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how long do you usually wait to see your doctor?

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I always request the first appointment of the day when going to the doctor or dentist. That keeps wait times low.
 
I haven't been to a doctor since 1998 and I do not plan on going to see a doctor for at least another 20 years. They don't really know anything or fix anything or care, they just want your money.
 
Get called back after 5-10 minutes.

Nurse takes my BP and all that stuff.

5 minutes later a PA shows up.

5 minutes later doc comes in.

My doc trains a lot of people, so it works out really well. The PA's do all the grunt work and he pretty much just comes in to say hi and write RX's.
 
yinan said:
I haven't been to a doctor since 1998 and I do not plan on going to see a doctor for at least another 20 years. They don't really know anything or fix anything or care, they just want your money.
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that's gotta be one of the dumbest things I've ever read in ATOT
 
yinan said:
I haven't been to a doctor since 1998 and I do not plan on going to see a doctor for at least another 20 years. They don't really know anything or fix anything or care, they just want your money.
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even if you aren't sick getting looked at every few years is a good idea. lots of things dont show symptoms until its to late
 
Regular doc is about 10-15 minutes.

Orthopedic surgeon I went to was 1 hour in waiting room and another 20-30 minutes once in the room. Really hated going to see him.
 
manimal said:
Your time is free. The doctors is not.
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Wrong. His time is also valuable.

OP, an hour is a long wait, but you aren't going to ever get an office to give you the courtesy of showing up just before the doctor is ready to come into the exam room.

I appreciate a wait of 30 mins or less and then I start to get antsy. My time is important too. If I have to wait an hour or more every time I go in I will speak to them and ask if there is another way to arrange my appt so that this won't happen again.
 
When I go in I usually try to get a late afternoon appointment so I don't have to miss much work time. I know that the later in the day you go the farther behind the Dr. will be. That said, I also know when I go in they're going to take blood and do some tests before I get to see the Doc anyway. I usually spend 5-10 minutes in the waiting room, then 5-10 minutes before they come take blood pressure, and blood sample, then 15-20 minutes to get the results. After a few more minutes the Doc will come in and tell me how the tests went and we talk about what I'm doing and what I should be doing. Usually about an hour, all total.
 
I've seen enough doctors in my lifetime, so I tend to give them a lot of slack when it comes to waiting. When I used to see my neurosurgeon the wait was sometimes an hour or more, but often the doc had to do emergency surgery in the morning so that put him behind - I certainly can't fault him for that as I've been on the other end of that situation several times.

If I go see my PCP the wait times are a lot less, but occasionally I'll have to wait a bit longer, which is no big deal. I saw my PCP last year for a routine checkup but a few days before I had a cyst flare up that developed into an abscess, and the doc spent about half an hour dealing with that. I'm sure that put him behind a bit, but it was out of my control.

Doctors are human too, I see no reason to fault a doc for something they have no control over. 🙂
 
yinan said:
I haven't been to a doctor since 1998 and I do not plan on going to see a doctor for at least another 20 years. They don't really know anything or fix anything or care, they just want your money.
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so the entire medical field is a sham? good luck with that.
 
I came in here thinking this was going to be a manly thread about how long people wait to see a doctor after receiving giant gashes or growing gang-re but the OP leaves me sorely disappointed.

And the answer for a sore, regardless of severity, is never.
 
Lean L said:
I came in here thinking this was going to be a manly thread about how long people wait to see a doctor after receiving giant gashes or growing gang-re but the OP leaves me sorely disappointed.

And the answer for a sore, regardless of severity, is never.
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I wait longer than I should, but it's usually like, 2-3 days waiting to see if the malady goes away on its own, 3-4 days of self-treatment, call the doctor's office a couple days later if there's still no progress, and then wait 3-4 days for an appointment.

(assuming it's not an emergency... when I had a staph infection in my leg and the pain was so bad that I couldn't walk, that warranted a trip to the ER)
 
My last doctor was horrible with wait time. It was easily 2 hours in the waiting room, then another hour once you got inside. You could here him talking to others in the next room about his hike up everest, and other accomplishments. He just loved to talk about himself. He used to waste so much of my time each visit, and others in the waiting room would get really pissed. He often came in late, and always double booked.

My wife pointed out that on some review websites, there were tons of comments about this, so it wasn't just me being unlucky. I finally left after 3 years of this crap.

My current doctor is about 1 hour until he actually sees me. Much better than 3 hours.
 
Between the waiting room and after the nurse does her thing 10-20 minutes. The last time I had a doctor that made me wait half an hour multiple times I quickly found a new doctor.
 
An hour if the doctor doesn't physically see me in the waiting room. If he sees me I get called tight back and he comes in to see me and we shoot the breeze for half an hour 🙂
 
Numenorean said:
eits said:
i never let my patients wait any more than 10 minutes.
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This thread is about doctors.
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Ouch! But I lol'd.

There are doctors who overbook and then fall behind as the day progresses, so it's better to make early AM appointments. I've noticed that doctors who charge a no-show fee tend to keep to their schedule better, presumably because they don't feel a need to overbook.
 
Rarely a wait. However, I understand that sometimes things happen and the doctor gets stuck at the hospital longer than planned. My old doctor had this happen more often though. But, never longer than about a 45 minute wait for him.
 
Numenorean said:
This thread is about doctors.
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mean.


eits, that is commendable. hopefully you can keep that wait at 10 mins or shorter throughout your career. no one minds waiting 10 mins.

my patients rarely wait longer than 10 mins. for me either. I am usually right on the clock. the dentists though... can't say the same. one is very good about keeping on schedule, but the others aren't. i do know the receptionist will inform the patient when the dentist is running behind and ask if they'd like to reschedule.
 
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