"You never know what is behind door #2..."
The frustrations of the waiting room, and why doctors are late. Dr. Rod Moser blogs at WebMD:
People are complex. When you schedule a woman for a routine pap smear, this is what you are planning to do. However, when you enter the room, you are faced with a crying, depressed individual in a paper gown. Clearly, a pap smear is not her main issue today. You patiently listen to her version of the divorce and custody issues, and what a bastard her husband is, or how she may lose her job. You wait and you listen. Tactfully, you try and look at your watch, but you always get caught. Sometimes, you will decide to triage - take care of the situational depression first, rescheduled the pap. Sometimes, and more likely, you do both. This is a 45 minute visit (at least).(Don't miss the comment thread.)
Out in your waiting room, people are stirring. They are making quick arrangements for people to pick up their kids at school, or cancelling other appointments. They are waiting and people HATE to wait (even though we call it a WAITING ROOM!). And, I understand that they are ticked. I hate to wait, too.
My next patient has been waiting a nearly an hour in the room. I don't want to go in there, but this is my job. My first goal is to defuse the angry. I apologize for the wait, acknowledge their anger for being inconvenienced. 'I am sorry that you had to wait today. I had an unanticipated medical crisis that took more of my time than anticipated. Sometimes, people's medical problems take more than just 15 minutes. I hope that you understand. Someday, YOU will need more time, and I hope the people that have to wait for YOU will be understanding as well. So, how can I help you today?' We both smile, tensions have released, and we complete the visit. As I exit the door, I hear, 'Oh, by the way...'"
posted by 
6 Comments:
I think our society has gotten to be much to focused on time. We are a clock-watching society, everything revolves around the clock. The !Kung! people (shown in the movie "The Gods Must Be Crazy") have a much better way of spending time with people. If it is a social interaction they approach and talk...NO ONE else approaches the ones talking until they are clearly finished, that would be considered extremely rude. If they need to see the healer, they approach and sit down. They wait. And wait. When it is their turn, someone else waits. They will wait days if need be and not even question the wait, it is obvious to them that someone else had something more pressing than they and the health of the group as a whole is more important than the individual. Of course our society could never be like that, but it does sound nice at times. Personally, I don't mind waiting for my GP or my Pdoc...if they could be on time, they would, they don't want to be stuck at the office after hours any more than I do.
Sera
My previous physician was always notoriously off schedule. So...I would book as the last appointment of the day, take my crochet or the latest book I was reading and relax for the 60-90 minutes it took me to get seen. Heck, it was the only peaceful time I had in the day!
And...he spent just as much time with me as needed.
Also: the last person in the world who is going to complain about a wait time is an ER nurse! We've been there!
Hmmm...sounds like my office...
When you hear all the crap about "computerizing medicine" of the future for "efficiency", it is because people forget that doctors are supposed to be healers...
As for the liquid Nitrogen in the previous comment: the stuff evaporates, and it is embarassing to say: Well, it was here yesterday...
When I go to the doctor's office I expect to wait. However, to the nurse who got me all set up for a pelvic, I appreciate that you want to try and speed things along by having me all ready, but PLEASE make sure the doc is coming in the near future, it gets real drafty.
I don't mind waiting, because my doc is worth waiting for. What irks me is when the front desk knows perfectly well he is running 2 hours behind schedule and they don't say a word about any delays.
Whew! I've never seen a comment thread as long or as spirited as that one over at Dr Moser! Seems like someone touched a nerve!
Post a Comment
<< Home