Had this happen once. I arrived without an appointment about an hour before the office closed. They allowed me in and took me into an exam room to wait for the doctor. After nearly an hour, I went to look and see what was happening. The staff were in the process of closing up for the day. They had literally forgotten I was in there.
Had the exact same thing happen, except it was that someone else with an appointment had my same name. So the schedule got messed up and thought we were the same person. I stuck my head out 45 minutes into sitting in the room, and they were very confused. I then waited another 45 minutes cause they are chronically behind. I don’t go to that doctor anymore.
Couple of years ago, I went to an orthopedic clinic with a torn ligament. They tell me to lay down in one of the rooms. An hour passes. Suddenly, the lights in the room and adjacent hallway turn off. They dead-ass forgot me in there and were about to call it a day when I popped my head out.
Ouch that must’ve hurt
Had this just over a month ago. I went down to accident and emergency just before 12 am on a Saturday (also know as the emergency department) as I was having really bad cramps because of my IBD (ulcerative colitis) I got triaged within an hour and had blood tests done within an hour after. Only saw a Dr after 7 or 8 in the morning and then was with her an hour at most, went for an X-ray and then had to sit for maybe another 5-6 hours to find out the results of a blood test that they do at the hospital. They were thinking of admitting me to hospital but we’re waiting on the blood results so it’s not as if me just going home was going to help myself.
While I sat waiting on the Dr the last time, I went and asked twice because I hadn’t had word for hours. I also didn’t have anything to eat for 24 hours as I didn’t have an evening meal and I couldn’t use a vending machine as I had no cash or card as I don’t think I would be there 16 hours.
That sounds awful =(
It was and I’m still suffering a flare up 5 weeks later. The only thing that’s actually changed is I don’t have constant cramps all day.
What country was this? Just out of curiosity. I can’t tell from the way you write
UK and Northern Ireland. Where we had our government collapse twice while there’s a plethora of issues in healthcare, education, economy and just about everything else a government is responsible for. We would’ve actually set the world record for the longest time without a government if we were recognized by the UN as a sovereign nation.
Sounds like the UK to me. Waits like this are not uncommon here in A&E when you are in a stable condition. The NHS has been underfunded for years and it is just getting worse.
Northern Ireland is particularly bad with the executive collapsing twice in 10 years.
It doesn’t sound too different to Cymru despite having a relatively stable left-leaning government. Last time I was admitted to A&E, I was in there for about 14 hours. At least they fed me plenty of sandwiches :)
I didn’t get anything except for a few biscuits the Dr gave me when I told her the last time she saw me before discharging me that I hadn’t eaten anything for 24 hours. She actually said that could’ve been a good thing because of the cramps.
Kinda related…
I know why I’m seeing the doctor, my dog doesn’t understand why he needs to see the vet. When you tell us to go in the room don’t make us wait for fuck’s sake, the last time my dog looked like he was trying to escape through the ventilation grill in the ceiling and he pissed and shat on the examination table because he had been building anxiety for 20 minutes!
My vet switched fully to having everyone wait in their cars after COVID. The vet comes to get you directly when they’re ready for you. It’s way better for the pets anxiety.
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But surely oess son compared to a vets clinic, or its better for most other pets anyhoo
Where is this? My old vet did that after COVID and I loved it
I am in BC, but I’ve heard of vets doing this all over the place
When you tell us to go in the room don’t make us wait for fuck’s sake
This is what I don’t get. There’s a waiting room. Why are we sent into a (usually) cramped room with no amenities if the person we’re seeing isn’t immediately available? One time I went to a clinic and the doctor apparently went on their lunch after I’d been walked to the examination room. Like…wtf?
20 minutes, then assuming there’s a closed door, I’ll just leave the door open
If 10 more minutes pass I’m popping my head out and asking for a potential estimate. If I get to 45 minutes and nobody has spoken to me I’m out, and will be quite irritated upon rescheduling. By that point I’ve been there for over an hour and unlike everyone whose taking their sweet time, I’m not being paid to be there.
I’ve watched too many nurses, doctors, and random medical staff just stand around talking outside patient rooms about the latest gossip to believe they’re running behind on appointments anymore. The local network schedules in 20 minute blocks, and I’ve NEVER had a single appointment face to face with a doctor for more than 10. Usually less than 5 unless there’s something majorly wrong. And despite “privacy” of separate rooms, I can hear surrounding rooms taking just as long.
I’m probably being too cynical and harsh, but after almost dying because the asshole who examined me dismissed EXTREMELY obvious signs because “you probably just need to lose weight” I’ve retained less and less patience with local medical staff. And the next closest office/network that will accept my insurance is almost an hour away. So yeah.
How do you even know how much time has passed in the exam room? There’s no windows or clocks. It’s like a shitty casino.
I wear a watch, but most people have a clock on the phone they’re staring at the whole time they’re waiting.
Yeah, I don’t want to win any of the games in that casino.
Uhh, a wristwatch? Your phone?
They should add a blackjack table to my Drs office.
My dentist just does this. End of appointment she walks out. No “that’ll be all for you today” or “schedule your next appointment at the counter”
Anyway 10 minutes.
Get a new dentist. I’m in the process of doing this myself
Unless you’re Abed Nadir
Damn you, you outlying piece of datum!
An hour? But, I’m easily entertained by my devices and probably wouldn’t notice the time going by. It also heavily depends on what else I have going on; I always pad my schedule for doctors, but even so, there might be something else I have to get to.
It’s medical. The person before me may have needed more time. I think doctors have a harder time than most estimating how much time a patient will need, and I don’t want them rushing me out the door.
For my own appointments, I’m generally on the same page. I have a harder time being as patient when I’m taking one of my kids to the doctor, which is a much more frequent occurrence. I’ve been kept waiting for exorbitant lengths of time at a variety of pediatric clinics, which is unpleasant when your kids object to being confined in a small, boring room for an indefinable amount of time. Sometimes it’s been so egregious that I’ve had to switch to another provider.
Yeah, that sounds live it sucks. I’d hate to have kids in the US with its long wait times and relatively shitty healthcare.
Conversely, you really don’t want to be getting seen promptly at a hospital. Ideally you want to be in the middle third of the priority order; get seen reasonably quickly, but not “holy shit you are going to die if we don’t deal with you now” quickly
I know you really wanted to say this point but it’s mostly unrelated to the original post. The post refers to an exam room, you’re talking about waiting rooms.
why the downvotes this is completely correct. Exam room and waiting room is a totally different story
I know, at least for younger me, it was above 2 hours. I had a bunch of exams, and people were leading me to different rooms. After an x-ray:
– wait here and we will get you if we want another picture
like two hours pass, and someone comes in the door:
– oh, there you are, come on, next exam
I once fell asleep while wearing the paper gown at the gynecologist’s. I don’t know how long I waited, but I had a really nice nap and they were super apologetic when I woke up and popped my head out.
As someone that likes to nap, you’ve inspired me for my next visit.
Everytime I go to the dentist, just when I’m about to fall asleep the dentist tells me to keep my mouth open
I get a wedge on the inactive side so I can sleep 💀
My wife once sat in the room for a very long time before someone came to prep the room for the next patient…
If I’m just there for a checkup I’m walking out after an hour. If I’m legitimately sick I’ll probably sit there all day until someone gives me medicine lol
There really is no justification for it. It’s part of the American healthcare experience. It makes them money to have no downtime between patients. It costs them nothing to make you wait. They book patient appointments with this philosophy in mind and it’s incredibly disrespectful.
The flipside of this is that they have no downtime between patients because demand is through the roof and there aren’t enough doctors. Predicting how long each visit will take is fraught, plus emergent stuff may come up that throws off the already tight schedule. Better to have a long time in the waiting room than wait weeks/months longer to get an appointment at all
The same reason flights are always overbooked. They rather oversell and hope someone cancels than undersell.
