Terry Groves
May 11, 20122 min
What is it about the medical profession that makes them think it is ok to regularly make people wait? I understand it is a vocation that is not in full control of its own schedule, when emergencies arise they must be attended to, but this attitude of having no regard for other’s schedules is rampant; even in areas that seldom have to deal with emergencies.
I try not to complain, to be patient, a good patient, but when I start gauging how much pain I can tolerate in my day because it just takes too long to get service, I know there is something seriously wrong with the system.
I follow the directions, arrive in plenty of time, have my medical card at the ready but invariably, I am left waiting ten, twenty sometimes sixty minutes, with no indication that I haven’t simply been forgotten.
I am slightly encouraged as there are no dried out corpses or skeletons in the waiting area.
Finally I am ushered into a tiny cubicle and instructed to undress, everything, and don two johnnies. One covers the front the other the rear.
On the way into this undressing I spot a skeleton hanging on a stick and wonder if it is a training aid or if it’s one of the forgotten, perhaps a complainer. There is no health card clutched in its bony hand so I assume either it hasn’t been forgotten, or it didn’t follow the rules.
I know of at least one woman, frustrated as I am, who sent an invoice to her Dr. for the time she was left waiting for her appointment that she was unable to stay any longer for. It was her Dr.’s policy to bill for unattended appointments so I guess if his time is that valuable, so is hers. I wonder if he paid it.
Maybe we should all place a little more value on the time we take from people by expecting them to wait. Can we be a bit more respectful? Sometimes all it takes is an acknowledgment that we haven’t been forgotten.
#medical #professional #consideration #appointments #patient #patience