People suck #$%! FOUR hour wait???
By mommyboo
@mommyboo (13174)
United States
October 12, 2010 9:36pm CST
This is a question for professionals - people in a service industry - say the medical profession. Can you answer this question for me?? Is there some reason up your sleeve that you decide not to give potential patients ALL the information? Such as 'if you make an appt with us, please be advised that you may have to wait an average of 2-4 hours for your appt'.
I am not an idiot. IF you had bothered to tell me that UP FRONT before I made the dang blasted appointment, guess what? I WOULD NOT HAVE MADE AN APPT WITH YOU AT ALL! I have now spent most of my day not only worried but pissed off as well, and wanting to kill people. That is not good! I don't know what to call it but it is definitely not good!
SO. Bottom line. If you work for a professional office, PLEASE BE ADVISED that your current and future patients DESERVE to have all the information BEFORE they decide whether or not to do business with you! If you do not disclose all the information including the downside, then it is YOUR fault when people get angry!!! I do not like being lied to per omission of information which would have changed the decision I made before I made it.
Do any of you feel that an AVERAGE of a TWO to FOUR hour wait is at all acceptable?? Wouldn't there be a better way to handle that ie deciding 'we can only see 8 patients a day, so we will only book 7 appts a day'???!!! I would certainly do that instead of booking 15 appt when I know there are only enough hours in my workday to see 5 patients!!!!
2 people like this
5 responses
@dorannmwin (36392)
• United States
15 Oct 10
I no longer work in the medical professions, but I still would never think that an average weight of two to four hours is acceptible. In fact, I think that it is unacceptible if a person in an emergency room has to wait more than an hour before they are taken to a curtain to be seen by a doctor. I think that this is a problem of greed in the medical industry because doctors want to be able to see as many patients as possible so that they are able to make the most money possible. I think that if you have an appointment time, your doctor should be able to see you within 15-30 minutes of the scheduled time or reschedule you for another time.
1 person likes this
@mommyboo (13174)
• United States
15 Oct 10
I agree 
I'm not sure what is up with people in service professions but recently and probably for the last 15 years, I have felt like a lot of them don't know a fig about serving anybody. Customer service has gone downhill, we got an independent rep for the cable company that showed up and acted like he was on speed. I've had places say 'we will arrive anywhere between 8 AM and 5 PM'. Oh really? What if I need to maybe say... leave my house or something? Nah, I have nothing to do, my servants will do it ALL for me, I'm independently wealthy and I don't have to do anything. YEAH RIGHT. LOL!
My doctor's office and the pediatrician is pretty good about appts, and our dentist is AWESOME, but he only schedules appts he can actually do in a day, along with an overlap of time between patients so nobody ever has to wait.
Specialists drive me bonkers. I think the problem is there are not enough of them in the area, so EVERYBODY has to go to ONE doctor. No wonder there were 30 people waiting.
I'm not sure what is up with people in service professions but recently and probably for the last 15 years, I have felt like a lot of them don't know a fig about serving anybody. Customer service has gone downhill, we got an independent rep for the cable company that showed up and acted like he was on speed. I've had places say 'we will arrive anywhere between 8 AM and 5 PM'. Oh really? What if I need to maybe say... leave my house or something? Nah, I have nothing to do, my servants will do it ALL for me, I'm independently wealthy and I don't have to do anything. YEAH RIGHT. LOL!
My doctor's office and the pediatrician is pretty good about appts, and our dentist is AWESOME, but he only schedules appts he can actually do in a day, along with an overlap of time between patients so nobody ever has to wait.
Specialists drive me bonkers. I think the problem is there are not enough of them in the area, so EVERYBODY has to go to ONE doctor. No wonder there were 30 people waiting.
@sid556 (30953)
• United States
13 Oct 10
Hi Mommyboo,
I'd be furious too. 4 hours is just too long. If they were running on schedule and you showed up even a few minutes late then they would not be happy. I would talk to someone about this because it is totally unacceptable. I've been in the waiting room for an appt. and had the nurse come out and inform me that the doctor is either running behind schedule or got called out on an emergency and i then have the choice of waiting or rescheduling. Even walk-in places will usually give you an approximate wait time so you can decide if you want to wait or come back later.
1 person likes this
@mommyboo (13174)
• United States
13 Oct 10
yeah, I would never choose to wait for something like that, the only reason I ever would is if something is an actual emergency and I HAVE to be there because it's something i can't take care of on my own, like a broken bone or some sort of injury that MUST be taken care of immediately. For things that are not life threatening or things that some people go to doctors for but some people don't, I likely wouldn't if it didn't interfere with my normal quality of life. I simply don't go asking for trouble, and sometimes going to the doctor is looking for trouble.
@kris182_2000 (5475)
• Canada
13 Oct 10
There could be several mitigating factors contributing to the wait time, especially with specialists.
The problem is that no doctor can foresee a medical emergency that might arise during the day, and emergency phone call that takes them away from their patients, or even a patient that takes longer than they should.
The patients who take longer really delay things for everyone else, putting the doctor far behind schedule, which really sucks, but is part of reality.
You have to understand the way things work in the medical profession, it's not all on time or early when it comes to appointments.
It's similar in the emergency room. Patients are triaged, they are not seen in order of their arrival. You may be sitting there waiting to be seen, being told that you're going to be the next one, then wham, a more urgent case comes through the ambulance bay doors, and your care is delayed by several hours while this new case is treated. It always happens, I've seen it and it's happened to me as well.
Like it or lump it, it's the way life goes.
1 person likes this
@mommyboo (13174)
• United States
13 Oct 10
Ok, this is why I posted this. IF they had TOLD me about this average wait - which is apparently like this all the time no matter what, I don't even think it's related to emergencies at all, I would just have said you know what, no thanks, I don't want to make an appt, forget it.
They did not say ANYTHING about this when I agreed to make the appt. I feel like they made a fool out of me because I never in a million years would have guessed it would have turned out this way. If each appt can take up to 3-4 hours.... how long is a doctor's work day? Maybe 12 hours at the longest? That means barring breaks and lunch if they even get any, they could reasonably only see 3-4 patients a DAY! If I walk into an office and there are 20 people sitting in it, then fat chance I'm going to be seen at all. I don't appreciate having someone make an appt for me when there is little to ZERO chance in hell I'll be seen, then I have wasted not only my money but my TIME. I'll never get that time back. Yes I'm resentful. MY time is worth more than theirs, because I would never lie to someone about how I'm going to spend their time! I mean WASTE it.
If you can only realistically see 3-4 patients a day, I want to know my appt is on a day when you are only seeing 3 other people. I want to know that when I get there and my appt is within the hour, I should be fairly sure I'll be seen within an hour - or have it explained why not with an option for me to leave and come back. I understand emergencies happen but they need to be responsible to their patients, because we do things like take off work or cancel other plans or take kids out of school, so we deserve to be treated decently and with respect for our level of hardship too.
@Hatley (163772)
• Garden Grove, California
13 Oct 10
hi mommyboo this is why I keep going to my old doctor as I have a appt say at ten am I never have had to wait more than ten minutes.and he does not really rush me either;.once I had a appointment at ten thirty in this one doctors clinic;I saw people that came in after me get taken in and wondered why they had not called me at ten thirty. okay I finally asked the nurse at the register sheet. Oh we take the private insurance people first then lastly the hmos.I was furious then finally I saw the doctor at 12 noon and he had the nerve to complain I was messing up his lunch hour. that is when I changed to DrSchreiman and now the nurses all call me by name and I never have to wait more than ten minutes at most.
mommy you have every right to be angry as thats just ridiculous.
1 person likes this
@mommyboo (13174)
• United States
13 Oct 10
Part of the problem is that I didn't get to pick. This was someone I was referred to, and I sure wish they had mentioned all this stuff about the wait time and the appt lengths so I could turn it down. I don't have time in my life for stuff like that, I don't now and I don't think I ever will. The worst part? People who see KIDS should NEVER operate this way!!! It's annoying enough for adults. For kids? You have got to be kidding me. I'm sorry but I don't think anything is serious enough to warrant something like this. I am giving them one more chance and then a big ol (insert bad word here).
I feel my expectations are fair! I have to waste MY time and MY money. I'm the customer and I'm right. I only EVER use these people when I absolutely have to because of their attitude.
@hardworkinggurl (37062)
• United States
13 Oct 10
Four hours is a killer. See if you were late perhaps they would have made you reschedule your appointment, so it is only common courtesy that they treat their patients with the same respect. I can understand emergencies but four hours is much too long to have been waiting. Did they at least have the sense to immediately tell you tht you will be sitting as the doctors is running behind.
I can understand unforeseeable instances when a doctor must take some longer times with certain patients but four hours is way too long and truly it is a scheduling issue. Did you express this to the doctor when he finally saw in the room??
If the doctor is aware of his scheduling issues and showed no apology than maybe re-consider another doctor as imagine if you had a urgent emergency.
1 person likes this
@mommyboo (13174)
• United States
13 Oct 10
I rescheduled it anyway because my daughter was sick so there was no way we'd be sitting there for 4 hours. I kind of feel like that is ridiculous even if she WASN'T sick, because I'm sorry but there is NO excuse. I am mostly angry because I waas not given this information BEFORE I made the appt. Like I said, I NEVER would have made the appt. I won't be treated this way by anybody, and I need people to REALIZE IT.
I expect when I make an appt to be seen AT my appt time, or there was no point in me making an appt at all. Why I should just WALK in whenever for whatever reason I want with as much respect as they seem to have for MY time.
I do not see a point in a wait longer than perhaps 30 minutes at the longest, and I also don't see a point in an appt that takes more than an hour unless YOU request it to take that long! I basically told them I couldn't wait that long and I probably couldn't have an appt that lasted that long... when i rescheduled I'm HOPING that I don't encounter the same issue, but I am going to arrive early and i already filled out everything, so if they throw anything else at me I will throw up my hands and say 'YOU TOLD ME I DID EVERYTHING I NEEDED TO AND I ARRIVED EARLY. SEE ME NOW'.
