Me: 30 minutes past my appointment (after arriving 20 minutes early) watching people walk in then get called back within 3 minutes. Fuck doctors offices so much.
Update: Nurse took me to the room. Answered prelim questions then she left. Still waiting for the doctor 20 minutes later. It is now 40 minutes past my appointment time and no sign of the person taking my money.
I give them 5 minutes unless there’s an emergency, then it’s 15. After that I reschedule, or move to a different doctor.
Any practice that can’t keep a schedule, isn’t worth working with. Worst case scenario, take a vacation to Mexico and talk to a doctor there. Cheaper, faster, and probably better care than a US general practitioner.
Many years ago I had an orthopoedic surgeon that was always late. 30-40 minutes ofttimes. Yes, it was an inconvenience, but first appointment with him this happened, I was irritated about it until he got in the room. He was contrite and apologetic and had incredibly good bedside manners. He spoke to you and not dismissively down as many docs can. He listened completely to what I had to say and welcomed questions. All of this ended up taking much longer than a normal get in/out physician. Now I understood why and accepted his tardiness as I wanted that extra care he so readily dispensed. Great doctor, but now long retired.
Good doctors often have more incentive to overbook, and even less incentive to stop bad office practices as long as people keep putting up with it.
That’s reasonable if it’s regular- of course, with healthcare being expensive, I’m not surprised that even when it’s not a complex issue that takes time, the patient might decide to offload a dozen issues at once instead of making a dozen appointments- making this a structural issue, not specific to your doctor.
Our pediatrician from years ago left the group practice he was in to do his own thing, partially so he could get away from the numbers game and have longer appointment slots so time could be taken to address any concerns that come up. Actually talk to the patient. Great doctor. He first impressed us when he brought us in the room, then talked to our son first.
He ended up retiring after a lot of years simply because he couldn’t afford to do it the “right” way any longer.