What is the point of having Hospital Appointment times when they are NEVER kept to?

Question

if a nurse or doctor could answer this i would be grateful. I normally have to wait at my hospital when an appointment is needed for hours after my alloted time. Why is that, if they can never make the time why even set it. Just say come and we will try to fit you in.

Answer 1

I can understand your frustration, but I hope you can believe that we on the other side of the situation don't like it much either.  I hate running late, the patients get (understandably) grumpy, you end up rushing to try to catch up, you are apologizing all over the place, & half the time you end up not getting your lunch hour.  It's not a good situation for anyone.  

When I go to see my own doctor, I usually have to wait a long time to see him, but when I am in the exam room, he acts like I am the only patient in the world.  To me, that is worth the wait & I never complain.

Oh, one other thing... offices tend to overschedule because of how many no shows occur.  Then on the days when everyone actually shows, it can be bad.

Answer 2

Several reasons:

1) as previously stated, emergencies

2) Inconsiderate patients with the "second agenda" syndrome. A patient schedules a short visit for a minor complaint, then in the exam room says, "BY the way doc, I've been getting these terrible headaches for two months." (or similar) It's not easy to blow those off.

3) Over-scheduling, and unfortunately many doctors are guilty of this. Scheduling more patients that a doctor can reasonably see in a given amount of time is inconsiderate. Even professional management groups are guilty when they advise "schedule the first three appointments of the day at nine am, so when you come in at 9:30, all you exam rooms are full."

So the blame is multi-factorial.

But your proposal to just come in and we'll fit you in is an invitation to chaos. There were two old FP's in my district who did this, providing numbers like you get at the deli counter at the supermarket, and I heard no end of complaints from parents. Total disaster, but they never changed.

Answer 3

Please remember that doctors and hospitals deal with unexpected emergencies all the time. For example, an elderly patient might come in for a prescription renewal and be found to be seriously ill. It will take far longer to help the person than what was expected. This will unfortunately make other patients wait longer to see an MD.

Answer 4

To avoid a delay as much as possible, try to get the first appointment of the day, in the morning.

Answer 5

Don't forget the insensitive patients who have true emergencies and take personnel away from scheduled duties.

The nerve of those people!

Answer 6

Actually, a lot of the time, it comes down to us running late, or forcing you out the door on a timetable. Frankly, I myself would rather have a doctor who is able to answer a question, or concern, with a sit down, rather then saying, "Whelp, love to help, but I have 16 more appointments this morning, with some emergency calls that I know I'll have to take care of during my lunch break! Feel free to google it or ask on Y! answers!"

Answer 7

For their convenience, not ours.  Same reason airlines schedule departure times but seldom leave "on time."

As long as the patient or customer is on time that's all that matters to them...

Also, they feel their time is more valuable....