Scheduling isn’t brain surgery
Re “An Appointment ... to Wait?” [Dec. 27]: It seemed I’d finally found the perfect doctor. At the reception desk was a sign saying, “Patients Arriving More Than 20 Minutes Late Will Be Asked to Reschedule.” After one hour, I was ushered into an examining room. And still I waited, fuming, for the doctor.
So I’ve developed a strategy: Arrive on time for the scheduled appointment. If still waiting 20 minutes after the scheduled time, tell the receptionist to have the doctor call when he can keep his appointments on time. And leave. No angst, no drama.
If enough people followed my recipe, doctors would be on time.
Douglas A.J. Mockett
Rancho Palos Verdes
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Surely with a little more thought in logical scheduling, waiting time could be cut to a minimum and, on occasion, eliminated altogether.
While acknowledging that consultation time spent with each patient varies considerably, with computer analysis the average time spent with each patient could be determined and a more realistic schedule prepared accordingly. This would entail some variation in waiting time from patient to patient but would certainly reduce the aggravation engendered by the present system. It might even mean (horror of horrors) that there would be rare occasions when roles would be reversed and the doctor would have to wait for the patient.
Totally ignored in the article (and apparently by the physician) is the effect on the patient’s blood pressure caused by the annoyance of the endless delay in the primary waiting room and subsequently in the examination room. Surely this can aggravate whatever pathology the patient is visiting for in the first place.
Paul S. McCaig
Dana Point
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