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How long do you wait to see a doctor?

Today I went to the doctor, arrived 15 mins early for my 2:30 appointment. Waited for about 45 mins and was taken into the exam room. Sat there for another 40 mins and then walked back to the receptionist. I told her that I am leaving; I have been there for an hour and a half and can’t make an all day event out of seeing the doctor. It was a total of 90 mins of me being there. I told her not to bill me for the visit.

I read all of the magazines in the waiting room, read all of the posters in the examination room, and felt I gave more than enough time.

What is a reasonable amount of time to wait?

I thought this was a olympics type question and was going to let you know that How Long is a china man

My doc gets me in pretty quick - they have a good booking system. Most I would wait is 30 minutes - if he were running late.

Of course - I took one hourthe other day in a 15 minute booking time for the dentist so made everyone late

I just figure - reason they are late with appointments is either emergency appts or people with more serious health matters and I am grateful I am not one of those.

I have waited as long as 90 minutes in the main waiting room. Just as I went up to start screaming, they took me back and started with my blood pressure which was through the roof. I wonder why.

At my current doctor's office, it's a large group practice with all kinds of different doctors there. Of all of the ones I've seen, I've never waited for more than 15 minutes past my appointment time. At this point, I consider 30 minutes to be the cutoff point. If you sat there 90 minutes and never saw the doctor, unless he or she is a particularly reputable specialist, I'd be looking for someone else.

Man did I ever have the wrong idea of what this thread was about.

I had that happen to me about three years ago . . . I got there early, wasn't put in an exam room until 30 minutes after my appointment, they took my vitals and had me undress and put on a hospital gown for when the dr came in (which would be "shortly.")

After 45 minutes (I read every 3 year old Good Housekeeping mag in the room) I'd had enough and was putting my clothes back on when the dr finally came into the room. He was surprised (and acted hurt) that I was leaving and said that he was very busy and was doing the best that he could. I told him that all it took was for someone on the staff to check in with me once in a while to let me know that he was running late and would be in to see me eventually.

My wife works for the same clinic and they are going through all kinds of cost cutting measures. I reminded him that I wasn't just a patient, but I was also a CUSTOMER, and they couldn't/shouldn't be keeping customers waiting for more than an hour, 'cuz they would start going elsewhere.

Ever since, not only do they see me on time, but usually he comes out to the waiting room to get me himself or at least to see how I'm doing. I wonder if they have "CAUTION" stickers on my file, like they do on my cat's file at the vet ("CAUTION, CAT BITES")????

You are pretty close to what I consider reasonable. by 2pm it isn't unusual for a Dr. to be 1/2 hour behind schedule. There is always what appears to be a routine appointment that gets difficult. The receptionist should have warned you of the delay. The 40 minutes in the exam room is too long. I would have been out in 30. With the low reimbursements from the HMO's and federal programs, the doctors need to pack their schedules very tight. Find a Dr. that accepts direct patient payments only and you should experience better service. Of course they are quite expensive, but they don't attempt to schedule 14 appointments per hour. I've been to two cash only Drs. in the past year. I was seen right at my appointment time, the Dr. spent more time with me than I expected and the support staff was extremely friendly and helpful. Yuh, it was expensive...very. I wish I could afford to pay my own way for regular care.

If it's a pre-scheduled appointment, I make a habit of scheduling the first or second appointment of the day to ensure that the Doc doesn't have a chance to get behind.

If it's a sick appointment, I obviously take what's available, but always ask if he's running late or if I can have the first appointment after lunch.
(Sick appointments are usually scheduled in the afternoon at my Doc's office )

Dr. blames the staff doing the schedule, schedule-makers blame the doctor for making idle chatter, and they both blame the patients for asking questions about other matters than they came in for. At least that's how it works where I go.

chippewa wrote:Dr. blames the staff doing the schedule, schedule-makers blame the doctor for making idle chatter, and they both blame the patients for asking questions about other matters than they came in for. At least that's how it works where I go.

I'd say ask them to stop playing the blame-came and focus on patient care, which means having an efficient front office and scheduling system.

Sure, a doctor can get a bit derailed, but I'd never wait over 30 minutes for an appointment I scheduled. If I did, I'd be finding a new doctor.

For sick appointments when the doctor squeezes me (or especially the kids), I try for the appointment right after lunch. I tell my kids that Mondays are good days to get sick because our PCP (family practice) has evening hours.

buffettbride wrote:

chippewa wrote:Dr. blames the staff doing the schedule, schedule-makers blame the doctor for making idle chatter, and they both blame the patients for asking questions about other matters than they came in for. At least that's how it works where I go.

I'd say ask them to stop playing the blame-came and focus on patient care, which means having an efficient front office and scheduling system.

Sure, a doctor can get a bit derailed, but I'd never wait over 30 minutes for an appointment I scheduled. If I did, I'd be finding a new doctor.

For sick appointments when the doctor squeezes me (or especially the kids), I try for the appointment right after lunch. I tell my kids that Mondays are good days to get sick because our PCP (family practice) has evening hours.

I'm fortunate that I rarely have to go, but I wish they'd take lessons from my dentist. There was another thread about them, and my dentist's office is really efficient yet still always have time to make small talk. Of course, the entire staff is only about 8 people, my doctor's office has a desk staff that serves 3 doctors. No keets so we don't have to make those unexpected visits at the dr., I'm sure that's what throws a wrench into things most days.

chippewa wrote:

buffettbride wrote:

chippewa wrote:Dr. blames the staff doing the schedule, schedule-makers blame the doctor for making idle chatter, and they both blame the patients for asking questions about other matters than they came in for. At least that's how it works where I go.

I'd say ask them to stop playing the blame-came and focus on patient care, which means having an efficient front office and scheduling system.

Sure, a doctor can get a bit derailed, but I'd never wait over 30 minutes for an appointment I scheduled. If I did, I'd be finding a new doctor.

For sick appointments when the doctor squeezes me (or especially the kids), I try for the appointment right after lunch. I tell my kids that Mondays are good days to get sick because our PCP (family practice) has evening hours.

I'm fortunate that I rarely have to go, but I wish they'd take lessons from my dentist. There was another thread about them, and my dentist's office is really efficient yet still always have time to make small talk. Of course, the entire staff is only about 8 people, my doctor's office has a desk staff that serves 3 doctors. No keets so we don't have to make those unexpected visits at the dr., I'm sure that's what throws a wrench into things most days.

I feel really lucky because our family practice is still really small and privately owned. It is two doctors and two physicians assistants. I don't think I've ever had to wait more than 10 minutes for an appointment, and they've always been able to get us in same-day if we're sick.

We spend a lot of time at Children's Hospital with my daughter's pediatric gastroenterologist, who is one of the best doctors in the nation for treating celiac patients, and it is a HUGE hospital with a check-in process that is unreal. We've never had to wait more than 15-20 minutes there, either, which truly amazes me.

rich_big wrote:How long do you wait to see a doctor?

Today I went to the doctor, arrived 15 mins early for my 2:30 appointment. Waited for about 45 mins and was taken into the exam room. Sat there for another 40 mins and then walked back to the receptionist. I told her that I am leaving; I have been there for an hour and a half and can’t make an all day event out of seeing the doctor. It was a total of 90 mins of me being there. I told her not to bill me for the visit.

I read all of the magazines in the waiting room, read all of the posters in the examination room, and felt I gave more than enough time.

What is a reasonable amount of time to wait?

I am not sure what a reasonable time to wait is, last time I went with my wife and son to the Peds doctor. It was a hour and a half and we were still waiting. I thought that was ridiculous. So we got up and left.

There is nothing worse then having to wait for the doctor.

I've learned to NEVER show up for a doctor's appointment early; if anything, I show up 5 or so minutes late.
And if it's the OB/GYN's office, I always ask, right when I check in, if the doctor is IN the office, if he/she's "on call" that day and if he/she's running on schedule.

Mottola-Buffett wrote:I've learned to NEVER show up for a doctor's appointment early; if anything, I show up 5 or so minutes late.
And if it's the OB/GYN's office, I always ask, right when I check in, if the doctor is IN the office, if he/she's "on call" that day and if he/she's running on schedule.

Those are good suggestions....only doctor I ever met who ran on time was my wife's OB/GYN.

Last time I went to the dr, they put me in a room, the nurse got my vitals and the PA came in. She said I needed blood work. The person came in to do it and said when the results were back, the dr would be back in to talk to me.
I waited
and
waited
and waited


after an hour, I went to the door and the office person was walking down the hall and she was turning off the lights.
The PA had gone home and forgot me.


They found someone else to come in and tell me I needed an antibiotic---I already knew that---that's why I was there

I expected a call from the PA to tell me she was sorry the next day---I'm still waiting

The OB practice that delivered my son is HUGE. They have 8 doctors, 4 midwives, 3 PAs, and 6 nurse practitioners. You can actually go an entire pregnancy without having seen a doctor more than once. Once I realized how impersonal that was, I switched to working with the midwives. The only reason I would see a doctor the day of delivery is if a C-section was deemed necessary, and my midwife would also be present.

I had to wait twice as long to get into appointments with the doctors than I did with the midwives.

I'm SO glad I went with the midwives rather than the doctors.

OTOH, my sister used the same practice when she had her daughter earlier this year. She was in that 35+ category and was on bedrest for 6 of the 9 months due to low amniotic fluid and pretoxemia. She elected to stick with the MDs and delivered via C-section after 36 hours of induced labor.

My kids peds doctor is this little woman who is about 200 years old. It's a private practice with two PA's and one person in the front office. She's the sweetest woman in the world. She just runs so behind it drives me nuts. The thing that bothers me the most is she never apologizes for anything.

I'd so love to find a new doctor, but my wife loves this woman.

A good doctor with an excellent staff doesn't do this to you.
My gynecologist and my dentist are GREAT ! I get in, bada bing-bada boom.
My regular doctor is HORRIBLE about making everybody wait. I bring a book, and expect to wait and wait and wait and wait. I also balance my checkbook. I think I'm gonna start bringing a boom box and crank it up and dance next time.

THERE OUGHTA BE A LAW ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !

I have heard cases where after 1 hour wait for the doctor your time can be billed to the doctor. It is a big wake up call for the doctor and can give you a sense of satisfaction knowing he just wet his/herself.