The Glade 4.0

Maybe I could have a bit more sympathy for doctors if i did not arrive for an appointment 30 minutes early... Only to wait for over half an hour after my scheduled appoinfmemt time. Before even being triaged in... But they could take my copay right away

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Darksiege
Traveller, Calé, Whisperer
Lead me not into temptation; for I know a shortcut

So you're complaining that the doctor is actually spending as much time with the patients as they need instead of rushing from one to the next on some artificial schedule despite the needs of the patients?

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Darksiege: You are not a god damned vulcan homie.

And also pissed that the office staff is making sure the paperwork BS is handled in a quick and efficient manner too!

I'd say its complaining that despite the recognition that the artificial scheduling for patients doesn't work, they still continue to use it.

How else would they handle such things?

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"Hysterical children shrieking about right-wing anything need to go sit in the corner and be quiet while the adults are talking."

It's the best system they've got.

Otherwise, you restrict yourself to walk in, first come, first serve (and I am certain you will wait longer), or you just tell everyone to come at the start of the day, and work through them in order...

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Darksiege: You are not a god damned vulcan homie.

The system would work if they would spend the time to adapt it. If the doctor is spending more than the scheduled half hour increments with the patients then they should up the appointment duration. It's because they are over scheduling the people for the day in order to maintain a practice quota to make the bills.

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"Once we realize that imperfect understanding is the human condition, there is no shame in being wrong, only in failing to correct our mistakes."
- George Soros

Examine demand and patients per time, either on a daily average, or on a time of day average. It certainly won't eliminate every instance where an emergency walks in the door and adversely affects all the following appointments, but my experience with doctors (lawyers do this as well) is that they tend to over book the appointment slots based on upon some perception of perfection that is never met, and each failure of that particular appointment to be perfect accumulates as the day progresses. There is nothing that says every single appointment during the day needs to be X minutes on the books.

Was the case that inspired the OP to post a recurring problem with that doctor's office, or the result of an unforeseeable emergency on that day, I don't know. Perhaps this doctor is much better about keeping appointment schedules, but if the general rule of thumb for doctor's office is to show up 30-45 minutes early and expect to wait an additional 30 minutes after your appointment, I would posit there is a problem with the way the offices operate on average.

So that makes the assumption that they aren't already doing that. Basing the time of your appt. by how long it typically takes.

The issue is that if your first appt of the day runs an hour long, then you're pretty much screwed for the entire day.

Actually, I covered that and didn't leave it as an assumption.

Other than the "half hour increments" thing, this is correct.

The problem is that seeing even 1 more patient a day can results in $10k a year for the physician's take-home pre-tax pay.

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“The duty of a patriot is to protect his country from its government.” - Thomas Paine

Is a practice that's genuinely concerned first and foremost with the needs of the patients going to be double- and triple- booking in the first place? I get that there's no way to have some prescient notion of how long each appointment is going to take, I do. What I don't get is how we somehow jumped from that to blanket assent to frequently spending a half-day of work leave for 10 to 15 minutes of face time with a health care professional. This is one of my peeves as well. I understand that my time has no value to anyone but myself in that situation. What's fun is getting to ruminate on that for a couple hours in a room with crappy cell reception and nothing but a two-year old Popular Mechanics magazine or a Better Homes and Gardens to read.

The problem is that there are more patients that need to see doctors than there are doctors.

So you end up with two options: The doctors overbook, in which case you may have to wait to see them due to backup, or the doctor tells you they can see you next month about your cold, or you can go to the hospital, and probably wait even longer.

Both of the doctors I know worked late every day to fit in patients that needed to be seen, and even on an average day, there were a lot of them.

Unless you're seeing a specialist for a routine checkup (cardiologist for your yearly visit, gynecologist, endocrinologist, etc), you probably aren't scheduling your appointment weeks ahead of time.

There are other people like you.

So again, would you prefer to be told that they can see you next week or that you can come in the next day, with the knowledge that you may have to wait a bit?

Personally, I'd prefer to wait. Of the two gynecologists my wife has visited, one has over a year wait for an appointment, the other can't see her until October, so only about 9 months. I think we'd prefer to take our chances with being seen sometime within a several hour window.

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Darksiege: You are not a god damned vulcan homie.

Do they overbook because there are too many patients, or because they have to see X number of patients per day (and the associated fees of seeing those patients) in order to keep the practice?

I'm sure its somewhere in between the tendency of doctors to want to help people and sacrifice their personal time to those ends (working late and trying to help as many as they can) and a fact of operating a business that has staff to pay, bills, etc.

It would be curious to see the average hourly cost of running a family practice.

my issue is more that they tell you "if you are late you will not be seen."

Then they leave you waiting because it is okay to waste my time but not vice versa.

This doctor's office made me come in 45 minutes early for new patient setup when I started with him; to fill out paperwork. I get there 15 to 20 minutes early each time to ensure that I am not going to be late and having my appointment cancelled on me for my tardiness: but it is okay to make me sit around waiting.

For ****'s sake... even just have someone say "hey we are running a bit behind, we will see you as quickly as we can."

Not just letting someone sit in the waiting room, completely ignored for an hour past their appointment time.

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Darksiege
Traveller, Calé, Whisperer
Lead me not into temptation; for I know a shortcut

First appointment with this doctor was scheduled 3 weeks in advance; at the end of that visit we set an appointment for 2 weeks later (which was today's visit).

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Darksiege
Traveller, Calé, Whisperer
Lead me not into temptation; for I know a shortcut

GP? Or specialist?

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Darksiege: You are not a god damned vulcan homie.

GP.

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Darksiege
Traveller, Calé, Whisperer
Lead me not into temptation; for I know a shortcut

Wow, I never know I'm going to see a GP 3 weeks in advance. It usually results from me having a fever/nail in my foot/other sudden condition that I need to have checked out.

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Darksiege: You are not a god damned vulcan homie.

Always take a book to the doctor's office.

Never schedule anything immediately after your appointment unless it really doesn't matter if you are late.

For the record, get in the habit of bringing all your mess along with you, preferably empty containers representing what you are currently taking.

If you have questions you want to ask, type up a list and hand it to the doctor when he/she comes onto the room. Other than bringing shackles into the waiting room and using them, it's the only way to get ALL of the questions addressed.

Be nice to the staff. It is not. Their fault the doctor makes them seriously overbook his schedule. If you're nice to them despite your frustrations they tend to beuch more informative on reality based wait times and scheduling tips.

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The U. S. Constitution doesn't guarantee happiness, only the pursuit of it. You have to catch up with it yourself. B. Franklin

"A mind needs books like a sword needs a whetstone." -- Tyrion Lannister, A Game of Thrones

I am never discourteous to any of the staff. Instead; I bring my iPod.. mooch their wifi and ***** about it here on the glade.

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Darksiege
Traveller, Calé, Whisperer
Lead me not into temptation; for I know a shortcut

Just an aside:

Why is this in hellfire instead of rants?

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Darksiege: You are not a god damned vulcan homie.

because there are many turns the conversation could have taken which would have moved it from Rants to Hellfire; so I cut out the middle man

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Darksiege
Traveller, Calé, Whisperer
Lead me not into temptation; for I know a shortcut

They overbook because patients no-show rates are usually high. They run late because of the latter reason above.





I take Option C: Concierge practice.

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“The duty of a patriot is to protect his country from its government.” - Thomas Paine

This is not the case. Really it is not.

If a patient shows up 30 minutes late for a 30 minute appointment, they have missed their entire time. The next person is there. Should I tell the person who was on time (and all 10 people after her/him) that I will be 30 minutes late for all appointments?

Also when people make appointment, they are reluctant to tell the staff what they need to be seen for. That makes it impossible to schedule a good amount of time for the patient. If they tell the staff they need only a quick check and are scheduled for 15 minutes, but come in with a major problem and a form that 'must be filled out right now', then the 30-45 minutes that takes makes the rest of the day bad.

This is not to say that some Docs are not disorganized, and some are not out to make every buck they can, but most are trying to do their best.

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Memento Vivere

I have local knowledge.
That sandbar was not there yesterday!