Well, this is one sad part of life, getting sick and going to the doctor for an appointment. Over here, you have to get a number and be in the queue regardless of whether you got an appointment or not. My husband has acid reflux and he had consulted an internist for that. He was prescribed medication and was told to come back. On that day he returned, he got number 33, that means he would be the 33rd patient for the day. And the doctor was to arrive 30 minutes delayed. To make the story short, my husband spent 3-1/2 hours in that clinic for waiting that included the 5 minutes of consultation. Such a waste of precious time.
@Corie Henson - I thought we were bad enough over here, but your experience tops that Over here, you can wait 3 weeks for an appointment, you have to keep trying each day till you get one
You think this amount of time is bad, in So. California, a person could be at the Dept. of Motor Vehicles for up to 6 hours waiting time. An employed person would have to take the entire day off of work to go.
it seems like that is the case just about everywhere when going to the doctor. Even when I get there early, it is usually close to an hour wait before I am called back into the doctor'ss office, and then around another half hour or so, and up to an hour waiting in the office for the doctor to come in. It always puzzles me how they can start fresh each day, and get so far behind schedule, and yet, as you mentioned, @Corie Henson ; when we do finally get to see the doctor, he is only there for a very short time, often no longer than ten minutes or so. Before I got old enough for Medicare, I went to a free clinic, and they just took people basically by number. When you came in you signed the book, and then they just went down the list and called people in as they got to them. Since it was all volunteer work from the doctors, sometimes, they didn't even get there until late in the afternoon, and people had been waiting since noon, when the clinic opened. It was usually after 7 that night before I got back home again. And sometimes, the doctor had an emergency, and didn't get there at all, and then you had to come back and go through the whole process again. However, they provided me with the heart medicine that I needed, and even had a cardiologist who volunteered; so I am very grateful to that clinic for taking care of me when I had no other way of seeing a doctor. Now, I have that clinic set as my charity on Amazon, so whenever we shop on Amazon, they donate to the clinic.
That is dreadful Corrie. A patient could quite literally die while wiaitng to see the doctor. Again, that is a great benefit of living in a small community you would never have to wait much more than a half an hour to see a doctor, actually when I lived in NOVA or Northern Virignia, it was the same. I never waitied more than half an hour to see te doctor.
When I visit our lab here, they have a 'take a number' system of some kind. I always do it wrong. When I walk in and see one or two people sitting behind the desks with no patients, I walk up and sit down at one. Evidently, I'm supposed to stand over by the wall like a dummy, and wait for my number to be called. Then, walk up to the desk and get checked in when my number is called. Then, walk back by the wall and wait. Then, walk to the other side of the &%#$%@ building when they call for me. I don't walk so good, even with a walker. My doc's nurse used to take blood and urine samples when you were there for your appointment. Quick and simple. Now, the lab is over on the other side of the campus, farther than I can walk. @*^$%&&$$%.
@Ike Willis Went to the hospital a few years back, she wrapped that stuff around me arm to take the blood pressure, I was looking at the wall when she says 'How are you feeling today ?' .......'Not too bad' says I - just a little tired .......... 'I don't understand it' she says, 'I'm not getting a reading at all' ......... I looked at me arm, noticed why and said 'You haven't pumped me up yet - have you' ................... I guess she was 'new' .............
I never have to wait because I get the first appointment of the day which is at 8:00 am and by 8:20 I'm out the door.
Here what it is like in a third world country we have two systems the hospitals and clinics. Clinics is where the high priced doctors work and you have line ups they have the best equipment and do a good job allot of the doctors got their training in the US. So you need to pay for the medicine and the doctor still there rates are not really high. Now the hospitals are free and doctors some who also work in the clinics are told they need to spend some time in the hospitals. For lab work you get there early and take a number the wait time is not to long but there is a quota. In the emergency if it was an emergency I have never waited but when I just want to see a doctor it is less than ten minutes. There is two doctors I know well and if I call them they will come to my house and bring what they think I need without charge I make sure they don’t without out gas money or a little more. This is paradise over what I went through in Canada.
Kind of sounds like Hungary for the citizens of the country. When my husband was there on business for 6 years We were considered pretty rich considering his paycheck was even pretty good in the US, in Hungary it was awesome! We always payed extra for services but it was still cheap for us and made the drs there very happy and one call and they were there at our house no matter what time it was.
My sister is a nurse in a government hospital. When we get consultations there, we do not fall in line anymore because, ehem, we have connections. My husband would go to that hospital for a checkup to avoid waiting since he would be next in line the moment he arrives. But the traffic is unbearable now so he looked for a clinic nearby which is just 5 minutes ride away. Now he is thinking of going to my sister's hospital again. Another concern is the very short time given to each patient as if the doctor is in a hurry. That clinic gets more than 50 patients in a day and the doctor's clinic hours are from 4 pm to 8 pm only. Fortunately, my husband is doing okay now and no more issues with his digestive system. His next appointment with that doctor is on September 29.
I live a couple of blocks from my doctor's office. So far, I have never had to wait long past my appointment time and, since I am so close and work from home, they'll often call me if they have an unexpected opening before my appointment time so that I can get it done with early, as long as it's not something that requires prep.
I'm sitting in the Drs office right now. I have a 3:00 pm appt so it will be a new experience. Hope it doesn't take long.
Well, it took just a little bit longer than my 8 am appointments but not by much. Thankfully, I'm pretty much done for awhile with everything and don't have to go til November. I also got the answer to my question from the top Dr regarding fasting bloodwork and coffee. Yes, you can have black coffee, plain. Just don't tell them you did at the Lab. They don't like it but It's okay.