How long do you wait at a dr's office before leaving without being seen?

[Anonymous]

This is starting to become my pet peeve...waiting. I waste more time (which I have basically NONE of in the first place) waiting, whether it's for doctors, hairstylists, you name it. IT ANNOYS ME TO DEATH, seriously. I am a professional and I run my own business and I would NEVER, EVER, IN TEN MILLION YEARS make a client wait like this if I could help it.

I just don't understand why they can't (a) space out appointments more if this is a constant problem, the way it is with many doctors - the ones where you KNOW you are going to have to wait an hour every time you go for an appointment - or (b) if they genuinely were caught off guard, how hard would it be to give patients courtesy calls the day of, saying that the dr is running about an hour late? it would still be a pain to rearrange my schedule, but infinitely better than wasting that hour sitting in a waiting room.

This just isn't good business. Yes, I know their time is "worth" a lot, and they want to keep us waiting so they don't have to, but my time is worth a lot too! I care about my clients and try so hard to avoid this.

[Anonymous]

What bugs me are the doctors that get in the office everyday late, not because they are out doing rounds at the hospital but just because they are late. My mom has been going to the same doctor for over 25 years and he starts his appts. at 8:30 every day but doesn't come in until 9 or 9:30, so he is automatically behind each day. Yet she stays with him year to year. It just drives me crazy esp. since I now take her to the doctor.

As for my own doctors, I'm willing to wait for the ob, pediatrician, and for any emergency specialists but other than that after about 40 mins. I walk up to the desk and let them know I am leaving and I want my co-pay back. One doctor's office gave it to me and I found a different doctor, the others have taken me back right away or at least apologized and explained the situation to me. But if my primary doctor was late regularly, like 30 mins. each time, I'd find a new doctor.

[Anonymous]

I usually plan for a long waittime. I consider it the annoying price of getting good medical care.My ob is top notch but always as much as an hour + late. Have waited that long for other good doctors. Waited that long for a crappy an arrogant pediatrician and never went back. If I am scheduling with a new doctor I ask how long I should expect to wait so I can figure out if it's workable with preschool pickup, work, etc.

[Anonymous]

Doctors don't space out appointments sometimes because too many people cancel at the last minute. Regardless of how many people show up they still have to pay a large overhead (nurses, reception, rent, etc). I hate to wait too, but several of my Drs. have said it is just going to get worse with thenew health care system. I am pro health care reform and I just accept that this goes with the territory.

Also, I know some people think Drs. spend their time rolling in money, but I have enough family members in the field that i can tell you they come out of med school with hundreds of thousands of dollars of debt. Insurance companies make it harder and harder to get decent reimbursement. Patients are angrier and more demanding. Rents keep going up. If you want someone who takes insurance you can't expect royal treatment. There are plenty who don't take iunsurance who will space out appointments and do whatever you want because they can afford to.

[Anonymous]

This is why I make my appts. either the first appt. of the day or make it on a day off or late afternoon so I know I don't have to return to work. I do hate waiting for the Dr's especially when they call to confirm your appt. and say please arrive 15 min. prior to your appt. time when you sit there for longer!!! Ugh.

[Anonymous]

I have never left but have several times expressed my frustration to the staff. Or, once I did it a very passive agressive way: after sitting in the exam room for an hour, knowing full well that the doctor was right outside the door (door was open), I pretended to call my DH and tell him that I wouldn't be able to pick up the kids at daycare on time b/c my appt. was running way too late, and sorry that he would have to miss his meeting, etc..It wasn't actually too late to pick up the kids but it was about 5pm and I was incredibly pissed at having to wait so long that I didn't mind trying to make the doctor feel bad. It worked, he was very apologetic and never made me wait long in future visits!

[Anonymous]

It is because of people like you who sit and wait forever that doctors are so inconsiderate when it comes to making patients wait and wait. It is arrogant and rude.

[Anonymous]

I recently took my 7 month old in for an appt. It was at 9 am, we got there at 8:50. Put in exam room at 9:30. Saw the nurse at 10:10 am. Saw the doctor at 10:40 am.We were there for another hour to take blood, in part because of the wait and in part because the first attempt totally failed, as the nurse had clearly never taken blood from a crying infant beforehand (she puncutred a vein and basically left the needle/butterfly in the arm, with no tape or anything holding it in place so it twisted and fell out, nearly puncturing my son's arm again. he had a giant bruise for 10 days) 3 hours in a small examination room with a cranky 7 month old--not fun.

But--I had to wait almost a month forthe appt, and my kid's health is important. So I stayed there, but pissed off the whole time. (well, the last two hours anyway).

[Anonymous]

Yeah I'm pissed when I have to wait too. If it were my GP I'd probably walk out after about 45 minutes. However I have waited as long as 2 hours to be seen by a knee surgeon. Why? Because it took me 2 months to get in to see him, 3 more months for him to do the surgery. He never saw me on time for any of the appointments. I think the least I waited for him was 45 minutes. And every time I saw him I let him know that I was annoyed by the long wait. Guess what? He left GW and now has his own practice because so many people complained to him.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It is because of people like you who sit and wait forever that doctors are so inconsiderate when it comes to making patients wait and wait. It is arrogant and rude.

Really? I thought it was because of the one child having a full blown respiratory crisis, and the second child who had to be taken to the hospital by ambulance -- after which the pediatrican profusely apologized to us for making my (healthy) child wait for her check-up.

The world doesn't revolve around you, princess.

[Anonymous]

I'm with most of the pp who have waited over an hour for an appointment because rescheduling would be a bigger headache.

What matters more to me is if the staff is updating me while I wait.
When I was waiting to see my ob and it hit 30min a nurse came out to say the dr was in an emergency c-section and it would be another 45 min. She gave me the option of waiting or rescheduling. Knowing that the emergency c-section could be me some day I didn't get mad.
I've waited for over an hour at the ped office with a sick kid (strep throat) but once again the nurse came out to explain what was taking so long. I've also been on the flip side where it has been my sick kid that required all 3 ped doctors in the office to stop what they were doing and consult on my baby. Maybe that has given me some perspective. Yes it is a PITA to sit there and wait, but when you are really sick you expect the dr to take their time with you.

So now when I schedule a dr appointment I try and have a back up plan for things like picking the other kids at school in case the appointment runs late. And I never schedule an appointment when I would need to go back to work that day because chances are it just won't happen.