Polite Spine?

[mmswm]

the "teaser wait," when they put you in a room,

I find this irritating.  Once you’re in a room, you’re told “The doctor will be right with you” or “It’ll just be a few minutes”.  These phrases just roll off their tongues.  It’s always longer, sometimes a lot longer.

While there have been times when the wait is short, my experience has been it’s usually a lot longer than what they say it will be. 

Sometimes it’s better to try to schedule late in the day – i.e. be the last patient instead of the first.

With my sons' hip/leg ortho, I always liked to be the last before lunch break.  The man is tireless and takes all the time we need for both boys, regardless of who's appointment it really is, and doesn't mind if it pushes into his lunch break.  I also don't mind if he eats while we wait for x-rays or other scans, so it works out for all of us.

[m2kbug]

the "teaser wait," when they put you in a room,

I find this irritating.  Once you’re in a room, you’re told “The doctor will be right with you” or “It’ll just be a few minutes”.  These phrases just roll off their tongues.  It’s always longer, sometimes a lot longer.

While there have been times when the wait is short, my experience has been it’s usually a lot longer than what they say it will be. 

Sometimes it’s better to try to schedule late in the day – i.e. be the last patient instead of the first.

Yes!  I can't stand the teaser.  Sometimes I feel ill in those little rooms.  I don't know what it is because I'm not claustrophobic and I worked in a small animal hospital for years and never had any problems in the small rooms.  I'll open the door on occasion.  It annoys them.  I feel like I get my just desserts on that. 

Know what I hate more?  The appointment "lie time."  They tell you your appointment is at 2 p.m. but it's really not until 2:15.  They do this to assure you arrive on time, if not a little early, especially if there will be paperwork.  I've gotten to where I ask, is my appointment really at 2 or is it really for later?  That last appointment I mentioned, they set up my appointment for 1:30.  The receptionist then informed me that my appointment wasn't really until 2, but the paperwork was lengthy, so we're going to say 1:30.  "Thank you!," I exclaimed, for being honest with me!  Generally I try to get there early anyway, and it doubles the wait time when they lie about the time.  

Sorry to go off on a tangent there.  Back to the regularly scheduled Polite Spine.

[Slartibartfast]

We picked our pediatrician because she will work a sick kid in first thing in the morning, no questions asked.  It does mean her office often runs late, but it also means contagious kids are mostly there before the healthy kids come in for well visits, and it also means we don't all have to suffer through a miserable child for days until the next available appointment.  So even if you were the "first" appointment, that doesn't mean you were the first one there that day.

[Outdoor Girl]

I think all of these are good arguments for doctor's offices but physio is different, in my mind.

The physio I used to have scheduled her appointments very close together, like 15 minute intervals.  That's because she would do about 15 minutes of treatment then set you up doing weights or muscle stim or some other activity that was part of your treatment but didn't need her to be there.

OP, if you'd waited no more than 5-10 minutes while the physio set someone else up, I would say that was normal.  More than that?  The office doesn't properly schedule their appointments.  It is unfortunate that you don't have another option.  I think your idea of going after work and taking a book or craft you can do is a good idea.

I once made a doctor's appointment for an annual physical for 8:00 am, the first appointment slot of the day.  At 8:30, the doctor still hadn't arrived and there was no explanation or ETA from the receptionist (I don't think she knew).  So I re-booked and left, since I normally start work at 8:00.  And was really annoyed because I would have to be late again another day.  One other time, I had an appointment with this doctor and the receptionist came out and announced to the large waiting room crowd that he'd been called to the hospital and had no idea how long he'd be.  We could wait, if we liked, or we could reschedule.  That was ideal - I could make an informed decision.  And one time, I was in the waiting room and he called me in about 5 minutes after my appointment time.  I blurted out 'You're on time!'  The entire waiting room cracked up.  But boy, was I embarrassed about my foot-in-mouth disease.  I did end up changing doctors because I was sick of always waiting at least 30 minutes for every appointment.  My new doctor apologized if you waited more than 15 minutes.

[artk2002]

Not always. Sometimes telling them (or the Doctor responsible) about this, will help.

Maybe sometimes, but usually not and certainly not always.

But that's not a valid reason to not take action. So what if saying something only gets a result 10% of the time? If you never try, then it's 0%, guaranteed.

[kitchcat]

My mother is an doctor and I was sick a lot as a kid, so I can understand both sides of the situation. It's really frustrating to make an appointment and constantly have to wait far beyond that time. On the other side, my mom gets overwhelmed all the time because the receptionists at her clinic book schedule appointments that only allow 15 minutes per person (including the time the nurse has to prep the patient). Basically, it's virtually IMPOSSIBLE for her to stay on schedule and she is a very punctual person. It's just that she can't listen to the patient, order tests, diagnose, and write prescriptions in the short window of time she has.

The advice my mom always gives to friends is to treat your appointment more like que. If you have a 2pm appointment, it does not mean you get seen at 2pm. It just means you get seen before the person with the 2:30pm appointment. If you have other important things to do, just plan to not do them on the same day. It's unfortunate, but that's just how it is.

[Wordgeek]

Since the majority of the discussion is not coursed on etiquette, thread closed.