been to the doctor, I've had to wait. I know I am not alone in that. Sure the unexpected crops up. It crops up all the time, every single day! You plan for that by simply cutting down the number of appointments you allow in a day.
It stops being unexpected when it happens every single day...

[DLJ]

There are several medical associations in the State of Oklahoma that when a doctor is a part of their network or if they are on contract to that group they are instructed to see so many patients a day and are restricted on the time that the doctor spends with the patient. I have seen a few of these doctors and the visits are cold and impersonal. It feels as if you are being rushed in and out and that they really do not care. A doctor I had known for quite some time had to go to work or contract with this group and after a year of it she quit as she was not allowed to spend the time that she needed with her patient's. I could name the group, but do not feel that would be wise. On doctors that I know I will have a wait to see - I call the office to find out how behind they are running and often they can tell me how long I will wait or to come in at a different time. Doctors are people and even though it is hard to wait when you are ill personally I want my doctor to pay attention to me while I am there.

[DLJ]

sickofwaiting wrote:

I'm still calling shenanigans on the doctors. 100% of the time I've been to the doctor, I've had to wait. I know I am not alone in that. Sure the unexpected crops up. It crops up all the time, every single day! You plan for that by simply cutting down the number of appointments you allow in a day.
It stops being unexpected when it happens every single day...

Many doctors do schedule appropriately, but I know that in my city there are not enough doctors to go around. Often people will call and be very sick and need to get in so the doctor squeezes them in. Even though waiting is inconvenient - People get ill and that cannot be scheduled. A routine visit can be planned in advance, but an accident or flu cannot be. Patience and compassion toward others is difficult especially in this "me, me" society. At times it is not all about us. If you know it is a doctor who is usually behind - call and see how far behind he is running and plan your visit from there.

[PartyPal]

I agree. My appts. need to be made in the morning.
Half the time he isn't even there, and already has an office full of appointments...wtf

[April M]

While it is true many doctors do run behind schedule due to wanting to spend quality time with their patients. It is also true that many doctor's office overbook and do not allow enough appointment time for each individual patient. While I understand that the occasional emergency does come up -- I doubt any doctor would sit calmly waiting for excessive amounts of time for their own appointments. My time is as valuable to me as is the doctor's time is to him or her.

[Medical Assist in NV]

I agree for the most part that when you have to wait longer, it will usually be made up by the doctor being very attentive to you and your needs. I don't know how common this is but I had the unfortunate experiences of working for a Physiatrist (Pain Management) who had the worst bedside manners. Part of my job was to get the patients roomed, update their medical history and take their vitals. I would then inform the doctor that he had a patient ready in room 1, for example. After about the 3rd or 4th patient roomed and the doctor still playing computer games, I had to get very upset with him and tell him that patients were waiting and if he didn't stop playing his computer game, I was going to take it out and throw it away. These patients came to us in pain and he made his computer game top priority over the patients' needs. He would also have the front office schedule patients at 8:30 when he knew in fact that he would never get there on time, until 9:00.
Abby, it is unfortunate that there are some doctors out there that are like this one. Otherwise, I don't mind waiting to get that extra attention.

[sickofwaiting]

DLJ wrote:

<quoted text>
Many doctors do schedule appropriately, but I know that in my city there are not enough doctors to go around. Often people will call and be very sick and need to get in so the doctor squeezes them in. Even though waiting is inconvenient - People get ill and that cannot be scheduled. A routine visit can be planned in advance, but an accident or flu cannot be.

You've missed my point. Exactly as you say - "often people will call in". Key word is OFTEN. If something unexpected happens every single day, then it is no longer "unexpected". If a doctor has 20 scheduled appointments per day, and he is always running late, then he needs to drop that down to 10 scheduled appointments per day to have time for the "unexpected" which happens every single day.

[ajl]

The only time I got really mad about having to wait was when I had a 7:30 am appointment (the clinic opened at 7:30), and the doctor didn't see me until almost 9am. How can they be 90 minutes behind first thing in the morning?!? No excuse or apology was given, and I never went back there.

[kmm]

Sometimes it isn't the doctor- it is incompetent staff. I went to get a mammogram at a place I've never been to before about a month ago. When I got there, there was no one behind the desk but there was a big sign in the window that said please sign in with an arrow pointing down to a clipboard. I signed in and filled in all my information just like I saw other people had done. My appointment time came and went but I thought they were just busy because there were a lot of people there. After 45 minutes, I finally went up to the desk to the receptionist that had returned at some point and she said they had written me down as a no show because I was supposed to let them know I was there. How would I know that on my first visit? And why wasn't anyone at their post when I came in? And what was the point of signing in when they aren't going to check the list? You would think that before they would write someone in as a no show you would at least check the sign in list or call the person's name!