doctors?
Today’s question is: Why does anyone think it’s OK for their doctor to be late? Or why doesn’t anyone say anything when their doctor is late?
Background: Not sure if I mentioned it or not but 4 weeks ago I slipped on some black ice and hurt my hand. I went to the doctor the next day because it kept me up all night. I didn’t originally think it was broken but with the amount of pain it was in I knew some thing was up.
My doc has Saturday walk in hours. I arrived a couple of minutes before the start time because I wanted to be first and get out of there right away. I was first. I got checked in and the the nurse left and said the doc would be right with me. That was at 5 minutes past the hour. I waited and waited and waited.
I think it’s a game they play.
Get you the in the room, tell you the doc will be right there and then make you wait forever.
Finally at 30 minutes past the hour I stepped out of the room to ask how much longer it would be. The nurses said I was next.
It’s then that I saw the post it with the #5 on my door. They had made me #5. That means that 4 people that came in after me saw the doctor before me. Boy was I pissed. I didn’t say anything to the doctor. I should have. She said the hand was bruised, and prescribed me some vicodin so I could sleep.
Fast forward to last week. Hand still hurts and swollen. I call for x-rays. I get the results, they say it’s nothing. I take matters into my own ‘hands’ and call a hand specialist. I tell the appointment maker I’ll take anything, whatever is available in the next week (this was Monday). She rattles off a list of available appointment times for a doctor on Tuesday, at an office 25 minutes from my house. Since he’s so open I take an appointment right after lunch, even though it’s so far away. They wanted me there 15 minutes early to fill out paperwork.
I arrived on time with my x-rays in hand. I filled out the paperwork and the I waited. And waited. And waited.
At 25 past the hour, I went up to the counter to ask about how much longer they thought he’d be. They sort of laughed and said he usually ran 40-50 minutes late. I said, “really?? Then why would someone schedule and fill a 1pm spot for him yesterday if he’s always late?”(and as far as I was concerned half his morning was open according to the scheduler.)
I finally got taken back around 40 minutes after my appointment was supposed to start. My x-rays proved not good enough and I had to take more before the doc would see me. He finally walked in 1 hour and 5 minutes after my scheduled appointment time.
1 hour and 5 minutes.
This time I decided to say something (I muster up the nerve every now and again). He seemed like a really nice guy so I very kindly asked him why he was so late. And that I found the wait time rather excessive.
He yelled at me. He told me this was no way to start a first meeting (no shit, you don’t think making me wait 1 hour 5 minutes is a way to start a first meeting?). He told me that he was doing me a favor and that he could just send me over to doctor so and so if I wished.
I clammed up. I sheepishly said “no, that’s fine, I’m sorry”, because I didn’t want to leave and have to go through all of this again. But I wish I would have just walked out.
He continued to talk about what he thought was wrong, and I sat there holding back tears (I can get overly emotional when I’m really pissed about something). Halfway through our appointment he finally lightened up and apologized, said his wife would probably kill him for yelling at me (yeah, no shit).
In the end, because of my boldness, I’ve got dibs on first appointment of the day when I go back (not sure if I will or not yet) and his nurses private phone number. (I’ve sprained or maybe got a small fracture in a small bone in my hand, the trapezium, with suspected ligament involvement. Can’t tell for sure without a MRI, but he’d treat it the same with or with out the MRI so I’m skipping it for now. I have a splint, that allows practically no movement of my thumb, real fun for typing.)
So, after all this, I realize that so few people ever say anything about long waits for doctors and that is precisely why we have them. If people would just speak up maybe the craziness would end. Long waits aren’t good for us or the doctors.
Speak up if you doctor is late. At the very least you may get dibs at the first appointment of the day, like me.
Bravo to you! Next time, I think I *will* say something! If it is standard that a doctor is late because s/he takes “extra time” with the patients, then the appointments should be scheduled farther apart!
Comment by wendy — January 11, 2008 @ 7:28 pm
I’ve done this a couple of times – especially if it’s an appointment I’m paying for myself.
Sometimes I think they forget that not only are we the patient, we’re also the customer. You wouldn’t take shoddy customer service like that anywhere else. Why should you from someone just because they have white coat on??
Comment by Lisa — January 12, 2008 @ 11:52 am
Um. Let me start by saying our children have 18 doctors between the three of them. I’ve been doing the wait for at least the last 7 years – so –
Let me start with this –
1. Saturday morning hours – I don’t care how early you got there – generally speaking, they are taking patients by need first – anyone who called over night, with a problem doc deemed urgent is getting in before you. If you have a hurt hand, but another patient has been throwing up for 24 straight hours – they go in first – anyone bleeding, before you, anyone with pain off the charts – OR anyone the nurses think will need multiple levels of care – x-ray, blood work, urine tests – whatever – they’ll take those patients doc runs in – orders, goes to you – and by the time they are back to patients 1 – 4 tests have been done. Not efficient for you – very efficient for needier patients – and the doc.
Oh, and for the most part if they have Saturday hours, it is good for urgent issues, but also generally, means, LONG WAIT. No matter what time you get there – because chances are – someone has an urgent issue.
As for the second doc – I’m guessing you saw an ortho – by ortho standards – this is pretty much on time, because they get A LOT of emergencies – that take a LONG time.
I don’t like any doc that yells at me, so generally speaking, I’d have walked out on that alone. But you know, I’ve been navigating the medical system with three young kids for the last 7 years, so I’m past the point of dealing with a rude doc. I’d at least have expected an “I’m sorry I’m late” to start the appointment.
All that being said – my doc for me, can run upwards of 2 hours late – and I don’t mind. In part because he’s a darn good doc, and I know he’s behind because he takes his time with every single patient he sees,so it’s okay with me.
On another note, and trust me, first appointment of the day, doesn’t mean on time, it means, first patient to wait. LOL. Because, they usually round in the morning, or deal with any of the urgent crap that came up over night, but could wait until morning before they come into the office.
All that being said – I’m a take advantage of the situation kind of person – I vote bring a good book, and tell the doc at the END of the appointment or write a letter about it after.
Comment by Dayna — January 13, 2008 @ 11:57 pm