Monday, June 25, 2007

Not surprisingly, they always have 'Money' and 'Forbes' in the waiting room.

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hmmm... this would've been better represented by a pie chart! haha..

A Paperback Writer said...

This is so true. I've also found that if I take along something I really need to do (grading students' papers, for example) because I know the doctor will keep me waiting for 90 minutes, then the doctor will appear in 5 minutes. (S/he will still only spend 10 minutes with me, but at least I can avoid the magazine part of the routine.)

junebee said...

And golf magazines. Lots of old, boring golf magazines.

Unknown said...

It's inevitable, though. The doctor has the perfect queue. The patients barely ever chose to leave. There is always a next job waiting. They basically don't need to care so long as the queue is greater than zero. Similarly, think of a fast food chain: they don't particularly care if people are waiting. In fact, they prefer it. It doesn't matter to them if customers get up and leave, so long as there's still someone in the line behind them. Their only incentive to work faster is to attain greater throughput (for more money). Good customer service is just a side effect.

Alice said...

Ha...it is so true. Every once in a while there's an interesting magazine, but it's a hundred years old and falling apart, cause it's the only one anybody wants to read.

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Anonymous said...

I've worked in doctors offices before and I think they could use a little defending here. Most doctors offices do attempt to stock current and topical magazines in the waiting rooms. Unfortunately many patients will then take the magazine with them to the exam room or they are simply stolen. Theft is the reason you see some offices put the magazines in the oversized binders with clear plastic covers.

As for the long waits, yes, some doctors will spend half an hour chatting on the phone with golf buddies when there are patients waiting in exam rooms. But more than likely the doctor is on the phone with a pharmacy approving a refill request they've called in, or consulting with a specialist about other patients, or completing the charts of other patients, or if the doctor is in private practice he may be tending to something business-related like staffing, rent and so on that can't wait until after the patients have all been seen.

Another cause of problems is the patients themselves. There's a reason they're told to arrive early for the appt if they have paperwork to complete. And don't complain about the paperwork: If it weren't absolutely necessary to have you fill it out they wouldn't ask you to. (If the doctor or staff wanted to annoy you there are far more creative things they could do, trust me.) Patients who show up late will screw up a schedule as well.

Ms. Skywalker said...

And Golf Digest.

Anonymous said...

You are very much right,though we taking this in a funny note but it is really hard truth..Most of the doctors are not spending enough time with the patients(except with few patients who are really close to them),they quickly digesting and giving prescription..
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Kits said...

So trew!

Anonymous said...

AMEN TO THAT!!!

 
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