Community Chat

[Greeneyedlady21]

Because their time is valuable and ours is not. It definitely varies from dr to dr. But for a dr who has simply taken on too many patients, well the wait time usually has nothing to do with a previous appointment running long. That's the party line that they tell you. 

My mother's primary care dr often has ridiculous wait times. I deal with it by complaining to the corporate patient care reps. These drs will answer to somebody like that, not to patients or caregivers or patient family members. You have to go to a higher up if there is one.

One time at this same place, we were almost 15 min late. Unavoidably. After waiting sometimes 45 min to see a dr, waiting in an exam room for most other appointments and arriving early...well they told us they would have to see if they could accommodate us. After being late for ONE appointment out of the dozens and dozens of appointments my mother had. Complained about that one. It's arrogance, and taking on too many patients. Recently my mother had a foot dr appointment  and we found out by talking to people in the waiting room that he had three patients booked for the same appointment time. For many people there he is just cutting nails, so he figures he can bang those out. If you have to wait, too bad.

[faeriemoon]

This happened to me today.  Had a 1:30 appointment and was asked to come 15 minutes early to "update."  Arrived at 1:15; didn't get called into the office until 2:00,  Doctor apologized, office staff apologized, so I wasn't angry.  It just happens sometimes.  I generally try to make morning appointments because they are less likely to be as backlogged.

[NativeJax]

I was there an 1 hour and 40 minutes, I am reasonable but that is over kill

[Greeneyedlady21]

@NativeJax One hour 40 min is outrageous, and unreal that they think anyone would accept that.

[Meowingkitty]

I had (keyword had) a doctor who was always a minimum three hours late. Didn't matter if you were the first appointment of the day, first after lunch, middle of the week etc. Three hours. Once I made an appointment for 4:00. I knew I was pushing it to make it on time so I called and said I might be 5 minutes late and the girl on the phone told me that if I was late I would have to be rescheduled. I made it just in the nick of time. Shortly after I signed in she proceeded to tell me the doctor was running about three hours behind and did I want to wait. I ripped in to them in front of several others in the waiting room about how rude it was to threaten to cancel me for maybe being 5 minutes late but it's ok for the doctor to make me wait, and just to make their lives more miserable I waited. They were hoping no one would choose to wait so they could go home.  Didn't see the doctor until 7:00 pm. Left at 7:15. Then she always had an excuse as to why I couldn't get lab work done in her office. (Equipment broken, person out sick) so I would have to go over to the hospital and pay another copay. Last time I saw that doctor. 

[lovesrecess]

I am currently looking for another PCP.....for the very same reason. Most of the time we are forced to wait so long because they overbook appointments. Mine does a "drive-by" exam with his nurse doing most everything. Patients time is not respected. 

[pattypeep]

@NativeJax You are right. Very annoying. IMO, they do that because many people do not arrive on time for their appts. and then it throws the whole day off. There's those of us that always get there early and then we are punished. They also hand people about three pages of papers to fill out and some are super slow writers. I went to a dental specialist last week and they had me down load their questionaire on my computer, fill them out, and then upload them back to them. Loved that. No filling out papers at the office.

[pattypeep]

@NativeJax One more tidbit. Not all Dr.'s have to be that way. I "fired" my GP a couple of years ago because I got sick and tired of waiting. My new Dr. has me called in before I can even get a magazine out. He also has personally called me at home rather than have his nurse make the phone calls. Just love him. So glad I changed.

[NativeJax]

I am cutrently being treated or lack of being treated for a very serious liver disease. The last two appointments were with specialists and they emailed me the paperwork ahead of time. I completed prior to my appointment and brought in all of my records and I waited 2+ hours for both specialists. I am really irritated by the lack of care and I am going to own a letter and tell them all off. Really PO'd today because I left work early when I am working on something that is important, could have continued to work if I had known I wouldn't be seen today. Sorry, I am still not over it so apparently I am just going to moan about it for a little while longer.