Hospitals Suck
Don’t you just love how some doctors’ offices and some hospitals schedule everybody for the same time. I had two experiences with this earlier this week. One appointment was mine and the other my wife’s. I had an appointment to see a doctor at 10:30AM on a Wednesday morning. I arrived about five minutes early to the doctor’s office. I went to the counter like normal and told the receptionist that I had a 10:30 appointment. She handed me some paperwork to fill out and told me to return it when completed. The paperwork took all of about five minutes to fill out and return to her. She told me to have a seat and wait for my name to be called.
As I sat there and waited, four other patients came in and registered. Each one of them said that they were there for their 10:30 appointment for the same doctor that I was there to see. Right away I knew I would be waiting for a while. It is no wonder that you have to wait so long when you are at a doctor’s office. There is no way that the doctor could see everyone at 10:30. So, why do they do that? Why not schedule to appointments fifteen minutes apart? Why not have some consideration for your patients? I sat there for 40 minutes waiting to get in to see the doctor. I don’t know about you, but I could use that extra forty minutes in my day.
My wife’s hospital visit was worse. She was scheduled for a routine test. Her appointment was for 8:30AM at Millard Fillmore Suburban. We got there ahead of time like we normally do for doctor’s visits. They ended up taking her in at 10:15, which was almost 2 hours after the time we were scheduled to be there. That is downright annoying.
And how much worse is it to sit and wait in a hospital waiting room than it is to just show up an hour later when they will actually take you in for your procedure. The whole process drives me nuts.
I probably shouldn’t complain though. I remember twenty years ago when I had to go to ECMC for some Xrays or something, it took like 4 hours of sitting and waiting before I got in to get my Xrays done. At least it isn’t that bad anymore. Well, maybe it still is that bad at ECMC. I don’t know. But, I know that I speak for most Western New Yorkers when I say that sitting and waiting in a doctor’s office or a hospital waiting room just plain sucks. There is no simpler way to put it.
