I arrived at my doctor appointment this afternoon, in a slight rush as traffic held us up a little. I am the type of person who shows up five to ten minutes early, regardless the appointment type, and considering that things typically never move fast here at The University of Iowa Hospitals & Clinics, I try to get get here even earlier. So being right in time today caused a bit of irritation, and I rushed so fast from the parking ramp to get to the clinic, I almost left my wife behind.
Normally, a visit to the orthopedic clinic is a quick one for me by University standards, but after my mad dash to get checked in for my appointment I find that my doctor is running forty-five minutes behind; yes 45. I felt like an ass for rushing my wife, still do. I guess I get to be a typical patient today and wait. At any rate, I guess it was forty-five minutes to start writing this post, I guess!
Why am I writing about waiting at the doctor's office?
Get over it, right?
Everyone has to wait, big deal. That's just the way it is.
Well, it is a big deal, isn't it? I mean, isn't the while point of scheduling an appointment to agree for two parties to be in the same place at the SAME time? And what happens if you are late to a doctors appointment - you are either shit out of luck or they will try to "work you in" to their schedule that now has a gap in it since you were late.
Why is that acceptable? I understand stuff comes up, some patients need more attention, and sometimes time just goes by too quickly. However, why squeeze in the appointments, typically every fifteen minutes, if you can't keep the appointments?
Why is my time so much less important that it is okay for me to sit around and wait? Why is it okay for me to take time off of work for a fifteen minute appointment, yet I get to spend my vacation time waiting in a doctor's office on a beautiful spring day?
Now, don't get me wrong, I love my doctors. They are friendly, personable and good doctors. I understand it is not their fault they are forced to squeeze in thirty minutes of patient care in to fifteen; it's the system they limited by that Is broke. It's the bean counters and pencil pushers who decide how little time a doctor should spend with a patient. That is the root of the problem, no doubt. But, do these bean counters and pencil pushers realize what they are doing? Nope. And they won't until they fall ill, or a loved one, and have to come to repeated appointments and be forced to wait.
I must acknowledge this is not merely an issue in health care, but much more wide spread. This corporate mentality is damaging to not only patients/customers, but employees as well. How frantic were the nurses ribbing around today, trying to help the doctor keep/catch up? Too frantic. Why force all this stress on people, everyday?
Oh right: the almighty bottom line. Silly me.
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