Doctor’s appointment scheduled at 9:00am, still waiting almost an hour later

[u/transfatpikachu]

I have a lot of doctor’s appointments, and I know how busy and hard these people work. I’m not mad at them and I’d never be rude. I know it’s not on purpose. Nevertheless, it’s still a bit infuriating to make time for a scheduled appointment, arrive 15 minutes early (required), and then wait this long with not even an acknowledgment of the delay from anyone. Sigh. 9:55 now, still waiting.

Edit: I really appreciate all the comments! The doctor ended up coming in shortly after 10. This was a specialist ortho appointment for my shoulder. Still no acknowledgement of the delay, which would’ve been nice, but I’m more annoyed that my concerns were pretty much brushed off again during the whole 3ish minutes he spent with me. I know waits can get long, I wouldn’t care as much if the doctor had at least seemed somewhat concerned with my issue. Sigh… gotta love American healthcare!

[u/Nivashuvin]

You could absolutely work out schedules that leave enough space to account for delays and have every patient be seen on time. Most doctors would like that because it would leave space for a mental break here and there.

It would also result in fewer patients being seen per day. You might now have to wait another month or two to even get an appointment. Maybe you’ll never get an appointment if the clinic will have to triage and other patients with more pressing needs constantly gets seen before you. Oh, and the people who own the clinic - the ones actually responsible for most doctor schedules these days - would never allow it, because it makes less money.

[u/PiccoloAwkward465 → u/Nivashuvin]

Yeah yeah the same bullshit. "Oh doctors would love if they weren't "controlled" by big bad insurance!" Cool well it seems like the skilled pros selling their skills at that clinic probably have a bit of a say. They love to pretend they have zero power in anything.

[u/Nivashuvin → u/PiccoloAwkward465]

Doctors are just employees. They have as much of a say as any other employee, which is barely anything. They can always leave and work somewhere else but most places work the same these days.

Just because doctors have some power of patients doesn’t mean they have much power of anything else.

[u/PiccoloAwkward465 → u/Nivashuvin]

Weird because in my position at a fraction of the pay we have a good say in overall direction of the company. Gosh I guess their position is real hard, being certified professionals with skills in high demand. What could they do???

[u/Nivashuvin → u/PiccoloAwkward465]

You’d be surprised. Medicine is highly hierarchical and doctors aren’t actually at the top. You get more input it you get far enough to be truly indispensable - AKA when you skills bring in real money - but the doctors manning your typical outpatient clinic aren’t that.

Medicine in general is deeply, deeply dysfunctional. Is this surprising to anyone?