What is an acceptable wait time in a doctors office?

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xX_kiba_Xx

New member
My parents go to a Dr. and when I'm in town I go with them. The least amount of time they wait is 2 hours! Most of the time they are there for a total of 3 hours! I have been there when 3 of her patients have just walked out. It just outrages me. My parents are elderly and I don't feel it's right to make them wait that long. Actually I don't feel anybody should have to wait that long. I'm working on them finding another doctor - but they don't like change.
The longest I've ever had to wait is an hour - that's do-able.
 
I went to my OB/GYN for an 11am appointment. Was taken back to the farthest exam room from the waiting room and doc's offices. Got into my johnny and on the table waiting....and waiting...and waiting. It got very quiet so I went to investigate(in the johnny). It was 1pm and there was no one there. They had all gone out to lunch except for one girl answering the phones and she was doing so from the break room. Even the docs weren't in their offices. They had forgotten I was there.

Needless to say, I dressed and left and found a new OB/GYN.:dizzy:
 
that's unacceptable.....in the future, why not phone ahead and ask them if they're on schedule......tell them if they're running behind, you'll gladly come a little bit later.....(make it sound like you're doing them a favor)
the arrogance of some doctors offices appalls me.....
 
When scheduling an appointment, ask for a day that you can be either the first appointment in the morning, or the first appointment after lunch. You may have to wait a bit if the doctor does hospital calls and got hung up at the hospital, but it shouldn't be nearly as long as you've been waiting. Sometimes it's just unavoidable, and the doctors are not happy about being behind either.

Forgetting you completely is unacceptable. They should have a system set up for checking off each patient as they check out.
 
Have to agree with making appointments first thing in the morning. That gives less chance of delay due to the doctor taking too long with previous patients, or having to deal with urgent cases who walk in at random times. Similar to scheduling commercial airline flights where the first flight of the morning tends to have the lowest chance of delay.

Also, if blood work is to be done after an overnight fast, doing the appointment first thing in the morning makes it more convenient to do it then instead of making another trip later to do the blood work.

Two hour delays on a regular basis are definitely unacceptable, though. Also, any time the delay is more than about 15 minutes or so, the staff should inform the patient.
 
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