I am fed up with physicians and their lack of customer service for patients. Therefore, I am putting them and their office staff on BLAST!My appointment was at 9:00 am and I was instructed not to eat or drink anything after midnight just in case the doctor had to do a biopsy. Also, I had to bring someone with me just in case he had to administer anesthesia. I arrive 15 minutes ahead of my appointment time to complete some paper work since I was a new patient.
Well, at 9:30, my mother and I are still sitting there in the lobby, waiting. I asked the young lady at the desk how much longer would it be. She replies, "Well, the doctor is in surgery right now so it should not be too much longer". WTH? Surgery? Okay, whatever.
When 10:00 am rolled around, I approached the desk again and asked, "Is this common practice to have a patient waiting more than an hour to see the doctor?". She proceeded to dance around the question with the excuse they were very busy this morning and the doctor should be with me shortly. I said, "Well that's all fine, but you didn't answer my question. Is this common practice to keep a patient waiting so long?". "We had three patients scheduled at 8:00 am and two at 9:00 am so we're running a 'bit' behind", she responds. Are you kidding me?
**Ahem** Excuse me, but you're not running a bit behind, you overbooked patients which has resulted in me waiting over an hour to see the doctor.
When did the doctor's time become more valuable than mine?
Is it too much to ask that the office staff manage the patient's expectations by informing them at the time of sign-in of the delay? There was another patient sitting across from me whose appointment was at 8:00 am and wasn't seen until after I left. Did she say anything about her 2 hour wait? No.
Most doctors' offices will force you to reschedule if you are more than 15 minutes late for your appointment but yet you can keep me waiting for over an hour? How is that right? Why should I just accept this?
Here is a suggestion Dr. Jeffrey R. Prinsell, D.M.D., MD of Marietta, Georgia: DO NOT schedule three patients, at the same time, to see the doctor! Maybe, as a patient, I should begin billing the doctor for my time when I am not seen within a reasonable amount of time. I doubt, no, I know I will not receive a dime but I am at a loss for what else to do. If everyone spoke up and voiced their complaint to the doctor maybe, just maybe, they will begin to take note.
17 comments:
I know how frustrating this kind of thing is. It happens in Doctor's offices, Salons, Dentist. Someone has told these folks that their time is more valuable than ours. I can see this happening on occasion with a doctor in cases where he is called out on an emergency - but this seems to be standard practice and we are just expected to take it. Customer service as a whole has gone down the tubes. It's so bad that I don't even think the younger generation will know what customer service once looked like.
I've heard some refer to it as "customer NO service". I think that if more people complained to their doctors about this and wrote them a letter expressing their dissatisfaction, maybe they would take note.
Thanks for feeling my pain and for your comment!
I wrote a post about customer service a little while back. Here's the link:
http://overanalyzeit.blogspot.com/2007/07/customer-service-do-you-remember-it.html
Its not even customer service. Its the realization that obviously Im here because I think my body is falling apart and I need your help so at least treat me like a freakin' human.
I once had to have a vaginal ultrasound (I know, TMI) and was forced to wait in a makeshift lockerroom with 3 other nervous women in hospital gowns for 10 minutes an nowhere to sit.
Its NOT cute.
ps - in spite of the fact that there Im all for universal healthcare, part of the reason for this kind of treatment is the lack of a free market system in medicine. If you had the luxury of finding a doctor with better customer service you would!
AMEN - to all of it. I just blogged about my experience yesterday. Though my outcome on this particular office visit was a bit different. I've heard but not confirmed that because insurance pays the doctors so little they book many appointments at the same time to make a decent living. Not that I agree with it, it's just what I heard.
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