How long would you wait...

JBR said:
One good policy & system at our nearest hospital (fairly small) is that blood work is a total\y separate stream, with a dedicated waiting room and also an adjoining room for chairs, nurses & testing. So you don't wait in a big room in the emergency section. With this system, I usually wait maybe 20 minutes to go in and sit in the chair, and I've never waited more than 45 minutes for a blood test.
Click to expand...
Not where I went. I waited in the big waiting room. I canā€™t sit for that long due to permanent tailbone breakage incidence( broke tailbone @ 16) so had to pace back and forth. Iā€™ll never do that again. It was so painful.
 

Murrmurr said:
If I wait longer than 10-15 minutes it feels like 4 hours. Wouldn't be so bad if they still had magazines or streamed something actually interesting on their TVs.

You're asked not to use the internet on your phones and tablets, but some people do it anyways, and some offices block access. Smart people bring a book. I'm not one of the smart ones. I just sit there and seethe.
Click to expand...
they don't ask us not to use the internet, just about everybody does... they used to ask for mobile phones to be turned off, but they don't any more, just as they don't on planes now either..
 
CallMeKate said:
Yes... I was told (more than once :oops:) that it could potentially interfere with some of their critical care machinery. I'd think that would be more accurate in a hospital than a doc's office, though.
Click to expand...
Itā€™s not an issue at any hospital or doctorā€™s office Iā€™ve ever been in and Iā€™ve been in plenty in the past six years. DH was in a heart clinic and hooked up to wires everywhere and they encouraged folks to use their cell phones for the internet. Some hospitals even provide wifi. It keeps the patients distracted while theyā€™re waiting.
 
Jules said:
Itā€™s not an issue at any hospital or doctorā€™s office Iā€™ve ever been in and Iā€™ve been in plenty in the past six years. DH was in a heart clinic and hooked up to wires everywhere and they encouraged folks to use their cell phones for the internet. Some hospitals even provide wifi. It keeps the patients distracted while theyā€™re waiting.
Click to expand...
yes in our hospitals , as an In-patient you can get wi-fi for free
 
Since I usually take an Uber or Lyft to my doctors I'd wait however long it took because I wouldn't want to have to reschedule. Once at my eye doctor's office, I was waiting an awful long time for the tech to get me for the visual field test. I swear I was in that office a total of 3 hours. I complained to my eye doctor about it. It's an eye group with other doctors and sometimes gets terribly busy. About six moths ago, they got backed up for the visual fields again because one of the machines was broken. My son and I had joint appointments and we told the doctor we'd have to get it done next time because we had waited too long already.

I used to get annoyed at the long wait at my PCP's office. Then I realized it's because he takes as much time with his other patients as he takes with me, so I got over it. I quickly nixed my thoughts of finding another doctor because my PCP is wonderful.
 
Last edited:
officerripley said:
That sort of happened with one of my doctors; I guess she walked in one morning and told those poor gals who worked in the office, "I'll do the appointments I have for today but cancel tomorrow's and any others. I quit!'
Click to expand...
Luckily he left me with an eight month supply of medication if I wanted it. We had to wait 2 years because we found another doctor. Did you find another doctor when yours retired?
 
debodun said:
...in a medical professional's waiting room to see them before you'd say something? One time I had to wait almost 4 and a half hours to see my retinal surgeon. When I asked, the answer was that they were triple booked with only two doctors there since one was called away on an emergency. That was the worst, but they always seem to be 1 to 1.5 hours behind appointment schedules. Other doctor's offices are almost as bad. What is it with them?
Click to expand...
If it were urgent, I'd probably wait up to 90 minutes. But 4 hours?! Only if I was about to suffer harm and I knew I could not get another appointment for 4-6 months.
 
I agree, that is crazy long. The ophthalmologist MD office I go to is a mad house. In one room, wait, into another, wait. At the end, see the MD.

I agree, if they were that behind, calling people and cancelling/rescheduling non emergent appointments would be the best. However, if someone had an emergency and it was myself with the emergency, I'd be grateful for the immediate care.

When I had the carpel tunnel surgery, I showed up and they had me come back later. The surgeon had an emergency. Someone had broke their arm falling off a ladder. They had tried to call but I had already left since I show up early for stuff like that.
 
It seems to be an issue of popn size and services. I've lived in big cities and had similar experiences - I know live in deep rural with small hospital/ primary health care unit/mental health team etc etc - I have three sources of transport if needed and the longest wait I have for a doc downwards is 20mins? now go figure that out? oh popn size is 3-4000? however getting an appointment and flying to nearest city is a very long wait unless you are near to death and then we do have the flying doctor service still. God I love living in the countryside
 
I used to go to a wonderful, caring doctor who was in practice with her father. I think most of their records were still in paper files. She had the bedside manner of an old-school doctor and would often ask me about my travels and my pets. She was delightful, but she never really went over my records in a concise manner. She would say things like "you are going to live to be 100 based on your results."

Most of her patients were elderly and simply wanted to chat, and because she spent so much time with them I would often wait an hour and a half after my appointment was scheduled.

One day I was sitting in a room waiting for her and heard her father shooting the breeze with another patient when there were patients waiting in the lobby. After a 2 hour wait, I told the front desk I was done and would look for another doctor. Her assistant took me into a room and asked me to please stay with her as a patient. I was working at the time and told her my time was valuable and I was done.

I found another doctor who sees me on time. He is prompt and concise. Although we chat briefly about life because we are similar in age, he goes over the results of my physical in each category and simply tells me what is good and what I need to improve.

There is absolutely no reason to continue seeing a doctor that makes you wait for a considerable amount of time. "Fire" them, just as you would anyone who is inefficient or who doesn't respect your time.
 
A different perspective.

I work in a doctors surgery.

Unfortunately emergencies do happen and some appointments do take longer than expected. And doctors do get held up doing hospital rounds or nursing home visits before surgery hours.
And people want doctors who are thorough - which means they are thorough with other people too and that takes time.

I think it best to come prepared and bring your phone, book, crosswords, knitting etc.

Have not heard of people being told not to use their phones ( on their own internet) but I guess it is possible that interferes with some equipment in hospitals. Not an issue in GP arena.
You could surely still use your phone on flight mode though, like you do on planes?
 
jujube said:
Dressed in a glorified paper towel and freezing to death, I'll bet.......

I love it when they pride themselves on "being on time"......assuming you consider "being on time" being called to the back only 15 minutes after your appointment time and then getting to wait at least another half hour sitting in the exam room.
Click to expand...
I just recently had a 6 hour wait in emergency for a lump in my neck I am concerned about. I called my doctors office and a triage nurse suggested emergency. All I wanted to do schedule a new appointment since mine was 3 months away. After 6 hours, I was told to contact my primary doctor. What a shame and waste of time.
 
Oldeagle66 said:
I just recently had a 6 hour wait in emergency for a lump in my neck I am concerned about. I called my doctors office and a triage nurse suggested emergency. All I wanted to do schedule a new appointment since mine was 3 months away. After 6 hours, I was told to contact my primary doctor. What a shame and waste of time.
Click to expand...
Next time reschedule. Pull your britches up and stand your ground. I finally called for an appointment yesterday and the scheduler told me to go to ER with fall related issues. Two minutes later I had an appointment at a time convenient for me.
 
debodun said:
In April, I went to an urgent care place for a leg pain. It was like 5 am and not a car in the patient's parking lot. No one in the patient waiting area either. I thought I'd be taken right in - wrong. Still a 45 minute wait to see anyone. Explain that....
Click to expand...
There is a lot going on behind the scenes. You complained about pain but there was no imminent medical emergency.
 
Twostep said:
Next time reschedule. Pull your britches up and stand your ground. I finally called for an appointment yesterday and the scheduler told me to go to ER with fall related issues. Two minutes later I had an appointment at a time convenient for me.
Click to expand...
I did, that's how I got out. it's the VA on a holiday schedule.
 
debodun said:
In April, I went to an urgent care place for a leg pain. It was like 5 am and not a car in the patient's parking lot. No one in the patient waiting area either. I thought I'd be taken right in - wrong. Still a 45 minute wait to see anyone. Explain that....
Click to expand...

a few possibilities - they are short staffed, ER staff at night have been assisting i n wards or elsewhere, somebody else was being attended to in an emergency situation , therefore not in the waiting room for you to see

45 minute wait for a non emergency doesn't seem unreasonable to me.
 

You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top