Apr. 24, 2009 at 1:09pm

Don't keep me waiting

Posted by Shari Campbell in Internal Communications, Planning and Strategy, Practice Management
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Just returned from my annual mammogram appointment. I sat in the second waiting area for 15 minutes after I’d arrived on time for a 7 a.m. appointment.

As I glanced at my Blackberry, the woman next to me remarked, “they shouldn’t be late for a 7 a.m. appointment. That’s why I schedule at 7—so I'm the first appointment of the day and can get to work on time!”

The Everett Clinic is beginning to address this chronic ill by posting wait times for its walk-in clinics on its Web site.

Another example of a facility and physician failing to recognize this simple principle comes courtesy of my sister Vicki. She had an appointment with her physician yesterday. The large, multi-group practice has implemented some cool advances such as online appointment scheduling, electronic medical records and electronic patient sign-in.

Only problem is the staff needs to use the technology for practical purposes.

Case in point: Vicki arrived at her doctor’s appointment yesterday, signed in on the computer, sat down and observed another patient with a fidgety 4-year-old approach the front office staff.

“I’ve been waiting her for nearly an hour,” complained the mother, whose youngster was growing more restless by the second. “Well, doctor is running behind,” explained the front office staff member, “about an hour or so …”

Mom of fidgety kid got ushered into a treatment room soon after that. My sister observed the scene, thinking the staff would talk to her about the problematic backup.

They didn’t.

She approached the front desk and asked when she would be seen. The staff ‘s message to my sister sounded suspiciously like the one she’d just heard, “Doctor is running about an hour behind.”

Now my sister will admit that math isn’t her forte, but her quick mental calculation of this story problem didn’t add up:

If the physician was an hour behind before they let “mom of fidgety kid” inside—and no one has left the physician’s office—how many minutes until Vicki gets to see the doctor?

Forget the algebraic calculations. The answer is not enough information to solve the problem and more than an hour!

Or, as my sister put it, “With all the technology they have at their disposal, why couldn’t they call me or text me about the delay? Why couldn’t they give me the option of rescheduling right away? Why, by their actions, do they treat me as though my time isn’t valuable?”

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