A patient who needs to see a respirologist has refused to go back to the respirologist because he waited 45 minutes at the hospital for his PFTs then left without actually having said PFTs. In my head I was thinking "45 minutes aint that bad". He kept telling me about all the people who were going in before him blah blah blah. I was surprised at how little sympathy I felt. Sometimes things don't go according to plan. Sometimes you just gotta wait. Then this guy tells me that he's found ways to deal with his anger and he thinks he can go off his medication... hmmm I don't think so.
The thing about having all 10 minute appointments is that when someone comes in and says they're going to kill themselves - suddenly I'm 20 minutes behind before I even talk to them. Plus, when the nurse is in the room talking to the patient and weighing them etc. at 9 o'clock, I actually don't even get into the room until 9:10. Bam, I'm behind schedule. I've given up on being on time. I'm trying to keep my lateness to less than 20 minutes now. That is pathetic.
5 comments:
I wish my GP could be under 20 minutes late! I always bring a book or something to study when I go to see her, as it's not uncommon for her to be 30-45 minutes late. Unless I arrive 5 minutes late, in which case she's inevitably on time and I feel like an ass.
the late/on time paradox happens to many people.. I wish I could say I'm forgiving when patients are 20 minutes late, but my standard is that if you've missed you whole appointment, I have you rebook, because otherwise I get even further behind!
I think a lot of patients don't mind waiting -- they know you're running late because you're taking the time to provide good care. That's my general approach anyway! That being said, it does start to feel super stressy when patients have been waiting a long time (in hematology clinic we would sometimes be running 2 or 3 hours behind and I felt like I spent half the appointment apologizing).
How was SF?
It's an ongoing battle, eh? BC actually has some CME events right now for family docs to attend (for free!) on office efficiency. I think it's helped me a little - I'm definitely more aware of how my day is structured and staying on time. They had a few neat tidbits (ie don't book a CPX your first appt of the AM or lunch... mainly to deal with late pts / no shows setting you back from the start). Another idea was double booking the first slot but not booking the 2nd... so there was someone there at 9am (and occasionally two, but the second wouldn't wait long).
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