Medical appointment peeve

[Brian Elfert]

In our age group, it's important to CARRY a current list of meds. Recently, I've had two different doctors ask about a med which I quit taking back in January, as it causes and still does some major problems for me. I have seen both doctors since then. One of them is the one who took me off med. Actually, I took myself off med and then told them. It was a statin drug (Crestor,) which caused joint pain and muscle weakness. Even though I've been off this med for eight months, the lingering effects are most likely permanent. My knees hurt worse now than before I had bi-lateral knee replacement in 2013. Due to taking blood thinner, I can't take Ibuprofen. Acetaminophen does nothing for the pain or swelling.

Interesting. I just completed a six month clinical trial for over the counter Crestor at half the prescription dose. I have had some additional pain in my knees that I attributed to hitting age 50 and weight gain. I was also having muscle pain in my right arm. They specifically asked at the end of the trial if I was having severe muscle pain. I talked to them about it and decided it was not severe. My muscle pain seems to be better after two weeks off the drug.

My cholesterol did drop significantly during the six months I was on the drug.

[Brian Elfert]

My sleep doctor almost always spends more time per patient than is allocated. He was already 20 minutes behind by 8:20 in the morning for my last appointment. His next appointment was supposed to have started at 8 am! Mine was like 7:40 am or something.

[Roger Feeley]

My horror story involved a urologist. I had an appt at 1:30. His receptionist/wife (a horrible person) told me to start calling every half hour starting at 2:30. At 3:30, she told me to come in. I sat and sat. As time went by, anger and frustration gave way to curiosity. How long would this go on? As much as two hours would go by without anyone being summoned from the waiting room. I was seen at 9:30pm.

I got to know other patients. One guy used the time to study Masonic stuff and had advanced in the organization because of time spent in the waiting room. Another had his wife drop him off. Then she would go to a movie. After the movie she would call him. If he hadn’t been seen she would go to another movie.

Time spent in that waiting room was sort of a slow torture. The chairs were these old maple captains chairs with no padding. Just imagine all these men, most (like me) with enlarged or inflamed prostates squirming to try to get comfortable.

So I told my regular doctor about the problem and he was aghast. He referred me to another doctor. The first indication that this guy would be better was the soft upholstered chairs. The second was their apology that I had to wait all of 15 minutes.

[Ken Combs]

I always felt bad for receptionists in surgeons offices. They are usually late for their appointments, and often have to cancel large numbers of appointments with the patients waiting for them in their

And, yeah, I get the e-mails asking me to be 15 minutes early, but giving me the web address for the portal to fill out all the forms. Which, I can assure you, with my background are completed fully and accurately. So that 15 minutes involves me saying hi to the receptionist and saying, no, my insurance hasn't changed.

My Dr.s medical group now offers the web checkin too. It's part of an app named MyChart which seems to be in use by several. I really like it, checkin, messaging, prescription requests, access to lab results, visit recap, Doc notes etc. I can see labs before getting word from the physician or assistant.

[Clifford McGuire]

Speaking as the former CTO for a hospital / clinic that saw over 1M patients per year, and who spent a LOT of time trying to measure and improve the patient experience, and simultaneously as the spouse of a person with medical conditions that require medical appointments in aggregate more frequently than once a month - I feel your pain from both sides of the equation.
<Snip>

Thanks for that explination Steve. We don't see that side of the issue.

It's never simple, is it????

[Dave Lehnert]

I hate when the doctors office gives me an appointment, A time they picked, not me. call a few days before saying they need to reschedule. Im sure its not because it is a Friday afternoon before a holiday weekend. Last time it happened I had to wait another 4 months for a new appointment.

Another one I get a lot is if my appointment is in the late afternoon (I make them for after work) They will most always call on that day and ask if i will come in sooner. I always respond. "No, I dont want to inconvenience my customers because I want to leave early"

[Keith Pitman]

It’s not just medical appointments, this was part of the appointment email I received for windshield repair:

Please arrive at least 10 minutes before your appointment to check-in.

[Doug Garson]

It’s not just medical appointments, this was part of the appointment email I received for windshield repair:

Please arrive at least 10 minutes before your appointment to check-in.

What time was the appointment? The clock only has 8 segments and no indication of AM or PM.

[David Powell]

I don’t mind waiting at all. I know my dr takes as much time with me as I need. If i’m waiting a long time I simply assume he is doing the same for other patients. He’s a fantastic doctor.

Now once I had to wait almost 3 hrs at another doctor's. I used some of the time to calculate the square root of 15 in my head, to 10 significant figures. That was decades ago and I still can’t forget it; it’s taking up space, wasting valuable memory cells. 3.872983346

Another time I waited for hours to get a cast cut off my young son’s arm. This was about 35 years ago when he was small. I finally took him up to the receptionist and told them we’d been waiting there WAY too long, just forget it, I was taking him home now and I would cut off the cast myself. They had the cast off and we were on our way in less than two minutes.

Thanks John. I now can't get the method for calculating square roots out of my head.

Dave