witzend
Well-Known Member
Am I the only one who is pretty disgusted with doctor's offices setting your appointment and then demanding that you show up anywhere from 10 to 30 minutes early "to register"?
I was not happy last week when I went for my tri-annual and the call came that I was supposed to show up at 9:50 the next day for my 10:00 appointment. Sure, they got me right into the room. Then I sat in my paper gown on the table (sitting on the table is incredibly painful for me as I need back support) for 25 minutes waiting for the doctor.
Now, husband has a bone spur in his heel that is very painful. He already has a podiatrist, and I've been bugging him for weeks to make the appointment. He didn't, so I finally did. (Yes, it's enabling, but he enables me to eat so I figure I shouldn't complain.) They set his appointment for 10/15, "show up at 2:00 for your 2:30 appointment." Huh? Well, he needs to update his paperwork. I told them to mail it to us and he would fill it out in advance. She told me that was fine, and that he should show up 15 minutes in advance so that they could put the paperwork into his file.
I know that their overhead is high, and that they charge a lot of money for their time, but why do they figure that their time is more valuable to them than ours is to us? You figure at least 30 minutes to drive to and 30 minutes to drive from the appointment. At least 30 minutes for weight, b/p, patient history, and finally the doctor's consult. That alone is an hour and a half out of your day. Plus they want you to sit in their waiting room for half an hour? Are they really going to be seeing us steadily from the moment that our appointment time starts? I think not.
This is fairly new here to us, and I generally ignore it. But 30 minutes is downright abusive. Am I wrong?
I was not happy last week when I went for my tri-annual and the call came that I was supposed to show up at 9:50 the next day for my 10:00 appointment. Sure, they got me right into the room. Then I sat in my paper gown on the table (sitting on the table is incredibly painful for me as I need back support) for 25 minutes waiting for the doctor.
Now, husband has a bone spur in his heel that is very painful. He already has a podiatrist, and I've been bugging him for weeks to make the appointment. He didn't, so I finally did. (Yes, it's enabling, but he enables me to eat so I figure I shouldn't complain.) They set his appointment for 10/15, "show up at 2:00 for your 2:30 appointment." Huh? Well, he needs to update his paperwork. I told them to mail it to us and he would fill it out in advance. She told me that was fine, and that he should show up 15 minutes in advance so that they could put the paperwork into his file.
I know that their overhead is high, and that they charge a lot of money for their time, but why do they figure that their time is more valuable to them than ours is to us? You figure at least 30 minutes to drive to and 30 minutes to drive from the appointment. At least 30 minutes for weight, b/p, patient history, and finally the doctor's consult. That alone is an hour and a half out of your day. Plus they want you to sit in their waiting room for half an hour? Are they really going to be seeing us steadily from the moment that our appointment time starts? I think not.
This is fairly new here to us, and I generally ignore it. But 30 minutes is downright abusive. Am I wrong?