I just wanted a hot dog
Doctor’s appointment scheduled at 9:00am, still waiting almost an hour later
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!
Right that’s all I wanted: some communication. I went and told the front desk that I’d been there for two hours and tried to ask for updates but just got the cold shoulder from MAs
They've got you by the balls and they know it. They can mistreat you and disrespect you in any of 1000 different ways and you can't do anything about it, or even complain. If you treat them with a fraction of the disrespect they treat you with you can lose your appointment, and you can't just go see someone else because a) you're all the way at the back of the waiting list, and b) they're not going to be any different.
One of those office staff you see before the doctor came in dressed like a doctor and spoke to me like a doctor and asked if my pharmacy is still the same. i asked “ok we good?” “yes” i walked out and went home, 30 minutes later the office called all crazy that i left, i explained what happened and i wouldn’t come back, so the doctor was furious and did an over the phone office visit, it was just for a refill but i assume the dude who wanted to play doctor got a ripping.
I had that happen to be during a consultation appointment for knee surgery. Like I get that surgeons are busy. But if you make me wait 2 hours without a heads up from the front desk or nurse that you’re running behind, I will never trust you to cut into my body.
When I got my wisdom teeth out I hugged the nurse and told her they did a great job… I also asked if I could take home a pair of gloves from the recovery room. (I was obviously well medicated) They put a bunch in my purse. My brother was my ride and was laughing his ass off.
I was like what do I need these for?! And then they ended up being used for random stuff like when I cut hot peppers etc. I think I was like 16-17 or so.
When I got mine out there was a puppy calendar on the wall in the room where I woke up, I guess I asked the nurse to remind me to get one cause I liked it so much, when I got home I found a note in my pocket it was a prescription paper that said “reminder— get a puppy calendar!!!”
My mom did this once. We went for some pediatric appointment for my 5 year old self.
I remember my mom was getting pissy that we had been waiting almost an hour and there was literally nobody in the waiting room. Honestly, my mom is awful and rude, and I think they may have been making her wait on purpose.
Eeeeeither way, she handed me the box of gloves and told me to start blowing up the balloons! We were going to have a surprise party for the doctor and nurses!
Girl, I turned that entire box of gloves into goofy hand shaped balloons. The doctor wandered in just as I was asking my mom for another box of 'balloons'.
Doctor was visibly upset lol He told my mom we would need to reschedule with no explanation. We never went back to that doctor. I don't know if we were let go as patients, or if my mom just decided to switch my doctor, but I think about that day every time I put on my mechanic gloves to work on something. The goblin 5 year old in the back of my head is just screaming "BALLOOOOOOOONS".
Honestly even if your mom was a bitch, it's also incredibly unprofessional to have somebody waiting 60mins past their appointment time without an explanation. Like after 15 min max the office admin should have stepped in to say "I'm sorry the Doctor is late coming back from their shift at the hospital" or "I'm sorry the doctor is with another patient who needed more time than was initially planned".
I actually did this, my husband was laughing so hard that the nurse came in. It worked!! I just happened to open the drawer and starting going through their stuff.
I’ve taken syringes and 22-24 gauge needles for them before, because some of my warhammer miniatures have bits that need to be glued and even the smallest glue applicators can be too big.
One time I dared my daughter to start dancing while waiting in the room and she said “someone’s probably going to come in as soon as I start” I said “nah, we’ve been waiting half an hour you’ll be fine” so she starts awkwardly dancing and BOOM the door opens, not a knock, nothing
I had an appointment with my gynecologist after work, so about 5:30pm. I was taken into the exam room, told to undress and given a paper gown. I waited and waited for over an hour, periodically peeking out into the hallway. Suddenly, all the lights shut off. I yelled out “Hey, I'm still in here!!!” and the lights came back on. The nurses forgot about me, the doctor was gone, and even though they apologized, I changed to a different practice.
Just leave one glove in every room. Steal all but the child sized BP cuffs. Take ALL the thermometer covers. Find a list of employees (on a whiteboard) and print a fake salary list. Make sure the highest liscences have the lowest salaries. Take all the phone cords.
Try to get the one of the first appointments in the morning. There was no wait for me unless the appointment was later in the day, then I knew it’d be at least an hour wait.
Best of luck, an easy pregnancy, and a healthy baby to you!
I used to book the 9am appointment so I was there in the waiting room at 8:55am. The Dr would normally show up running and talking about traffic EVERY TIME (appoinment every 2 weeks) at around 9:35-9:40. I finally got the courage to say something to her that I needed to get to work too, and she said that she was busy and I didn't know what kind of personal problems she had.
oookkaaaay, so I got another one that I've had for year now (not the nicest person but she's efficient)
I know I'm lucky that I've had a family doc for so many years. I don't take it for granted!
I (briefly) worked at a Dr's office where we were to book him in the morning (including walk-in patients) starting at 9am. He would never be in before about 11. Ive heard people say they would see him at the gym working out during this time slot. Idek why he made us do it, but he did have a massive ego, fat shamed patients behind their back, and overall POS.
I used to work in a private practice and my coworker would drive me insane because he was always late. I'd be halfway through my first appointment and he'd saunter in as though he wasn't walking past his patient in the waiting room. I don't understand how people can be 30+ minutes late daily without feeling awful about it.
Unfortunately (or luckily) our toddler sleeps in, so doing that also means losing hours of sleep (which then screws up my blood sugar and means more gestational diabetes appointments that are always an hour wait)
I had a similar experience with my GP. Had a 5:00 appointment, they closed at 6:00. I was put in a room around 5:10 and sat there waiting 20-30 minutes. Popped my head out and caught a passing staff member who said the doctor was still with another patient and would see me soon. Waited further until around 5:50, when I started getting suspicious that I'd been forgotten, so I walked out of the room and it was a total ghost town. Found a couple admins at the front that were packing up and seemed surprised to see me.
Luckily the doctor was still in his office and I was there for something pretty specific that didn't require a ton of time, so I got seen then. But I was about to get so annoyed if they were going to make me reschedule. Still super irritating knowing your time is wasted because the office wasn't organized.
Unfortunately, it was a specialist and there's only one other in the area, but the wait to see a doctor there is 6 months as opposed to 3 months here, so I'm kinda stuck with them. Now, I just make sure to book the morning appointments when it's not as busy.
I just remembered the time I took my brother for a sleep study. We showed up at the time they scheduled and checked in. Brother had to go to the restroom. While he was in there the lights get shut off and I'm standing in the dark waiting room. No one came to the little glass window thing. So I start calling and I hear the phone inside ringing. Eventually someone actually did pickup and I said "Hey, I'm in the waiting room and the lights just shut off" and the clerk apologized. He forgot anyone was there.
My GYN was never late when I saw her at her old practice. Then she moved to a different practice (I followed her) and she was never on time after that.
I once had an 8am appointment (1st one of the day). They took me to the exam room. I'm sitting there waiting and waiting. An hour goes by and I step out the door and a nurse was like "oh, doctor is coming in late today but she should be here soon." Apparently, she had her own doctors appointment that morning and had let the staff know to reschedule everyone and instead of rescheduling her patients, they just kept them all the same. She was so apologetic when she arrived about 15 minutes later.
She didn't stay long at that practice and I ended up moving back to the old practice seeing a different doctor.
A lot of practices double or even triple book now. I've had the same primary care doc for my entire adult life. Early on, I'd have 15 maybe 20 minutes wait time after checking in. Totally fine. Now when I go, I can expect 45 minutes to an hour. The practice was bought out a few years ago. New management sucks.
wtf. I had that happen to me! I was suppose to get my blood drawn for my family doc. They told me to wait there, they were getting supplies. I sat for an hour and then opened the door and all the lights were off! I checked the door and it was locked. There was a sign on the main door that said for something after hours call the janitor, i called him and he couldn't believe i told him. He told me not to open anything because he had to disarm the security alarm.
he let me out and i rescheduled. nobody said a word about, sorry that happened or anything.
i'll add a postive note edit: I did have another experience where i was 2.5hrs waiting at an ENT. I was pretty pissed off and told them doc when he came in that someone should have at least said its really backed up, you can wait or reschedule. He mailed me a "we're sorry" card signed by the staff and a $25 gift card to starbucks.
My mom had an outpatient surgery done at an outpatient center. Was supposed to be an hour long home by 3/4pm at the latest. She started at like 1.
Come 6 o’clock my dad & I are still waiting in the waiting room & no one had told us anything other than she finished surgery a little before 2, everything went well, and they were gonna wait for her to wake up before sending us over. We’d ask occasionally & got the same answer.
Someone started to turn out the lights at which point my dad started screaming where’s his wife, is she okay, etc.
Come to find out there was an issue with the anesthesia & she wasn’t waking up and they were debating if they should send her to the local hospital or not. By the time the front office started to turn off the lights to go home (with 2 people sitting in the waiting room? Hello!) she was awake but not much. In the end she was fine. They just gave her a but too much of a drug she was sensitive to (& was promptly added to her chart).
Apparently she could hear them talking all those hours debating what to do with her but just couldn’t respond. She very distinctly remembers hearing the nurses complain that they didn’t want to miss Dancing with the Stars but if she had to go to the hospital they would. Meanwhile my mom was lying there thinking “I don’t want to miss it either!”
I had something similar. I showed up at 1:45 for a 2pm appointment. I signed in with the receptionist and then sat down in the waiting area. At 3:30, I asked the receptionist if something was wrong and she said it was a busy day. At 4, she left. At 5, a janitor stopped on her way by and asked if I was waiting for someone. Apparently the receptionist never actually put me down as present, so it was deemed a missed appointment. They didn't turn the lights off though, just dimmer, because it was a 24/7 hospital.
To make this even worse, the doctor told me off for forgetting that appointment when I finally got to see him 3 months later.
Edit: I would have left the first appointment, but I wasn't sure if they actually were running that late. And I also didn't want to go back to my 9-5 that urgently.
I tried. He cut me off to tell me that my blood work was awful and I should be doing a better job. I tried telling him that I ran out of prescriptions 2 months ago (1 month after my "missed" appointment) and he cut me off again to scold me for purposefully sabotaging my health by eating bad things (I wasn't). He never listens. He sucks, but it's a huge hassle to find a new doctor and I just need him to renew the prescriptions every 6 months. I handle everything else on my own.
I had similar at a bougie salon for a facial. Arrived early, checked in and shown to a waiting room in the back, not the main, front lobby. No robe, no paperwork to fill out, no locker for my street clothes. Sat long enough that the motion activated lights went out. After an hour I got up and left.
The salon called my cell 45 minutes later. Yes, 45 minutes after I waited, after I drove home. No, I won’t turn around and come back. Your front desk staff had plenty of opportunity to say something when I walked past them and announced I was leaving after waiting nearly an hour, in the dark.
Worse. Mentioned the failed appointment to friends who are also friends with the owners. The owners definitely know of me although i doubt they know my name. I wouldn’t hesitate to tell them all about my experience if they were to ask me.
The crazy part was that every time I set foot in that salon I got the hard sell. Sign up for this monthly club, promotion or whatever…
And, spouse and I had been going routinely for massages. I chose to ignore it when I overheard my masseuse complaining about another customer. Pro tip, if I’m in the waiting room I should NOT be hearing that kinda talk.
Extremely difficult to sue a doctor. Like almost impossible in Canada. They could take your arm off accidentally in a wart removal and it would still be extremely hard, expensive and long.
Similar here, except the lights didn't get shut off I just got fed up, got dressed again, and walked up to the checkout counter and told them I hadn't seen the doctor so they shouldn't be charging my insurance for anything. She asked if I wanted her to find out what happened/where the doctor is and I said no, then if I wanted to reschedule and I said no, and finally if I wanted to reschedule with another doctor there and I said no.
It was a hospital office, she was an ob/gyn, so my guess is there was an emergency delivery and nobody thought to check on the scheduled appointments. But who's got time to sit in an empty medical office wearing nothing but a paper gown for 3 hours just to have the doctor brush off every single one of your concerns and treat you as an inconvenience because you'd had 2 abortions and weren't planning on having any kids any time in the foreseeable future? I found a new doctor.
Worked with a NP who was a visitor. “How’s the grandkids? How’s this, how’s that?” We use to go knock on the door and remind him he’s got patients in rooms. Was honestly stressful keeping him on track.
That is crazy work, especially in that generation in particular. I can't get less than a 5 minute response to "how many floors is your house & how many steps to enter"
Well, you see my house was built back in nineteen aught six right after the San Francisco earthquake. Building materials were expensive at the time due to the demand for rebuilding after the damage. Karl Schaffer was an Austrian immigrant working on the home and decided he didn't want to follow the blueprint exactly. Funny story about Karl, he immigrated to new York originally but found his true roots out west. He had a bit of an unconventional upbringing to say the least...
Oh my god I hated keeping doctors on track. I worked with one who treated every patient like they were the only one of the day. Lovely bedside manner, terrible for everyone else he needs to see.
My worst one was for a woman's wellness and pap smear. I'm taken back for vitals and questions all in good time. Get told to change into the gown and someone will be back.
That's the part that took nearly an hour. Of waiting in any-minute-now limbo for THAT exam. I wanted to stick my head out to try to get a time update but kept hearing a kid through the door. And those gowns do absolutely nothing.
And it was a later afternoon appointment. I started having the worst case scenario "fantasy" of being left behind from everyone going home. By the time my exam did start, it was after clinic closing hour.
That happened to me once. I got dressed, walked out of the room, and told them to just give me a minute’s heads up before the doctor was coming so I could change back into the vest and paper drape because I wasn’t going to sit there nearly naked any longer than I had to.
This happened to me, except it was like an 8 am appointment and I could hear her chatting in the hallway the entire time. I ended up dropping her anyway after I discovered she was antivax and how she pushed exams every year or wouldn't give BC.
No, if you're healthy you don't need a pelvic exam every year. Now I just go in every 3-5 (can't remember the guidelines) years for a pap smear. Wish it hadn't taken me like 10 years to realize it.
My rule is 30 minutes. I always have to go to the front desk after 30 minutes at the pediatrician. Magically, the doctor comes in shortly after I bitch.
We were locked up in an exam room at the pediatrician with our three very young kids once for >2.5 hours (kids are all in their 20’s now, so this was pre-smart phone/tablets to be distractions). The doc wasn’t even in the building. His staff were good to regularly update the first 45 minutes and apologize and kept saying he’d be there in 5 or 10 minutes. At the 2+ hour mark the kids were crawling up the walls and rightfully loudly whining, so I opened the exam room door and let them go. The staff came back and asked we keep the kids in the room. I replied they’re going stir crazy and need to exercise their legs and I’m sure you understand. I got dirty looks. Doc arrived soon after and was in and out in under 3 minutes. It felt like a con job. A few days later I moved them to a different practice. He personally called me and asked why. I told him the other practice was much closer to home (true) and he asked if that was the only reason. So I leveled with him and told him I realized his time was valuable but so is everyone else’s and we just didn’t have the patience for an overbooked office. He said he understood and thanked me. Within a few months he closed the practice and moved out of state.
I don’t understand doctors’ arrival times when they have their own practices. My mom used to work for a chiropractor (I know, not a true doctor) and he would have the front desk call him when his first patient arrived. He lived maybe 10 minutes away, but your first appointment is the exact same time every day, and your patients are waiting on you. What honestly is the point besides you being a bad doctor?
I thought I was forgotten at a different appointment (edit: different hospital and doctor) when they had me wait 5 hours but nah, they just overbook so much. That time I was checking in a lot, they still never apologized lol. All I got was “if you reschedule now you’ll get a cancellation fee”
Would you believe me if I told you this is the doctor I saw 3 years ago who (likely) messed my shoulder up, causing me to need all these doctors appointments over the years to try and fix it. He was an ass, and my shoulder is so much worse now after surgery than it was before
Holy shit. Find a new practice entirely. It sounds like you don't even need a doctor for anything specific right now, so you could find a PA as your primary to do your insurance required check-ins and blood tests.
That happened to me once too lol but I’m so non confrontational I waited like two and a half hours and then went out and they were turning lights off and closing for the day and they felt so bad
Pop your head out and ask how much longer the wait is going to be. That usually gets someone in the room quickly. If you do leave before being seen call your insurance and let them know the provider no-showed your appointment
I went for a checkup for a work injury with my wrist and thumb, sat for 3 hours, took a nap, I was mad that my phone started to die when I got back up and went to ask the nearest nurse what’s up, they still said “only a few mins” nothing about forgetting me. I got paid for the whole thing cause it was during my shift I had to go back.
Similar-ish thing happened to me. I didn’t know the doctor portion was completely done because it was super quick and barely addressed anything. Then she mentioned something about “coming back”. It was so hard to get that appointment so I kept waiting.
After about an hour I started questioning my sanity about what she had said. Started panicking because my car was parked somewhere that it should’ve been moved by then.
They forgot I was still there and when I stepped out they said “oh you’re done for today well let you know if you have to come back”. It was such a demoralizing experience. To realize how much trouble and stress I went through, all for it to take around 3 minutes like OP and then leave feeling like a dumbass
This happened to me recently. I went to the desk and was like am I done? Oh. Yea you’re all set. It used to be that the doctor spent 20 minutes with you and at the end of the visit was very clear about next steps, gave a printout and walked out into the hallway with you telling you to have a good day. You stopped at the desk on the way out to square up any bills or future appointments. Ever since everything is online now in these my chart portals it’s like communication has gone out the window. I fill out a pre check in checklist. Go over it with the nurse. Go over it with the Doctor. Have to ask for a printout. Want to schedule a follow up? Have to ask or they assume you’ll do it in myChart. Then I get like five surveys to rate my interaction with scheduling, with admin, with MyChart and with the Doctor. I do give critical feedback (which takes up my time which I guess isn’t valuable). Yet nothing changes it’s getting worse. Healthcare has gone to crap ever since Covid I swear.
I was sent for a pre-employment drug screen, and they put my paperwork in someone else's folder. I'm not sure how long I waited, but people that came in after me were being called back. I asked the receptionist and they located my paperwork. I passed the drug test, but the place never called me back until I had accepted a job somewhere else.
This happened to me once when I was pregnant and exhausted. I woke up and it had been 1.5 hours haha. They totally forgot about me. Nurse was shocked when I popped out of the room. It was a good snooze though.
That's why I miss my old pediatrician's office that had fold-out plastic flags next to the door. When the nurse would lead you back to the room, they'd fold out the flag telling staff you were still in there, making it nearly impossible to be forgetten. I've never seen them at another doctor's office.
I think these are starting to become more widespread. I have to see many different doctor/specialists at separate locations and in the last 3 years or so, all of them have transitioned to using the little flags or some kind of color coding system whenever a patient is in the room. Maybe it feels anecdotal but their operations seem to run more smoothly since they all started using them.
Yeah I waited in an exam room for like 45 minutes one time. Finally came out and waved down a nurse, who told me the doctor had already left for the day and apparently just forgot to come back 🙄
Lmao. Sounds like the time they forgot me in the waiting room. They were about to close and I asked if they forgot me. Their response was, didn’t you go in already?
Then lead me to a patient room where an angry PA stormed in and proceeded to rush me. I get it, you want to go home, but don’t take it out on me.
Needless to say it was the last time I went there.
Went in for a DOT card physical; everything going fine, doctor comes in, starts finishing the paperwork - then leaves.
45 mins. later, still not back. I walk to the front of the clinic, and she's chatting with the nurse.
Me: "I thought you forgot about me..."
Her: "You can leave if you want." 👀
Me: "No problem; I'll wait."
15 mins. later, she decided to come back and finish the exam...
One time, I waited nearly 30min in the waiting room, and when they finally called me back, they were all annoyed and "trying to squeeze me in" because I had supposedly been late and/or not checked in. And I was like, hello?? I was here 15 minutes early and went directly to the receptionist! I've been here the whole time! How is it my fault you guys didn't realize I was here?!
I set a timer and just start walking around the office, go to the restroom a few times after like 20 min of waiting. if you see an employee say I'm in room # going to the restroom and tell them each time lol
they'll get annoyed and try to get you out I'm sure
I've been forgotten about after the exam. Usually they say, get dressed, exit is on the left. At this appointment I wasn't really sure if they were finished when they left. I was a big surprise when the next patient walked in.
This happened to me the first time I ever went to a gyn appointment! I had asked about some symptoms that needed follow-up testing and the doctor said “get dressed, then we’ll get those scheduled for you.” I thought that meant she was going to come back in with more information and put me on the schedule, so I got dressed and sat there for twenty minutes until I gave up and left. Turns out she meant for me to go schedule them at the front desk, but no one told me I was allowed to leave lol
Seriously! If a doctor gives me anything but "My apologies for being so late, I'll make sure it won't happen again," my hackles immediately go up. As the visit goes on, my suspicions are usually validated.
I had a 10am appointment with the nurse practitioner at my doctors. She was an hour and a half late, and then took forever with me and she went into detail about EVERYTHING, like literally asked me why I went to school for accounting?? Then when we finished after 12 she said I could do my bloodwork downstairs and I asked if it’ll be ok if I come back another day. She said “do you have somewhere to be??” I’m like yeah work!! And I’m so dehydrated from waiting for so long.
Then the person setting my follow-up up said you have to be here early to see her like 10am isn’t early!!
My husband had the first appointment of the morning. 30 minutes into our wait we saw the doctor pull in to the parking lot. Then we were told the doctor HAD to see someone else first. Doc walked in our room at 9:15. My husband asked him if he was ill or if there was a medical emergency at home, he also told him he didn’t appreciate the wait. Doc had no answer.
They're always late. Staff gets fired if they aren't there on time. Patients get turned away if they're 6 minutes late instead of 5. But doctor can come whenever he damn well pleases
God I fuck hate places like that. They will threaten you with a no show fee if you're 10 minutes late, but when they're 30 minutes behind schedule they pretend like it didn't happen.
The assumption that somehow the patient's time is not just as valuable as the doctor's is so offensive to me. You are not superior to me. You are not doing me a huge favor by giving me a few minutes of your time.
My husband starts his office hours at 7:30am on the days that he doesn't have hospital rounds. That way, some people can have their appointment before work.
Depends. I’ve had a psychiatrist be late and cancel in the morning because they had a patient have a psychotic break. If they’re a specialist they’re doing regular surgery and there might need to be an emergency appointment from someone with a complication or someone with a serious issue that ended up in ED the night before (had this when I went blind from a migraine, appointment first thing next morning with an ophthalmologist with a 6 month waiting list).
Even if they’re a general practitioner, one of their patients might have died during the night, maybe they have a patient that ended up in ED the night before and they need to do a bunch of stuff around that.
It’s almost always the fault of the practice and the corporate enshittification of healthcare. Doctors universally wish they could spend more time with patients rather than rushing.
Depending on the specialty, it can go wildly sideways. We legit had our 7am appointment once need emergency surgery and had to cancel the entire day of clinic.
An extreme most wouldn't have, but stuff like that has happened. Not fun for anyone.
Had an endoscopy scheduled and just before I should have been called back, the power went out to the whole building. They had to reschedule for another day.
I wonder what happened to the people who had three feet of camera up their butt when that happened. I assume some of that stuff has backup power.
I've had to wait an hour and a half to see a doctor multiple times. I found out it was the front desk staff that wanted to leave early because it was a Friday. They asked me to come early even though the doctor told them not to. I was very annoyed and then requested earlier appointments from then on. My time is valuable too!
ya know what would be super-cool? if after an hour of wait, you can charge them the same fee they charge you if you miss the appointment. that would be sweet justice
I had a similar experience and after asking a bunch of questions the receptionist admitted that the doctor scheduled appointments starting at 9 but didn’t arrive until 10 because he wanted people waiting on him, not the other way around. I found a new doctor.
My favorite doctor is often a bit late, but she’s the most caring doctor I’ve ever had. So smart and always advocating for her patients, she’s helped me more than anyone else. You sound like a great doctor too if you’re mortified over only 5 minutes! I don’t mind waiting when I know I’m seeing a doctor who genuinely cares
I had 2 doctor's appointments scheduled back to back (45 min apart) in the same building. Go to my first appointment 30min early hoping to get seen a little early to make sure there wasn't any overlap. They didn't see me until 40 mins late, which was 5 minutes before my next appointment was supposed to start. Appointment went quick so I ended up only being 15 minutes late to the 2nd appointment.
Walk to the 2nd appointment office, and the front desk lady was super rude about me being late. Didn't bother to ask why, just said I needed to be on time, but checks me in regardless. The doctor calls me back and immediately says "we thought you just weren't going to show up!". So I said "yeah I had an appointment with Dr. ___ who didn't see me until 40 minutes late, which made me late for this appointment". Their time is precious, but my time isn't valuable enough to be a priority I guess.
Doctor's appointments are like scheduling an internet service installer. You're appointment will be between the hours of 10a.m.-4p.m. Yes they will also take at least an hour for lunch and fuck with you if you don't get in early, which you won't because the doctor is doing paper work from yesterday they didn't finish for the first hour (they don't get in until 11).
It should be a legal requirement that you are informed of the cost ahead of time and are given a discount based on how long you wait.
Maybe then hospitals and doctors offices will start scheduling more appropriately because while I know delays happen, when people expect them, and are far more often than not right, that’s a scheduling problem, not a delay.
I was forgotten mid appointment once. Nurse left after basic examination and I waited for the doctor for about an hour before I heard someone ask "Is there someone in that room?", followed by a pause and "OH...oops!" The doctor came in 2 minutes later, apologizing for the wait.
I once had to get a TB test read (not done, just the glance at my arm one week later to see if there was a bump or not) and waited, no joke, over two hours. I went out to ask multiple times if a nurse could get to me yet, and was told it would just be a moment longer. Until I finally lost it, grabbed my form for them to sign, and marched to nurse’s station and went “I just need someone to confirm my forearm is flat as a pancake!” and they finally went “oooooh that’s all you need?” And signed my work form and I was on my way. Something that took less than 10 seconds, I waited almost 2 and a half hours for.
This scenario doesn't even happen in the UK, you don't get called in to see the doctor until they're ready to see you.
If they're behind schedule, it just means waiting in the waiting room a bit longer, not an empty consultation room. Also an hour seems excessive, can't remember them ever being that behind.
Poke your head out the door and make sure you weren’t forgotten. Happened to me; after an hour of waiting I opened the door and most of the staff, including the doc, had left for lunch.
After 30 minutes I'd be checking with staff. You deserve an explanation. If there was an emergency with another patient, that's one thing - but sitting with no comment isn't considerate.
They may have forgotten, literally. I would give it 5 more minutes and then ask the receptionist if something happened and when you'll be seen.
My mum recently went to the doctor for two strains of pneumonia and they brought her to the room and said they'll be with her in a second. T
wo and a half hours passed, my mom even fell asleep in the chair, and she decided she would be in better hands if she went home so she could lay down. She got up went to leave and the receptionist asked why she was leaving and she filled her in. Nurse soon came running and said "youre not going anywhere! Youre in no state to leave." My mom argued with her for a while before the doctor came out to see what the commotion was and the doctor was literally appalled that the nurse never told her she had my mum as a patient waiting. Nurse got bitched out and told to go away, doc roomed my mum and apologized profusely over and over. Mum ended up hospitalized for 3 nights. Some people in Healthcare just dont care about others. My mom always makes the joke that she "has to do their job for them" and in this case it was kind of true.
Not defending this but I’ve been on the other side of this unfortunately. my place opens up at 8 am and the very first patient will suddenly be like "oh and I have severe chest pain and the worst headache of my life" and all I can do is internally say "fuuuck" as I know the whole day's schedule is about to be FUBAR. That said someone should have at the very least poked their head in to either apologize or give you an update on what's going on
Yes. An update is the bare minimum. I've had that happen when I've been waiting for an appointment to start. One was kinda obvious, since I passed an ambulance walking up. They still updated me.
The other one was watching and listening to an active "hi how are you" to "oh shit" to "is there an open operating room available at the hospital?" happen at the opthalmologist's office. I was in an exam room, and people were absolutely flying by.
The nurse came in out of breath to explain. Nah, I got it. I'll sit here with my spooky dilated eyes; you go handle that dude.
I always try to make a morning appt. They purposely overbook thinking there will be no shows, so the later in the day it gets to more backed up they become
Definitely check in with staff. I've been forgotten 2x.
One was appointment with Dr, then a 2nd with NP. Np assumed their appointment had been covered in my. 1st appointment and canceled it. No one told me. Waited an hour. Was so late for work.
2nd I've had the receptionist check me in, but accidentally places my files in the basket of people already seen. After an hour, I was getting impatient. 2hr, pissed bc all the new people had come and gone. I was in full view of receptionist, she's didn't even wonder why I was still there.
So I go ask at the 2hr mark. She's all flustered, couldn't find my Chart, tried telling me I'd been seen already. Ahh. No. The people in waiting room pipe up about how I was there before they were! Finally got around to looking in all the file holders. Found me in the discharge pile.
Had to wait another 45m, only to get reamed out by Dr for being late, and how lucky I was they could "fit me in", only to be told my issue was a waste of his time, and my family Dr can handle this.
Asshat. With the receptionist. Ugh. Never went back.
My wife and I waited for 4.5 hours at the rheumatologist one time for a 10 min appt. They kept giving us excuses. The doctor is very good and apologized but told us he was on an emergency call at a local hospital but the staff never told us this they just kept giving us broad excuses. I was pissed. The issue is when we asked to reschedule about halfway throught the next availalbe time was like a month and a half out. She was having a huge flare so we couldn't wait. Luckily she isn't working right now and I am self employed but I would be so pissed if I had to burn a whole day for a doctors appt if I had a corporate type job.
The last time a Dr's office did this to me, I left after 50 mins. 25 mins setting in the exam room staring at the walls. I stopped by 'checkout' and told the lady the Dr didn't see me and I wasn't wasting any more time. If he had an emergency, someone could have told me. I didn't offer to pay or reschedule. Left a accurate review and never went back.
what irks me is that doctor's offices bombard me with text messages leading up to the appointment to make sure I fill out all forms, but on the day of the appointment, they obviously know the doctor is running late but they don't bother to send a text that says i know your appointment is at 10, but it's actually not going to happen until at least 10:30 or whatever
I remember going to see a specialist because the primary pediatrician thought they heard a heart murmur in my maybe 6-month-old daughter. When making the appointment, the nurse said to get there 30 minutes early to fill out the paperwork. We did, and it took 5 minutes. We have the first appointment of the day at 8 AM, the doctor walked in the door at 9, we were seen at 9:30. There were 5 other people in the room by the time we were called in. We posted a negative review online and they asked us to take it down.
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u/Cool-Jacket-9837 1d ago
One time I just walked out. I was in there for almost 2 hours with zero communication