Waiting For The Doctor? How Long is Too Long?

"Please come 15 minutes early and check in at the front desk." Every time I hear that I always think, "15 minutes early? But, they're never on time, why should I be early?" Especially nowadays, with technology and advancements in medical care, you'd think wait times would be a thing of the past. Do you end up waiting too long for your doctor? What do you think is too long to wait?

After a short, unscientific poll, I came to the conclusion that 15 minutes is an appropriate amount of time. The national average for waiting room time while waiting for a doctor appointment is around 23 minutes. That doesn't seem so bad, right? Of course, it'd be nice if we thought that was reality. The reality of the situation is that we all have to wait for our appointment.

We wait and they make it seem like it's ok and normal. It's not. In fact, you don't have to wait. You can get up and walk out. So what should you do if you're sitting in a waiting room at the doctor's office and your appointment time has come and gone? You have choices my good, but maybe ill, friend.

1 - Get up and Walk out: You don't have to sit there. You can just simply get up and walk out of the office and not think twice. If they threaten to make you pay anything for a missed appointment, go tell them to take a flying F*&%! They were late and they should pay you for your time. Seriously, you don't owe them a damn thing if they are late.

2 - Reschedule with an ultimatum: Yep, walk up to the front desk and tell them they are late and you can't stay any longer and you'd like to reschedule. Adding to that, you should also warn them that if it happens again you'll be searching for a new physician.

3 - Give poor reviews of that office: Really it comes down to bad office management and poor client communication. You'll eventually get a questionaire about your visit. Fill it out honestly with poor grades. Yes...this is something companies look at.

4 - Get out of there and never go back: Get a new physician.

These people, and yes they are just people who spent way too much time in school and now have an attitude about it, work for you. Yes, they work for you and they don't know everything. Ask questions and most importantly, let them know you hired them and can fire them at any moment.

One more thing...the Urologists office is always an hour to two hours late. You'd think the doc would want to move that line quicker. Ewwwww.