The Doctor is always late

69limeRev · #1 08-17-2009, 03:11 PM

So I have a doctor's appointment today at 2:45. He finally walks into the exam room at a little after 4:15. It's not an unusual event. Every time I've seen him in the last couple of years it's been a similar story. Minimum of an hour late. Is this typical of General Practitioners these days, or am I justifiably pissed?

mike_v_s · #2 08-17-2009, 03:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 69limeRev

So I have a doctor's appointment today at 2:45. He finally walks into the exam room at a little after 4:15. It's not an unusual event. Every time I've seen him in the last couple of years it's been a similar story. Minimum of an hour late. Is this typical of General Practitioners these days, or am I justifiably pissed?

Stop going to that doctor.

Mike

**Thor** · #3 08-17-2009, 03:18 PM

I always call first and see how he is running.

Jared Lash · #4 08-17-2009, 03:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 69limeRev

So I have a doctor's appointment today at 2:45. He finally walks into the exam room at a little after 4:15. It's not an unusual event. Every time I've seen him in the last couple of years it's been a similar story. Minimum of an hour late. Is this typical of General Practitioners these days, or am I justifiably pissed?

I'd be angry, and have been. It's one thing if you take the afternoon off (as I generally try to do) but when I take a morning appointment and tell my boss I'll be in late it is frustrating when I don't get back to work anywhere near the right time because the doctor's "appointment times" have no basis in reality.

I understand that medicine can't work like clockwork, but if he's coming in an hour and a half past the time your appointment was set for then either he or his staff is not doing their job correctly. I'd look for a different doctor if that is a regular occurrence.

yem · #5 08-17-2009, 03:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mike_v_s

Stop going to that doctor.

Yep. I recently switched for this reason. My new doc (within the same practice) is much more punctual.

**Staccato** · #6 08-17-2009, 03:34 PM

Oh, I thought it was...a woman is late, and then the Doctor-that's a different subject.

Yeah, my older friends and relatives tell the story all-the-time about long waits...like your time is not worth anything. I take a long read to the Doctor's office-unless I have a senior moment going out the door and forget...

Tama · #7 08-17-2009, 03:38 PM

Try a new Doc.
I have a great Doctor. He seldom ever runs late and doesnt force me to come in every time.
One time I had an emergency and the Neurologist would not see me....cluster headache, pain like you cant imagine!!...and he prescribed me some Imitrex shots right over the phone.

He didnt have to do that. He's a good Doctor !!!

Try a new Doc.

Cheers, Dave

mike_v_s · #8 08-17-2009, 03:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by yem

Yep. I recently switched for this reason. My new doc (within the same practice) is much more punctual.

That's excactly what I'm talking about. As TheBigO stated, I expect a certain amount of "flex" with their schedule, but over an hour is assinine. I walk. Plain and simple. I don't get paid when I sit idle.

Mike

i_got_a_mohawk · #9 08-17-2009, 03:40 PM

At my local Dr's surgeory, there are two GPs.

One is always punctual. The other you will often have to wait a bit, granted, never been as long as what you experienced (for me at least).

One is a far better GP than the other.

iamlowsound · #10 08-17-2009, 03:42 PM

Doctors around here usually run about 30 minutes behind, so I prepare for it.

lowsound

69limeRev · #11 08-17-2009, 04:04 PM

Thanks for the replies, gents. I've been with this doctor for quite a few years, so I didn't really have much of a barometer. Time for a switch.

...John

SchecterC4 · #12 08-17-2009, 04:47 PM

Wow, that's crazy late.

Is this a a private physician or public? Hospital or medical group? I go to a private pediatrician/physician that I've been seeing since I was born and he never takes more than 10 minutes to get things started once I've been put in a room by a nurse.

shadowtippy · #13 08-17-2009, 05:51 PM

I just got a new Dr. I would have a month wait for an appointment with my old one. Other than for a yearly exam that was not acceptable. My new one is great and is also a great guitarist (not gitard) who sits in with us when he has time. He may run a little late for appointments, but if he is as thorough with his other patients as he is with me, that is understandable.

69limeRev · #14 08-17-2009, 05:56 PM

It's a medical group. I've been going to this doctor for quite a few years. Nice guy, but he was very unapologetic. Said he usually runs late in the afternoons because he takes his time with everyone. Very noble, I suppose, but now he's lost a patient because of his inability or unwillingness to manage his schedule.

SchecterC4 · #15 08-17-2009, 06:02 PM

If it's a medical group then dude has no excuse for being THAT late. Even if he takes time with his patients it seems highly implausible that he'd get that far off track. Someone isn't doing something right. Good for you for finding a new doc. Maybe after he loses a few customers he'll realize what he's doing wrong.

69limeRev · #16 08-17-2009, 06:11 PM

I wouldn't be so pissed if it were the first time. The last few appointments have all been this way (this was the worst, but not by a lot). Definitely the last one for me, though. I'm out.

Jeff K · #17 08-18-2009, 10:27 PM

I always get irritated if they run too late. And I say something when the doc does come in. ("Damn Doc, golf game run late or what?!")

A couple years ago I had an appt. with a specialist. A day or so before the appt., they left a canned voicemail message saying how important it is that I be on time; and how this appt. time has been scheduled "just for you".

I get there, and the waiting room is packed like cattle in a chute. After waiting an hour past my scheduled appt., I left and went home. Before I left, I heard other patients on their cell phones telling people that they had been waiting over two hours and hadn't been called back yet. That was when I decided to leave.

I sent a scathing letter to the doctor. Among other things, I told her: "I realize that as a doctor, your time is valuable. But guess what? MY time is valuable too. I had to take time off to come to this appointment which, according to your voicemail, was set aside 'just for me'. Yeah right. Me and the 50 other people crammed into your waiting room."

I went on to tell her that, "...Webster would define an appointment as an agreement between two parties to meet at a specific time. That time does not apply only to one party. It is for BOTH parties..." And on it went.

She called me after getting the letter and apologized profusely. I accepted her apology, but told her that one of the things that really torques me off is that people tend to just accept such shoddy treatment like a bunch of sheep. I just was not about to let the incident pass without at least making her aware that some of us won't tolerate that sort of rudeness.

Did it do any good? Probably not. The next day, there was probably a new group of shmucks sitting around bleating while hoping to hear their name called...

Yvon · #18 08-19-2009, 09:35 AM

Here if it's only 2 hours consider yours self lucky!

And you just can't switch. Consider yourself lucky to have one.

bui · #19 08-19-2009, 09:45 AM

In most cases, it's caused by the front-end staff...the norm among primary care physicians I've shadowed is to have patients booked for a set amount of time based on severity of condition...a complete physical might get 15-20 min in the books, whereas a followup might get 5-10 min. Sometimes, the booking staff will doublebook, or not give adequate time for a visit. Oftentimes, the patients will cause this logjam, by making an appointment for one reason (and thus having a set amount of time blocked off for them), but then presenting multiple conditions once they're actually in the room.

In that case, the best the doctor can do is work as fast as he can...but there's a fine balance to strike, since he doesn't want his patients to feel as though he's blowing them off and trying to rush out of there. To top it all off, there are phone calls, consults, and dictations to do in between patients. The only breaks I ever saw them take were quick restroom breaks, and the officewide lunch break...otherwise, every moment from 8-5 was filled with patients, charts, or phone calls.

JimB52 · #20 08-19-2009, 06:53 PM

My doctor routinely kept me waiting 30 - 45 minutes until I talked to him about it, explained that I understood he was busy, but so was I and couldn't afford to waste time waiting for him. After that chat, my wait times went down to about 10-15 minutes. I guess someone else had to wait.