Public Relations for Doctors
Posted December 13, 2006 by Margie Zable FisherStay with me through the story, folks. It’s not just a venting session (although that always feels good). There is a P.R. moral.
One of my goals is to get a new pediatrician for my daughter. I have now stepped up my efforts, due to a recent frustrating experience.
Yesterday morning we waited an hour to see the head of the practice at our pediatrician’s office. It was even more upsetting than normal, because my daughter had been to the Emergency Room the day before and the ER doctor personally called the head of our pediatric practice and set up an appointment with him for yesterday morning.
And as my daughter has pneumonia, she wasn’t really happy about waiting an hour. And as her parents who haven’t slept much during the last few days, we weren’t happy either.
We usually wait at least 45 minutes at the pediatrician’s office. But I’m not happy about it, which is one of the reasons I’m looking for a new pediatrician.
But it’s not just the pediatrician’s office that makes us wait. It seems like waiting times for doctors on the whole (at least from my experience) are longer. I’m sure many doctors would say it has to do with managed care, but I think that’s a lame excuse.
I had bragged to friends about the short waiting time for my internist (less than 10 minutes). Then a few weeks ago I needed to see her. After waiting for 30 minutes, I asked if the doctor had an emergency, since I had never waited so long. The receptionist growled (no kidding) an answer: “She’s seeing her other patients, that’s what she’s doing.” Wow, that was helpful.
I often think of meeting potential clients or vendors, and the waiting time involved. Five minutes or less means on time to me, since clocks and watches can be a few minutes off. Ten to fifteen minutes is a little late. But after fifteen minutes, you start entering the danger zone of seriously ticking off the person who’s waiting for you.
I think 15 minutes or less is a reasonable time to wait for a doctor.
So I’ve decided to ask all potential doctors, including pediatricians, the following questions before considering them:
- What is your average patient waiting room time?
- What is an acceptable amount of time that people should wait (assuming no doctor emergencies)?
- Do you call patients if there is an emergency or other major time issue that will make the doctor very late (yes, this happened once, from a receptionist to a gynecologist I had in New Jersey many years ago).
I hope I find some that meet the 15 minute or less rule.
And here’s the P.R. Moral: A great P.R. opportunity for doctors would be to let people know that they have short waiting times, and that they actually monitor and care about patient waiting times. I’ve never seen this message promoted, but I hope some savvy doctors agree with it and mean it. And I hope they are located in the Boca Raton, FL area, so we can be your patients.
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Margie, Great questions. As a doctor, I agree wait times shouldn’t be more than 15 minutes past your appointment time. But perhaps more important, what is the experience you have with the doctor. That is, is she worth the wait? When I am in the room with a patient (I see 3 patients per hour), they have my full attention without any distractions. If someone comes in for a routine visit and a new issue comes up (not uncommon in my oncology practice),should I address it then or reschedule the patient to not keep the next person waiting? I think you would agree with the former being the better choice. If on the other hand you feel like you get the bum’s rush when you see the doctor, then you have a bigger issue to address.
As for your situation, your case was the morning after an ER visit when you were probably added into a full schedule already. It is not common in a practice to leave appointments unfilled “just in case”. There are some offices that have a “drop in” program that they claim works (you can search at medscape.com for details), but this can be hard to sustain if you have an office staff and it is ,quite frankly, a business to try to run successfully.
Finally I care about my patients time, I try to make their visits prompt, worthwhile and valuable. If that is not what you sense, keep looking for another pediatrician.
Walt S.
Margie:
I couldn’t agree with your more on your assessment and frustration. I too often have similar experiences when I visit my internist. But because he gives me so much time when I do see him, I tend to overlook his tardiness. It has become the nature of the beast in medicine.
As you are aware, rarely do patients wait more than 5 minutes in my practice. Why, because I only schedule one at a time and I don’t see another until I am finished with the prior patient. If a situation occurs that will force us to run behind more than 15 minutes, we will call our patients and advise them, as well as give them their options. Are you caught as a victim in the HMO/PPO wheel? Maybe! But that is the status of medicine today. I often tell my patient with regards to insurance that you get what you pay for. If you are purchasing a TV you can get a Goldstar, a RCA or a Sony. All three will give you color television, but the quality of the picture will most definitely vary depending upon how much you pay for each set. As we have experienced with regard to insurance in our practice is how much you value the service being provided to you or would you rather allow your insurance carrier to be make decisions for overall health.
Such is the world with insurance with regards to service. Unfortunately and trying not to be negative but in today’s world of medicine you are probably going to have a tough time finding a practice that will consistently meet the criteria you are desiring.
How long is a “reasonable” amount of time to wait for an appointment…10 minutes is not unreasonable in my mind.
A great Blog on your part that truly sparks an emotional and important subject. Thanks for your thoughts!
Ken Mogell
Yes doctor office should be more upfront about wait times. So if you have a 10am appointment when you can call to find out how many 9am appointments are still waiting. That’s the kind of thing I want to know. However having said this it should be said that waiting for the doctor is far different than waiting for hamburgers at McDonald’s. I wouldn’t assume the doctor is lazy as the reason you couldn’t see him sooner. For one thing perhaps the doctor is waiting on lab results. For reasons of patient confidentiality the staff may only be allowed to tell you the doctor is seeing other patients. Yes some doctors are slower than others but slow may be better if this helps them be more thorough. You might prefer that over speed. The acceptable time to wait is whatever is tolerable for you based on the level of your illness and your other time committments.