Sometimes it isnt an option. But sometimes it's a lifesaver.
Sometimes it isnt an option. But sometimes it's a lifesaver.
cross-posted from: https://slrpnk.net/post/13026188
People need to remember this.
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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.
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.
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.
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".