Doctors Visit Question

[flash]

How long do ya'll consider to be a reasonable wait time to see your doctor for an appointment ?

[Ms Grumpy]

I think it depends on the type of doctor that you see.

For a normal Family doctor, usually you are seen within 15-30 minutes of appointments, and you can typically get an appointment within a week. Usually Family doctors will take sick patients in between appointments.

For Specialists, I have found that you are seen within 10 minutes of appointments. But with that being said, you may have to wait for a month or more to get the appointment.

[flash]

Well I will start with my first visit to see about my eye problem a while back ,by the way Im using Kaiser Permante .I called in and described my problem to them and they wanted me to come in ASAP so I went that same day. They set me up with a regular MD (internal Med) that knew nothing about eye problems ,he told me to stop using Viseen as it was irritating my eyes .They did at least see me very promtly as I was the last patient of the day.


Three weeks pass and my eye was still driving me nuts so I call in again and they tell me I need to see a Opthomologist ASAP so we set up another appointment the next day at 1 PM and they take me back pretty quick and the nurse looks at my eye and checks my vision and says the Dr will be with me soon .4 hours later the Dr comes in and diagnoses my condition and prescribes eye drops and Im out the door to the pharmacy downstairs .By this time its after 6PM and Im exhausted but the nurse told me its not a normal day .

Because of the drops Im on I have to go back to the Dr every 2 weeks for further checkups .The next visit I only had to wait on the Dr for 2 hours after the nurse did her routine checkup.

On my last visit which was last friday my appointment was at 2:30 Pm ,I was early by 1/2 hour as Joan had Dr appointments earlier that morning .We waited for just a few minutes and was called in to the exam room like before and the nurse did her same exam and said the Dr would be with us shortly .2 hours later he walked in and I was pissed to say the least .He started talking about my next visit and I promptly told him there would be no more future visits as I was not coming back .He looked like I had slapped him when I told him my time was just as important as his and he had wasted enough of mine .He apoligised and told me some of his patients needed more time than others and he could not help it. He told me I would have to be weaned off the drops Im on slowly over the next year and I would have to be under his care in order for them to document the withdrawal from the drops .I told him I would have the next Dr forward the info if needed and he decided the nurse could do this for me at no charge since I was not willing to see him again. My eye is doing great now but I have never had to fire a Dr before but I was tired of the waiting game as it kills my back to sit in a waiting room for hours at a time .Sorry for the long post .

[FlintTony]

You have a lot more patience than I do. I would have walked out of his office after an hour on the first visit. And I would have let him know when I was on the way out, loudly voicing my displeasure with him.

[Hank70SS]

Originally Posted by FlintTony

You have a lot more patience than I do. I would have walked out of his office after an hour on the first visit. And I would have let him know when I was on the way out, loudly voicing my displeasure with him.

An hour is about my limit too. We waited close to that last week when Lynda went to a specialist for her knee. I was about ready to walk out but the appointment was for Lynda not me. I did walk out of the urologists office a few years back, not sure how long I had waited but it was obviously too long.

[flash]

I thought I was much too patient too but I had already paid my non refundable $40 co pay and was too cheap to let it go.

[shadowgray396]

Last visit I had they were over an hour behind. My doctor you can now call ahead to see how far behind they are. I like the doctor because she takes the time to talk with you and really figure out the problem rather then just rush you out of the room. For that reason along I'm willing to wait.

[71silvervelle]

I had a pterygium on my eye and went in to have it removed and sat in lobby for 3 hours. Aftwr finally getting back Iin the back sign alot of papers and mark my own x on my forehead above my eye (real comforting) I sat for another 3 hrs. Come to find out later that the were being inspeted that day by the state. Talk about crazy.

[DVSentinel]

I use the VA for my doctors. At a VA vacility, don't plan anything else the day you have a visit and bring a book.

[earthquake68]

You guys are too nice. 10 minutes and I'm complaining to somebody. I usually don't have to wait though. Average wait time is about 5 minutes to go back. Maybe another 15 minutes in the room waiting for a doctor.

I go to the VA also, and yeah. That is my only scheduled task for the day.