Exam Room waiting - is it ok to yell at them?

Question

I've gotten the typical excuses about why you need to wait so long for the Dr. to come in. But I went to a Pediatrician. (special for kids right?) and sat with my 4yr-old in the Exam room for 30 minutes and the whole time I can hear them out in the hall talking about lunch and last night's date with Tiffany.
(note to Doctors - we can hear thru that door you know...)

If the Doctor is behind schedule - then why not just leave patients in the waiting room?? why make us sit in that horrible little exam room for another 20minutes?

So - is it ok to stick your head out the door and say - Hey? Can I get some help in here or are you still pretending to be with another patient??

I would never yell in front of my kid... which is why I came to yahoo for awnsers first - so to the people who are giving me crap about parenting skills.
Shove it. This is why I am on Yahoo answers.

I have been made to wait in the tiny exam room at EVERY doctor's appt. I have ever been to. Both at specialists, the hospital ER room (esp.), and regular small mom and pop Dr. offices.

Its like the Doctors and nurses are forgetting that we are people not papers. and no - i have never gotten the chance to "hold a Dr. up" because I am always late returning to work after an appt. so I never ask anything. Maybe that is thier plan all along?

I do like the DVD idea. I am going to bring one next time.

Answer 1

I know it's hard to sit there in the exam room but I have two different points of it form a medical assistant stand point and me being a patient stand point. First from the medical assistant stand point. The reason why it takes so long for a doctor to come into an exam room is because the Insurance the doctor has for them selves encourages the doctors to see three paitents each within the same time frame. For example a patient may have an appointment at 3:00 an another patient may have a apointment at 3:15 and another patient may have an appointment at 3:30. The insurance companies want doctors to see more patients even if it is a big schedule but the doctors do it for the money because of the high price of the insurance they have to pay. THe more patients they see the less their insurance will be for them. The insurance they pay out alone is $18,000 maybe every three months. That is one reason why the doctor can be late is because of the over booking they have on patients. The next reason why the doctor is late is because may they just go back from making their rounds at the hospital. Half the time the doctor goes to the hospital first in the morning then heads oer to the office to see his/her patients. Another reason why patients are left waiting in the exam room is because sometimes nurses like to take the patients inside the exam room to take their vitals and also by taking the patients into the exam room, it relieves the overflow of the patients waiting in the witing room. That's what I did durring my internship at the doctor's office because we felt the waiting room was getting too crowded so we started putting the patients in the rooms and took their vitals or we took te patients back and took their vitals and sent them back into the exam room to wait. It's okay to ask the nurse how long it's going to be but ask in a nice way because us nurses and medical assistants are preparing other patients and doing ten million tasks at once. For example we may put the patient in the exam room then go call the pharmacy and call in perscriptions for the doctors and the patients. It helps us knowing that if we know you are waiting that will make us more easy to tell us who was first to see the doctor. The next reason could be is that the doctor is handling questions from the patient before you about their perscription and their problems they have. It's hard us healthcare professionals try to encourage our patients to ask questioons for the doctor or us. By having the patient ask questions it may help eliminate any confusions the pt. may have. We want to make sure that the patient understandes everything. From being a petient I do understand what it's like being it the waiting room because the nurse came in the the intern came in and he was not that great. He spent atleast ten minutes with me then discussed it with the doctor then came back in the intern and asked me more questions and looked at my sore throat and then left then came bck again for other questions he had then the actually doctor came in and told me I had strep throat. In total it was an hour and a hald before I could go home. When I interned at Cook County hospital we had patients waiting for three hours to see a doctor because of all the patients that needed to see a doctor. These people booked appointments but it was still along time before they had seen the doctor. I do know what it is like being in the exam room for along time from a patients stand point and a medical assistant stand point.

Medical Assistant

Answer 2

I do see your point, but doctors deserve a break during the day like anyone else.

They sometimes get behind schedule because some patients hold them up by asking question after question beyond their scheduled appointment time. That's fine, because the doctor's don't mind answering questions, but it does hold them up.

I am sure you have had an incident that you asked several questions for and you probably held someone else up. It's just the way it works. Maybe you are there for a sore throat, but the person before you might have just found out they have cancer... so try to remember that the next time you go, and also that doctors are still people and still need breaks during the day.

Oh, and I have an almost three year old, so I do know where you are coming from, this is just what I try to remember when I get frustrated!

Answer 3

I wouldn't yell at them - it's likely that they already have a pretty big patient load and are already stressed. You don't want to develop a reputation in the office as a troublesome parent. But you can tell them how you feel; just do it in as diplomatic a way as possible. Stay calm and objective. They most likely put you into an exam room because one finally became free. Let them know you can hear them through the door - confidentiality is a serious matter in any medical setting. I'd speak to the office manager and tell her that you're dissatisfied with the wait time - maybe you can give some suggestions as to what can be done to improve the situation.

Answer 4

I usually walk out to the desk and say something like "excuse me for interrupting your dinner plans, but I was wondering if I'm here on the wrong day? I've been waiting a lot longer than what is an acceptable time. Maybe the person doing the scheduling needs a little more training on spacing patients out to avoid these waits with sick children"

Answer 5

I don't see why not. Especially if you can hear them through the door being idiotic, lol. Four year olds are not exactly known for their patience, either!

The worst is when us ladies get to get into the lovely paper gown and sit there naked, barely covered by a napkin for a half hour in a freezing room! I bring in a giant, fuzzy red robe just to make a point that they are *******! Anyways.... you know what I mean.

I've actually been known to go out into the hallway in my paper gown and give them a piece of my mind... so it's up to you.

Your other option, of course, is to load yourself up with juice boxes, snack packs and a story book or a potable DVD player. That's what I do with my nephew. He's so distracted by "Happy Feet" that he doesn't even feel the shots!

Answer 6

I am with you ! There is nothing more annoying then first waiting in the waiting room then called in to the two by four room with the too bright light above your head and the door closed. Then, like you said you hear every ones business or lack of business, more personal, through the doors ! I have taken my daughter to a specialist, been put in the room to find out he is not even in the office yet !! A little common sense and compassion here ! We are not cattle !

Answer 7

If you're being left in the exam room for an hour on a regular basis (like everytime you go in) I would change doctors.
That happend to me with my old doctor. I got tired of it and switched docs, now I either don't have a wait or its no more than 20 mins. I can handle that. You should tell your docs office that that's the reason you're switching doctors.

Answer 8

Unfortunately with the HMO's reduction in both the promptness of payment and the amount of what they consider to be an average payment for such a visit, the doctors sometimes overbook or double book patients in order to make ends meet. That's not to say that all doctors do this, if you make you wait, and it's not because of an emergency with another patient, that is unfair. It is your choice to either change doctors or voice your concern over waiting so long. If it continues, my advice would be to find yourself another doctor.

That happened to me with one of my doctors. It would not just happen once (that's forgivable), but every visit until I finally changed doctors. It is your right, and there's no reason to scream. Just tell them calmly that you feel you've waited longer than you should and if it's not an emergency episode that is making the doctor, you are going to find yourself another doctor who doesn't believe in keeping their patients waiting like this. See what happens.

Answer 9

Think, what the child is seeing and feeling. It is affraid of he doctors office visit more than the pain.

Mom calm down, the child needs to fell, the doctor's office is a ood place where help is comming.

Do not create a area of verbal abuse and physicological drama is going to happen.

Stop badgering the kid. He'll or she'll never like the doctor's office the rest of their life. All, because your losing it in the doctors office. The kid, is already frighten, give your temper a rest.
It's all about attitude, yourattitude your child learns from your actions. Kids are like computers.

Answer 10

If your appt says a definite time and not one of those you will be seen after 2 and before 5 the N.H.S seems to send out, or ten patients get the same appt.
Then girl go for it without losing your temper be assertive not aggressive.