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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][b]How long are we talking? Working in medicine is hard. Give a little grace. If you haven't ever worked in a patient facing position in medicine it may be hard to understand but there are a zillion reasons drs are typically behind each day. They are usually doing their best.[/b][/quote]

Amen to this.  Patients can be crazy bad historians.  Do you know how many times I've had a patient come in for something like a rash, only to have them tell me as I have my hand on the knob to exit: "wow, Thanks so much for helping me with this rash.  It was really the last straw for me with the blood I'm peeing and everything else."  Me:  :shock:  :shock: 
You can't make this sh$%t up but it happens all the time in medicine.  A patient will purposefully or completely inadvertently mention something in the last minute of the appointment that you can't ignore.  Everyone on DCUM (smart, good consumers of healthcare) would be SHOCKED what people live with for weeks or months and don't think to mention to their doctors.  It's something.

I don't excuse providers who run late each and every visit but I do give a LOT of grace.

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I get that you're getting squeezed by insurance but I feel like if it happens a lot, you gotta plan for that when scheduling appointments.[/quote]

We do. People still manage to bring up stuff not brought up before, and it would probably take leaving half the slots open to guarantee starting on time every day.

But if course, then people are mad that they can't get in for the weeks, or they show up and demand to be seen, and then the phone calls with forehead zits that absolutely must be addressed immediately start stacking up. :)

It's possible to stay within 10-15 minutes every appointment in primary care if you have a limited number of patients you know well, and they are trained (for lack of a better word) to expect only to talk about the one thing they are booked for, and who know the "hand on the door"/"by the way"/"while I'm here" questions will need another appointment. I did it by running a private practice where I had someone at front doing triage with each and every patient, and with a literal form where they signed off that there were no other questions ( if there were more, my nurse triaged the most important and booked other visits for follow up on less important things before I saw the patient).

It worked. Some patients loved it. Some were out of by it and found the practice of pre-triage off-putting. That was good for both of us to know -- when you are not a good fit together, then it's helpful to both of you to get that sorted from the start.

However, I could answer about 20 phone calls a day, for in 5 urgent patients who called that day, and stay on time. It was an extraordinary amount of effort, though, and the new problem was dealing with people any that we had such a long waiting list, because you can't keep taking new patients and make that work.

I'm glad not to be running my own shop anymore.[/quote]

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