What do you think of this scenario?

[Clare]

Two people are waiting at the dr's office. One was on time for her 12.45pm appointment and has been waiting for 15 minutes already.The other just arrived 45 minutes late for her 12.15pm appointment. Who do you think should see the dr first?

[Girlo]

The person who arrived on time definitely. :nod: 45 minutes late is absurd!! I'm a late-runner by nature and am ALWAYS about 5 minutes late everywhere. :heee: However.....I expect to suffer whatever consequences will come as a result. If that means waiting somewhere a little longer because someone who was on time/early was there first - so be it! If I were ever 45 minutes late for something, I would expect to have my appt rescheduled, to tell you the truth. I'd be grateful that they'd be able to get me in at all.

I hope this isn't a true-life scenario for you, Clare. That you were the on-time person...and were stinkholed by someone who was that late getting in before you and making you wait longer......

[Michal]

I know it seems fair to have the person who was there on time go first, but I have been in that situation before and I know that they always give the person who had the earlier appointment priority, unfortunately.

[Clare]

I hope this isn't a true-life scenario for you, Clare. That you were the on-time person...and were stinkholed by someone who was that late getting in before you and making you wait longer......

Bingo :rolleyes: Sam had a 12.45pm appt and we arrived on time. I heard the receptionist make a phone call and tell someone that they had missed their 12.15pm appt. The person obviously forgot and said they'd come down now. She arrived at 1pm and when the dr was ready at 1.10pm, she called her in in front of me.I was so pissed off :complain: because it was clear that I had a very sick child with me. He's dehydrated from the gastro and was all lethargic and throwing up, yet they let her go in first. AND she had booked a double appt which is 30 minutes so I would have to wait at least another half an hour :mad: I complained to the receptionist and she said "well her appt was before yours" :rolleyes: Yes but she arrived 15 minutes after me!! They got me in to see a different dr, but I was still pissed.

[Girlo]

Are you farking kidding me???? They had to CALL her to remind her that she had an appt...while you were sitting there....and you still had to wait for her to drive in....and then wait until her appt was over???? :furious: No freaking way.

I hope little Sam left them lots of extra cleaning to do in the lobby. :devil:

[Michal]

Oh that's awful! I can't believe they called her to come in while you were there waiting!!

[pam]

I would have been pissed, too! I've seen the practice of taking people in order based on time of appointment but don't agree with it, especially in cases such as this. They should be looking at the reason that you are there in the first place. Also, if the other patient can't even remember an appointment, how important is it that they get taken ahead of you anyway?

[mama]

My experience is that you get call in the order you arrive to the office

[MrsPeacefrog]

Our Dr used to call in order to how you arrived, but has recently changed it so that you get called in order of your appointment irrelevant of arriving, but if you aren't there in time for your appointment then you have to wait till everyone that is in the waiting room has been seen.

I would be making an official complaint about that, Clare! it is absurd!!!

[MrsPeacefrog]

Oh, how rude of me. How is Sam btw?

[Cami]

I hope he's better now! That totally sucks and I'd be pissed. I've seen that happen though and it makes me mad every time. The late person should expect to have to wait. If people were actually standing in line, the person wouldn't be allowed to push ahead to the front. Although I can imagine people trying to do that. :rolleyes:


But what about this scenario:

Person A arrives at 12:10 for a 12:30 appointment.
Person B arrives at 12:15 for a 12:20 appointment.

Who should go first?

[schwanda]

That stinks!
We call pts in the order in which they arrive.

Amanda

[MrsPeacefrog]

Cami: For me personally I don't think it should matter who got there first, it should be in order of appointment. But if the appointment time has come and gone and someone was late, then the person who WAS on time for their appointment should go first irrelevant of who was booked first.

[sheila]

Wow, that is bad, Clare! Our ped will cancel an appointment if you show up 20 minutes late and charge you $25. I hope Sam is feeling better!

Cami, in your scenario, I think the earlier appointment should go first.

[Melissa]

I hope Sam is feeling better!

That is rediculous! The receptionist should have said to the person on the phone, "I'm sorry, but your appointment time has already passed, but I'll be happy to reschedule you for XYZ."

[Bev]

First, I can't believe the office called her to remind her to come in.

Second, when she arrived and they called her ahead of me, you can bet your ass I'd be complaining very loudly about it. (I actually had a drop in appt one time, they said they'd squeeze Mason in, and he was vomitting in the waiting room and 2 patients told me they'd let me take their appt and they would wait to be squeezed in! :hb: How nice!)

Third, I would definitely have said something to the Doctor and the Receptionist about it. If you don't care enough about your appt. to show up, they should not be calling you and then taking you ahead of the people who actually want to see the doctor.

I hope Sam is doing better! :getwell:

I was at the OB office one time and this obnoxious woman (I hated having appts the same day as her because she was loud and complaining all the time; she was pissed once when I was called to u/s before her because though we arrived at the same time, my appt. was earlier) arrived and checked in which she complained about that process. You stand in front of the frosted glass and then they'll open the window to check you in. They don't want you knocking on the glass or anything and they CAN see you.

Then she proceeded to complain to the packed waiting room that she was 15 minutes late for her appt and how dare the Doctor be running behind. :wtf: You've got a nerve! Maybe he's delivering a baby! Isn't that what you want? I'd wait all stinkin' day or re-schedule if I knew he was off taking care of another patient having a baby. I'd want him to drop everything to deliver my baby if he had to, so I don't care if he does it for someone else.

They made her wait because the rest of us were on time. :devil:

[Missy&Maggie]

If one of my patients is more than 15 minutes late, most often I ask them to reschedule. If the situation that Cami describes happens then I take the patients in the order of their appointments. I try my best to run on time in my office, unfortunately many patients show up 5, 10, 15 minutes late for their appointments and it throws off the day.

[Jayne]

Our office has a 30 minute policy. Your 30 minutes late..your charged and you make a new appointment.

That said I have waited over an hour for my appointment and I hate that. I also agree that you should have been seen first :hug99: I hope that Sam is doing better :hug99:

[Alysia]

Oh that royally bites, Clare! If that had been my doctor's office they would have made the other lady reschedule.

[Jillian]

The person who is there for the 12:45 appointment.

If you are more than 15 minutes late for an appt. at our pediatrician and it is NOT an emergency appointment you don't get seen. If it is an emergency they will try to work you in, but not throw up their schedule too much! Well, of course if it is truly an emergency you'd get seen immediatly no matter what...they call same day sick appointments emergency appointments for whatever reason.

[Missy&Maggie]

Well... it is 1:22 and my 1pm appointment just showed up. My 1:15 is not here, what do I do?

[Jillian]

But what about this scenario:

Person A arrives at 12:10 for a 12:30 appointment.
Person B arrives at 12:15 for a 12:20 appointment.

Who should go first?


I think in this scenario the person with the 12:20 appointment should go first. Just cause you get there first doesn't mean you should get to go first...if that was the case I'd start showing up for our 11:00 appointments when they open at 9!

[Jillian]

Well... it is 1:22 and my 1pm appointment just showed up. My 1:15 is not here, what do I do?


Wow, that's not fun at all... I guess take the 1pm appointment...

[schwanda]

My patients tend to be late. If I'm not super far behind, I try to see them. I mostly see uninsured and medicaid patients so there are lots of social issues. I worry that if I don't see them, they may not come back! The clinic takes the patients in the order they come, NOT based on appt time. I don't totally agree with that but I'm not in charge!

Amanda

[Karri]

I hope Sam is ok, Clare :hug99: and that just sucks :complain: That person should have to wait until someone is free IF someone even has the chance to be free...or reschedule. That is how my Dr's office would do it!

Cami...first appt first. As long as you're on time, the first appt shoudl go first.

[Melissa in Italy]

Clare I think you should have been seen first. Since the 12:15 appt didn't show, they should have had an "empty" slot, why couldn't they slip you into it, KWIM? I think it's outrageous that they didn't make her reschedule.

Cami - I also say 1st appt goes 1st.

In all my experiences with different OB/GYNs I find that they usually run far behind schedule. I currently wait no less than 30 minutes past my appt time to see the Dr., and with my most recent appt I waited 1 1/2 hours past appt time. I have on occasion mused that maybe they should pay us for our time just like they charge us for their time when we run late/don't show. But I am more willing to make the concession for an OB/GYN because you never know if you are waiting because they are off delivering a baby... and I really like my doctor.

[Clare]

I used to not mind waiting at the OB's office. Sometimes it was a PITA,especially when I had the other kids with me, but as Bev said I would want him to keep his appts waiting to deliver my baby, so I was prepared to wait to see him.

This drs office isn't a ped, it's a General Practice. The woman that went in before me had the appt for herself, she didn't have a sick child with her. And it was her first time there, b/c when she arrived she had to fill in all the paperwork and sign the privacy statement etc. So that burns me up too, that they took a new patient in over us, who have been with them for 6 years.

When I was leaving, the receptionist made a big deal of speaking to all the people in the waiting room saying things like "you're next" and "not long now". I think she was trying to prove to me that they don't just leave people waiting, or something like that :rolleyes:

Thanks for the well wishes for Sam :) He finally peed a couple of hours after the disastrous drs visit so I didn't have to take him to hospital to be rehydrated :) He seems much better this morning, but Harry is worse now :(

[Kristen]

Have her take the appointment and then go do something to her car.

:chainsaw:

[Eleanor]

At our office, if some one shows up 30 minutes early for a 12:45, and some one shows up right on time for their 12:30- the person who had the 12:30 will usually get to go back first (unless I'm running ahead of schedule- then the 12:45 will probably be in a room before the 12:30 gets there :) ). If someone's late though, IF we see them, they get put back in the order they arrive. And it makes for lots of unhappiness all around- the early people wonder why they're sitting there longer, the people who are late wonder, if it's already after their appointment time, why didn't they get put back immediately all the time. Just goes to show, you can't please all the people all the time :shrug:

In your situation, Clare, I absolutely think you should have been called back first. (We also usually try to get throwing up people out of the waiting room ASAP! :) )

[Bev]

In your situation, Clare, I absolutely think you should have been called back first. (We also usually try to get throwing up people out of the waiting room ASAP! :) )
That day when I had Mason there and he was vomitting in the garbage can, the lady who offered to switch appointments went and bought him a bottle of water since I hadn't brought one with me. She was SO nice. Then just before we went in I heard the Doc reaming out the office staff for not putting him in right away. She said a sick baby/child gets to jump the queue. :)

[bunybomb]

The woman that went in before me had the appt for herself, she didn't have a sick child with her. And it was her first time there, b/c when she arrived she had to fill in all the paperwork and sign the privacy statement etc. So that burns me up too, that they took a new patient in over us, who have been with them for 6 years.

When I was leaving, the receptionist made a big deal of speaking to all the people in the waiting room saying things like "you're next" and "not long now". I think she was trying to prove to me that they don't just leave people waiting, or something like that :rolleyes:



This is total bullshit Clare. 6 years with the same doc...I would complain directly to your doctor or I would seek out another doc just because of this crap. Receptionists like this have no business being in health care.

[Clare]

Receptionists like this have no business being in health care.

I definitely blame the receptionist, not the dr. I love my dr and wouldn't dream of leaving him. Unfortunately I couldn't get an appt with him that day, so had been scheduled to see someone else. I think she was surprised that I wasn't next as well, b/c when she came out to call the next patient, she gave me a puzzled look when the other woman got up. I think she was expecting to call us next and was surprised that I was still waiting. So it was the receptionist who put the woman in in front of me, not the dr.

[MrsPeacefrog]

Even more reason to complain about the situation directly to your Dr! I am still pissed off about this for you! it's just a disgrace!

[Nichole]

That is total crap! :complain:

I agree, I'd definitely complain about the receptionist. :nod: The doctor(s) aren't going to know how bad it is if no one tells them, and they could start losing patients if they don't fix the problem.

[gulp!]

Get that receptionist in trouble, Clare! :furious: That's utterly ridiculous.

[Silke]

I agree, that is ridiculous. The doctor might not even know what's going on. Let them know, they might lose a patient.

[Lyoshka]

Clare, I clearly agree with everyone. You should have been taken next, and I would bring it up to the dr him/herself directly.

[Jeni]

That's too bad that that happened, but I honestly don't think Drs (most) care anymore and usually double book anyway

[Mandi]

Sam should have been taken in first, for sure! Wow I'd have been pissed. Did you mention it to the Dr? Maybe s/he isn't aware that the staff is handling situations like that the way they do.

[Clare]

No, I haven't seen my dr yet. When I complained, they sent us in to see a different one. She's new and isn't the best at communication (read:doesn't speak English too well) so I didn't see the point in complaining to her. I will mention it to my dr next time I see him though :nod: