Why I Walked Out of a Doctor Appointment and When You Should Too
There are rare reasons why a patient should wait over an hour to see a doctor
I am a retired MD. I can remember only a rare instance where a patient had to wait over an hour to see me. There are few, if any, good reasons why this should happen. Let me explain. I started a solo cardiology practice in 1982. When I retired in 2015, my solo practice had grown into a 12 person group. I quickly learned that doctors have different styles when seeing their patients. Some are so abrupt and curt that it borders on rudeness. Others have no concept of time and spend almost unlimited minutes with each patient. Patients often gravitate to one type of doctor or another.
I accompanied my wife to see her opthalmologist recently. She has a complicated eye disease history, and one of her eyes was bothering her. Her appointment was soon after lunch, so we presumed she would not have to wait too long. Unfortunately, we were wrong. She checked in at 1:15, and her appointment was for 1:25. Finally, at 2:15, I approached the front desk and asked what the delay might be. “We are running behind and there is still one patient in front of her,” the woman behind the counter said without an apology. Ninety minutes after check-in, I told them we were leaving. This situation seems to be the rule rather than the exception at this particular office. This phenomenon is preventable and due to bad management. The doctors are friendly and competent but clueless about how to run an office.
A tale of two doctors
Physicians are creatures of habits and their experiences. I was in solo practice for three years and so busy and pressed for time that I could not spend much of it with my patients. This time-urgency carried over to when I added other physicians to my practice. So I would try to adhere to my strict schedule of fifteen minutes for a known patient and thirty minutes for a new patient. Unfortunately, this is not always possible as some patients have complicated problems, are talkative, and require more attention. Or some patients show up late, and that throws the schedule off.
My third partner was more focused on patient satisfaction than of time constraints. Therefore, even when we expanded the time slots to accommodate his slow speed, he ran way behind anyway. Because he spent more time with patients, the people who placed high marks on this quality didn’t mind waiting, sometimes as long as an hour. Another partner had been in solo practice before joining my group. Unlike me, he would work late to accommodate everyone. If patients needed to be seen, he would have no objection to double or even triple booking for a one-time slot. Again, his patients didn’t seem to mind. So many of them would ask, upon checking in, how long he was running behind. No one set formula or schedule works for all doctors and patients.
Reasons for office delays
There are some legitimate reasons for delays in seeing patients. For example, hospital procedures and surgeries may run late. That causes a domino effect on delaying office appointments. We solved this problem by making dedicated days or half-days for those doctors to see office patients without the distractions of hospital duties. Patients may be running late for a variety of reasons. It is harsh to turn them away if they have an urgent problem or come from a great distance. Some patients have a simple problem, while others may have multiple ones requiring more time. Some patients have no complaints and some have many.
However, physician offices that chronically run late (15–30 minutes), very late (35–45 minutes), or absurdly late (45–60 minutes or longer) have structural, administrative problems. In a small to medium-sized group (2–15 doctors), the best practice scheduling must be created by both the doctors and administrators. Patient satisfaction has to be balanced by the efficient use of physician time. In huge groups (>50 doctors), or those owned by large hospitals or insurance companies, schedules are created without doctor input or accounting for doctors’ diverse work styles and personalities. The only concern is seeing the most patients in an hour or day to maximize profits.
When you should consider walking out
In my example, my wife called her Optometrist to see if he could see her soon. He could see her two days later, and this helped us decide to leave. Although not medical doctors, Optometrists can prescribe eye drops and other medicines in Florida, although this varies from one state to another. If you are in pain or your problem is urgent, you might have to wait. We had another option, so that made the decision easier. However, if your problem is a routine follow-up or non-serious issue, you might consider leaving and making another appointment, preferably the first one of the day.
This doctor’s office failed to recognize that a patient’s time is as valuable as theirs. A patient should not have to shoot half a day for a 30-minute doctor appointment. This is not reasonable, and there is rarely a good excuse for it. There are always exceptions; however, if this happens most of the time, it is a sure sign of poor practice management. If you choose to leave, inform the staff but try not to be angry with them. The person at the front desk is not responsible for these poor management decisions. So be firm but kind and understanding. If you can, ask to speak to the practice administrator.
I am a retired MD, and passionate about writing, reading, culture, health, fishing, politics, and food. Get an email whenever I publish by clicking this link:https://davidmokotoff.medium.com/subscribe
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