Dare To Ask Talk And News About Our Differences - This topic has 12 replies, 13 voices, and was last updated 18 years, 6 months ago by
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Why is it that if I’m 15 minutes late for a doctor’s appointment, I have to reschedule, but if I wait more than an hour past my appointment time, that’s OK because the doctor is busy? Does anyone else see a double standard here?
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Name : Alma31468, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Lesbian, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Methodist, Age : 48, City : Kempner, State : TX, Country : United States, Occupation : government employee, Education level : 4 Years of College,This is what I have done in the past. Ask the receptionist how long your scheduled appointment is. After that length of time has exceeded your appointment time, inform the receptionist that this is all the time you have allotted for the doctor and you will call them to reschedule. I can understand them running late occasionally, but this is the practice.
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Name : Buddy B., Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Age : 60, City : Glen Allen, State : VA, Country : United States, Occupation : IT Manager, Education level : Technical School, Social class : Upper class,This is not double standard, this is logistics. The doctor as such cannot be ‘late,’ i.e. made responsible because of emergencies cropping up, or because what had seemed like a 15-minute appointment ended up a 35-minute treatment. Once you are inside, you yourself of course expect the doctor to take their time and listen to you thoroughly and not shut you up after 10 minutes and chuck you out, because the next patient is already outside waiting – irrespective of how delayed your appointment may already be. The immediate patient’s needs should take precedence over who may be still standing outside the door. Considering that, it becomes obvious why it is you who must reschedule your appointment when you are significantly late. Normally, however, you should be able to argue your case with the assistant and still get to your appointment.
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Name : c.t., Sexual Orientation : Straight, Religion : Atheist, Age : 32, City : Munich, State : NA, Country : Germany, Education level : Over 4 Years of College,I agree it is a double standard. Sometimes I wonder what they’d do if I sent them a bill for my time when they keep me waiting. I’ve also considered leaving after waiting more than 15 minutes and telling the receptionist on my way out that if the doctor wants my business, he or she should personally call me to reschedule. I think it’s the nature of medicine as a necessity and a commodity that allows this to happen.
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Name : Al28994, Gender : M, Age : 20, City : Salt Lake City, State : UT, Country : United States, Social class : Middle class,I have made it a practice to only make an appointment in the first office hour. When this has not been possible and necessity warrants, I allow half an hour past my appointment time. If the doctor (dentist, lawyer, etc.) has not been in personal contact with me, I tell the receptionist that my time is valuable and I will be sending a bill for the half hour of my wasted time. I have yet to send a bill, but my statement usually goes through the office ‘grapevine’ and I get considerably better response time from then on.
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Name : Carol S., Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Age : 57, City : Mountain Home, State : AR, Country : United States, Occupation : retired,I’m not sure exactly how to answer your question. I can’t speak for other doctors, but at my clinic, If you arrive for your appointment an hour late (or later) and it’s not going to disrupt things (i.e. force some other patient who was there on time to sit in the waiting room cooling their heels) you will be seen. The reality of the matter is that if you are on time, but it takes a while for the doctor to get to you because ‘he is busy,’ chances are he really is. The other day I stepped in to the exam room to see a little girl who was there for a cold. Upon exam, however, it became apparent she was actually pretty damn sick and was literally dying before my eyes. Needless to say, my time spent with her went a little beyond the scheduled allotment. Once I had her stabilized and sent to the hospital for admission, I had the pleasure of walking into the next exam room and having a mother shower me with obscenities because she had to wait awhile to get her kid’s warts looked at. What can I say? I thought keeping that little girl alive was sort of important.
To give you an idea of where I’m coming from, my schedule is typically about 12-18 hours a day, at least six days a week, often seven. I’m on call in the hospital for a 36-hour shift every fourth day. I almost never have time for lunch or dinner, but instead eat a graham cracker or pop tart between patients now and then. I almost never sit down. As I write this, I have just gotten home after having put in an 18-hour day. In about six hours I will be back at work, for another 18-hour shift. I will do this for the next five days, and then have a wonderful 14-hour break before returning to work. All I do is see patients, as rapidly as possible, try to deliver the best care I can, hope like hell I don’t get sued, and hope like hell my wife doesn’t leave me because she almost never gets to see me.
Why do you have to reschedule if you’re 15 minutes late? Probably because during that 15 minutes, 5 or 6 other patients walked in the door needing to be seen. For what it’s worth, the rich doctor myth is just that: a myth. My salary before taxes is just under $32,000 a year. I’m sorry for rambling, and I know I probably haven’t really answered your question. I guess I’m just a bit too exhausted to be very coherent.
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Name : Sam28546, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Disability : too foolish to find another occupation, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Christian, Age : 33, City : Jackson, State : MS, Country : United States, Occupation : Physician, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class,Yes indeed, there is a double standard. Another thing that bugs me about the medical folks is where else do they do what they do before discussing the price? This applies to dentists as well, perhaps even more. It is worse at the hospital, where they offer things you latter discover on your bill. Sure, sometimes time is of the essense and you can’t stop to name a price. But that applies only to trauma care.
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Name : Karl, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Gay, Race : White/Caucasian, Age : 44, City : Duesseldorf, State : NA, Country : Germany, Occupation : retired computer jock, Education level : 2 Years of College, Social class : Middle class,i agree with you. I mean, it seems like you have to sit there and wait for the doctor if he is 15 minutes late and there is nothing you can do about it because, let’s face it, you want to be seen and you don’t want to put it off anymore. I was a waitress, and if I made people wait 15 minutes before I went up to their table, they would either a) Be very pissed, b) Walk out or c) Give me a lousy tip, if any tip at all. I don’t think doctors or dentists care about their patients’ inconvenience. I have never had them say to me ,’sorry about the wait!’
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Name : snackycakes, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Age : 24, City : Cleveland, State : OH, Country : United States, Education level : 2 Years of College, Social class : Middle class,Why is everyone in a rush? 15 minutes? I work in the health-care industry, and watch doctors take a patient in for a 15-minute ‘checkup,’ and the person will ramble on about every minor ache and pain and then their friends’ pains! Would you rather he be rude and show the patient the door? Then they complain about ‘no bedside manner’.
How about our doctors having 10-15 minutes to see a patient, then the patient is 5 minutes late (oh, that’s acceptable, isn’t it?), then by the time the person fills out paperwork, gets settled into a room, the time is up.
One last thing: Why not call before going to the doctor’s office to see if he’s running behind, if your time is such money? Makes common sense to me.
Our doctors are not making a lot of money. Especially not enough to be worth what they put up with.
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Name : Dave26028, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Age : 48, City : Hartford, State : CT, Country : United States, Social class : Middle class,While it is true that physicians fall behind schedule due to unforseen circumstances, many over-book appointment times. When I see a patient sign-in sheet showing five patients with the same appointment time for the same doctor, then wait 50 minutes only to spend 8 minutes with that doctor, I do not go back.
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Name : Jane20941, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Atheist, Age : 41, City : Dallas, State : TX, Country : United States, Occupation : pastry chef, Education level : 4 Years of College,The next time you are 15 minutes late to a doctor’s appointment remember this: I’m guessing that the average doctor probably sees about 16 to 20 patients per 8-hour work day. If only 4 of those patients show up 15 minutes late, the doctor will be 1 hour behind schedule for everybody. You can imagine how easily this can happen since most people regard 5 to 15 minutes late as ‘acceptable’ lateness without realizing how it can add up and impacts others. So when you show up late, you’re not just inconveniencing the doctor, you’re inconveniencing everyone after you. Can you blame the doctor and all of his other patients for wanting you to reschedule? And the next time the doctor is one hour late to your appointment, know that it’s probably not because he wanted to get one exta hole in at the country club. He is probably at least as irritated as you are with being behind schedule. However, not only does he not get to vent his frustration to someone, like you can, but he has to smile and take abuse from every other patient he sees that day. So when you see the doctor after waiting for an hour, why not surprise him by showing just a tiny bit of understanding? Let him know that you understand he is behind schedule and try to keep your appointment brief and to the point.
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Name : Ken Y., Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : Asian, Religion : Agnostic, Age : 37, City : Sutton, State : MA, Country : United States, Occupation : Engineer, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class,I go to the doctor when I am sick. At that point I don’t care how long I have to wait as long as I get better. Plus I will never complain about the doctor being late again after what happened this summer. I had a severe allergic reaction to something, my entire body was covered in hives. I had to go to the doctor, and wait in the waiting room. I was miserable every second. When i finally got into the examination room the doctor saw how bad I was and treated me for nearly an hour and a half with on-the-spot shots and medications. I was better, but he had to stay late with me. So I know that if he is running late for my appointment, there is a good reason.
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Name : Mystofflyn, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Wiccan, Age : 18, City : Flint, State : MI, Country : United States, Occupation : Guest Service rep. at hollywood Video, Education level : High School Diploma, Social class : Upper middle class,I hear what you are saying about waiting in doctor’s offices. It’s horrible I know. I work for a veterinarian office and we are not allowed to make people reschedule if they are late. We must see them. I think the way they schedule appoinments is stupid. They are way too close together and you never feel like you get enough time with the doctor. It’s probably the reason I never go. Doctors should understand we have lives and jobs, too.
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Name : Aubrie, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Catholic, Age : 20, City : Moscow, State : PA, Country : United States, Occupation : Vet Asst/ Culinary Chef, Education level : 2 Years of College, Social class : Upper class,
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