Re: doctors overbooking------I have to vent

October 26, 2006

In a message dated 10/26/2006 8:13:42 A.M. Eastern Standard Time,

jchabot@... writes:

This is my 6th time to this new doctor, and it is the 6th time we waited

over an hour and a half for our appointment.

I'm just curious if anyone else goes through this.

Judy -

Good grief. No. I've never heard of such an experience (outside of a few

dentists that we've subsequently stopped going to...). So, complaining to the

doctor doesn't do any good? And this is " S.O.P. " and not just a bad day,

huh? That's awful. It's obviously a staff problem - the doctors don't

schedule their own appointments... but the doctor should certainly manage his

staff

if the problem is that bad.

They do kind of have you between a rock & a hard place with this type of

treatment - it's not like a dental check up where you can walk out & say

" reschedule me for next month when you're not so busy " .

If the others in the waiting room/line are just as aggravated as you are,

maybe you could walk in as a crowd when the next person's name is called & just

gang up on him/her... HA.. could you imagine the look on the doctors face if

8 or 9 patients all walked in together & said, " WE'RE TIRED AS HELL & WE'RE

NOT GONNA TAKE IT ANY MORE! " oh my!!!

LT

October 26, 2006

In a message dated 10/26/2006 1:37:34 P.M. Eastern Standard Time,

hippygal@... writes:

there is quite a nice but small waiting room, with games and drawing and a

big whiteboard for the kids to play with.

I had to snicker to myself when I read this -- I thought, gee there are kids

who actually don't think about " being seen " when they go for these

appointments??!!!! My daughter will wait down the hall in the vending machine

area -

I have to go get her when it's her time to go in - she won't even stay in the

waiting room ESPECIALLY if someone else is in there!

LT

October 26, 2006

Judy,

Happened many times with us for 's psychiatrist. Also a

small waiting area.

I can understand if they had an emergency earlier in the day and so

all appts are running behind, but I'm sure that is not the case

EVERY time they run 1-2hrs behind appt times. I think our appt ran

2.5 hrs late once.

>

> I went to the psychiatrist with my kids last night. This is my 6th

time to this new doctor, and it is the 6th time we waited over an

hour and a half for our appointment.

> I'm just curious if anyone else goes through this. This is the

new doctor I chose from the ocfoundation. There is no place to sit

in the waiting room, and the people are literally standing outside

October 26, 2006

Another thing -

Many therapists and doctors do have a lot of " no shows " so they tend

to make appts in such a way (doublebook? overlap appts?) because

they lose income to their practice due to " no shows. " Bad days are

when most everyone shows up!

The no-shows were a constant complaint where I used to work and they

were considering ways to handle this so employees (therapists,

doctors) wouldn't be sitting idle/not billing. And I'm not talking

of just one appt in a day for a therapist. Really need to have " so

many " hours of billing time each day to pay those salaries,

including mine/office support.

>

> I went to the psychiatrist with my kids last night. This is my 6th

time to this new doctor, and it is the 6th time we waited over an

hour and a half for our appointment.

> I'm just curious if anyone else goes through this. This is the

new doctor I chose from the ocfoundation. There is no place to sit

in the waiting room, and the people are literally standing outside

in a line , like a resteraunt. I have an hour drive to the office.

It ends up taking me almost 5 hours every time I go, from the time I

leave to the time I get back.

> This is ridiculous! On the ride home my kids are going

berserk!!!!!

> Does anyone else have this problem?

> Complaining doesn't work . Everyone there was disgusted, and

after talking with a few angry patients, they say it is ALWAYS like

this here.

> I can't even imagine switching doctors AGAIN!!!! My daughter is

just getting used to her therapist.

> Sorry for venting!

> Hugs

> Judy

>

October 26, 2006

We are lucky we have only ever been once 45 minutes late and that was at our

last appointment, usually we are within 5 minutes and there is quite a nice but

small waiting room, with games and drawing and a big whiteboard for the kids to

play with.

Maybe New Zealand is not quite so bad LOL.

Cheers Jackie (New Zealand)

October 26, 2006

Hi all,

I guess I'll have to start looking aroung again for yet another doctor and

therapist. I thought I finally found the right one. Everything was great except

the fact that this wait is just not exceptable every single time we go. Maybe if

the drive wasn't so long.

I've never had this problem before, and we've been to sooo many doctors with

my daughter. It figures, the doctor is good, and my daughter loves her

therapist. Normally, I don't feel the doctor is prescribing the right meds or my

dd won't talk to the therapist.

You just can't win!!!!!!

Thanks for responding to my post. I just wanted to see if any of you have ever

had to deal with this. LT, I think your idea is great. I wish I could get the

other 11 people in front of us, in the waiting room to go along with it!!

hugs

Judy

October 26, 2006

LOL my son has no issues about anyone seeing him there, but put him in a

classroom or anywhere but there or home and he freaks and is scared everyone is

staring and laughing at him. He is only 11 now and this may change as he gets

older though.

Jaxx (New Zealand)

October 26, 2006

we saw a neuro. like that - so annoying - so was she -we've stopped -

who has time - but if you think it's too much on her to change??? tough

one

eileen

Quoting jchabot <jchabot@...>:

> I went to the psychiatrist with my kids last night. This is my 6th

> time to this new doctor, and it is the 6th time we waited over an

> hour and a half for our appointment.

> I'm just curious if anyone else goes through this. This is the new

> doctor I chose from the ocfoundation. There is no place to sit in the

> waiting room, and the people are literally standing outside in a line

> , like a resteraunt. I have an hour drive to the office. It ends up

> taking me almost 5 hours every time I go, from the time I leave to

> the time I get back.

> This is ridiculous! On the ride home my kids are going berserk!!!!!

> Does anyone else have this problem?

> Complaining doesn't work . Everyone there was disgusted, and after

> talking with a few angry patients, they say it is ALWAYS like this

> here.

> I can't even imagine switching doctors AGAIN!!!! My daughter is

> just getting used to her therapist.

> Sorry for venting!

> Hugs

> Judy

>

October 26, 2006

In a message dated 10/26/2006 1:55:04 P.M. Eastern Standard Time,

jchabot@... writes:

LT, I think your idea is great. I wish I could get the other 11 people in

front of us, in the waiting room to go along with it!!

Judy

Have you tried asking them to go in with you ;-) (that question was

offered with only *partially* with tongue in cheek.....). You should

definitely

voice your reasons for leaving to the doctor. I can't imagine anyone in

business - whether it be house painting or therapy - not wanting to know if

something upsets a client so much that they take their business elsewhere.

LT

October 26, 2006

we have never had to wait more than 5 minutes. i feel lucky!

i would talk to the doc. chances are he/she isnt aware.

sharon

Re: doctors overbooking------I have to vent

We are lucky we have only ever been once 45 minutes late and that was at our

last appointment, usually we are within 5 minutes and there is quite a nice but

small waiting room, with games and drawing and a big whiteboard for the kids to

play with.

Maybe New Zealand is not quite so bad LOL.

Cheers Jackie (New Zealand)

October 26, 2006

Yes, I've had it happen and it made me crazy at times. I was warned in

advance that Dr. S would often run late. Usually it was more like 20 - 30

min.,

though occasionally as much as an hour. However, I was also on the other

end of the problem -- when my daughter has been in more of a crisis, it wasn't

uncommon for her to end up staying a half hour late (once it was longer than

that, when the doc had to hospitalize her that very day). I really loved the

doc though, so we just planned for it -- brought a book, etc. We do have a

large waiting room, though. I wonder if they could take your cell number;

have you check in, and tell you how many folks are ahead of you? Or ask them

to give a call when the person right before you goes into session? I'd

probably also give the office a call prior to leaving to see how the schedule

was

running. I used to do that with Dr. S. Interestingly enough, Dr. S left for

another city and was replaced by Dr. A. Dr. A is rarely late, and starts

wrapping up the session about 10 min. before it's supposed to end. Suzanne in

CA

October 27, 2006

In a message dated 10/27/2006 8:40:04 A.M. Eastern Standard Time,

jchabot@... writes:

In the meantime, I will be letting the doctor know how I feel about this. The

thing is , he MUST KNOW.

Judy -

Yes, I'm also sure he's aware... just from the number of complaints. But

does he know you are leaving his practice because of it? Maybe no one has ever

left because of it (or didn't tell him so). It's one thing knowing your

clients aren't happy about an aspect of service.... it's another to see that

you're losing money because of it.

LT

October 27, 2006

In a message dated 10/27/2006 9:16:22 A.M. Eastern Standard Time,

mrsjdmcd@... writes:

Sorry, had to chime in here. This is not necessarily true. I used to

work for a group of ophthalmologists that demanded we book a patient

every 15 minutes even though they knew full well they couldn't see

them that fast.

Good information - I didn't realize that, but I've never worked in a

doctor's office.

LT

October 27, 2006

I'm having a very hard time finding a new doctor. I'm sure it will take awhile.

In the meantime, I will be letting the doctor know how I feel about this. The

thing is , he MUST KNOW. Everyone in that office is constantly complaining and

rescheduling because they can't wait two hours. I watch them check in and say

they can't wait, so the doctor just hands them a script and they leave.I can't

do that, because there is always a question or concern with my kids.

Very frustrating! UGH!!!!!!

Hugs

Judy

October 27, 2006

>That's awful. It's obviously a staff problem - the doctors don't

> schedule their own appointments... but the doctor should certainly

manage his staff

> if the problem is that bad.

Sorry, had to chime in here. This is not necessarily true. I used to

work for a group of ophthalmologists that demanded we book a patient

every 15 minutes even though they knew full well they couldn't see

them that fast. If we left time between patients, we heard about it

from the doctors. When the doctors were overbooked, we heard about it

from the patients. Take your complaints directly to the doctor -

complaining to the staff doesn't help. Trust me, they are just as

frustrated as you as you are if not more so. After all, you're there

for a relatively short amount of time and they get to listen to

complaints for 8-10 hours a day.

October 27, 2006

the thing that gets me is having a child with anxiety issues, ocd issues, etc,

some of them who do NO want to be there, then having to sit and wait that long

is AWFUL, like torture for them! when my dd was at her worst with germs, being

in a waiting room was VERY hard for her - people, germs, all the public toys,

books, chairs, etc were contaminated, etc. if we had to be in there for more

than a few minutes, i think THAT would have caused more problems for her than

not going to therapy.

Sharon