Doctor/Surgery appointments

[st.lewis11]

I'm just now home, recovering from ear surgery I had yesterday.
On Wednesday, I had a clinic appointment for 1:15pm with my surgeon/specialist; I live 45 minutes away from the clinic in downtown LA......to account for for the bad traffic, I left very early, and arrived at 12:40. To my pleasant surprise, I was immediately ushered in for usual hearing tests, which are done every visit.....after the tests, I was sent back out to the main waiting room....I was in a good mood, thinking I would not have to deal with rush hour traffic going home.
As I passed the time reading, more than an hour passed by as I observed people being called in, even though they had arrived after I did.....when 2:00 rolled by, my patience started to wear thin. Finally at 2:30, I questioned the receptionist to have her check on my eta. Her response was that besides running "shortly" behind, she had me down as actually 1:45, not 1:15....I showed my appt card, bearing the 1:15 time, and stormed back to my seat, blurting " pardon me for thinking an hour 15 minutes behind instead of ONLY 45 minutes!"
It was after 3:30!!!, by the time I saw the doctor.....left around 4, got home about 6, thanks to traffic.
Not the end of this, my surgery was scheduled 9:30am yesterday, I was told to report to hospital at 7:30, which I did.....I was not picked up from pre-op area until 1:30!!!!!
What the heck is the purpose of making appointment times?....I can understand somewhat, if up to 1 hour behind, but shoot, several hours for me, 2 days in a row???!!!...I'm more upset over this than my physical pain I'm going through right now.
Thanks for letting me vent.

[StatmanCrothers]

i approve of this rant. doctor's are the worst at this. i try to make my appointments for first thing in the morning, or first appt after lunch. it somehow doesn't always help.

i always bring some combination of either a book, a notebook, my cell phone (if allowed to sit and play), my iPOd (if i'm sure I won't miss them calling my name--for instance i'm the only one in the waiting room and sitting right next to the door which the nurse will open to call me.

the worst aspect of this is when you feel they short-shrift you on time they should spend with you, because they are running so late... they obviously didn't run late by rushing the other people through, so if you've waited all this time, at least take your time and get it right. nothing like when you have to correct a doctor about something that's right there on your chart. "Um... actually this ISN'T the first time i've had to have one of these removed..."

[AWvsCBsteeeerike3]

sorry dude. that sucks.

I have the exact opposite of your story. Woke up early Wed. morning with a pounding headache and a toothace; figuring the two were related I called the dentist. He got me in at 8:45 that morning, had me out by 9:30 with a root canal scheduled for 9 the next morning (yesterday). Had me out by 11 yesterday morning after everything was done. He also had given me some knock you out medicine on Wed which I took yesterday at 8 and remember hardly anything from the actual procedure. I do remember him not being able to find my root so they toox an Xray. The doc had done something right as reported by the assistant so when he came back in I gave him a high-5 and told him he was the poo (yeah, I actually tried to mutter those words).

Of course I couldn't go back to work and slept the rest of the day, but whatever. It was awesome!! He also had a flat screen on the ceiling that I watched.

Best. Dentist. Ever.

[Radio_Bugtussle]

A certain pizza franchise's guarantee should apply.

30 minutes or it's free.

[Leroy]

I agree with this rant.

[st.lewis11]

For my next appointment, I'm fantasizing this phone call when I confirm:

(me calling at 10am): "I'd like to confirm my appinyment time for 1pm today"

Receptionist: "That's correct sir, we have you down for 1 o'clock."

Me: "Good, call me at home when the doctor's ready to see me."

[stldogget05]

Yeah the problem with this is that Doctors/Dentists/Surgeons ect. are trained to provide care not to minimize wait time. Fortunately I've started to see an increase in industrial engineers and operations folks being hired in health care to make their systems more efficient. Now the only trick is to get the doctors to listen.