cross-posted from: https://slrpnk.net/post/13026188
People need to remember this.
this post was submitted on 04 Sep 2024
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Chronic Illness
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I once walked out after waiting for the doctor to show up for the appt for an hour.
Next time I called, some eight months later, he no longer worked there, which was helpful as I was going to request someone new anyway.
I like to think he was fired in part because of me, and I did tell the front desk why I was leaving at the time.
I don't know if that's fair. Scheduling is not left up to the doctors, for the most part. Being an hour late is terrible and I would also be very frustrated by it, but that could be because he had a patient or two before you whose issues were much more serious or complicated than they seemed to be during scheduling.
I don't know. I see this from both perspectives, having been a patient of dozens of doctors at this point. It's not always their fault. It's not even usually their fault.
I can see where you're coming from, but it really isn't that hard to ask a nurse to go communicate that you'll be late/need to reschedule.
I completely agree. I just don't blame the doctors for it. I blame the way the entire medical system is set up. Doctors tend to be overworked.
This is a good assessment. I'm a 3rd year medical student in my clinical rotations, and yesterday we had an appointment that was scheduled in a 20 minute slot, but we were in there for a bit over 45 minutes. Taking the time to really listen and answer questions is important...especially when the appointment is to discuss newly discovered metastatic pancreatic cancer. You just do not rush that conversation.
Thank you. Not for backing me up, but for not rushing your patients. You're off to a good start.
When I was a clinic assistant and in my current role as a student, I have done my best to kind of "run interference" by getting some portion of the next appointments done to give the physician more cover and keep the next patients from getting too mad about the wait. I also give an explanation with my apologies, saying something like "we had a bit of an emergency come up", or "the previous patient ended up needing more time than we had scheduled" while apologizing for the delays.
Oh, I had other problems with that particular doc already and at no point was I told he'd be late or how long he would be.
I was late to work in the end too.
Depending on the practice, doctors absolutely can have input on their schedules. And they often overbook themselves even when they are on call.
That is why I said "for the most part".
In the US at least, almost all doctors have total ironclad control over their schedule.
Source, worked 17 years in a mutli-hospital system that also had over hundred practices.
Not saying shit doesn't happen, I just spent an hour and a half at a Vet, because they had dog it by a car come in. But it's mostly on the doctors themselves if it happens chronically.
Every practice I've worked in or been in as a medical student is almost the complete opposite of what you described. Yes, the physicians can have some influence over their schedule, but the organizations set minimum numbers of appointments which results in truncated appointment times with an extra hour or so at the end of the day to finish all the notes. And even if the physician has control over how the schedule is made, that cannot account for other patients being late, or appointments taking longer than scheduled because of serious discussions or problems that need to be addressed, or the physician getting pulled away for urgent consults or messages.
As a patient, I would rather have a physician that runs late on appointments because they give the patients as much time as they need as opposed to a provider that is perfectly punctual and makes you schedule another appointment or punts you for anything that exceeds the slotted time.