UNITED STATES—The doctor’s office. I know I’m not the only person who hates going to the doctor. I feel like whenever you go to the doctor or you have a scheduled appointment you always have a bit of worry or anxiety. You just want to have a good visit and hear good news. When you don’t it is beyond frustrating. I had an important follow-up which seemed to sneak up to me because the days, weeks and months sometimes move so fast you don’t remember them.
I was supposed to set my follow-up the last time I was at the doctor, but I forgot to do it. So as a result I was forced to schedule my follow-up appointment when the doctor was available. My appointment was scheduled earlier in the day.
I get to my appointment at least 30 minutes early, as I think it is always important to be early and not late. I get my vitals checked and get a bit of good news about my blood pressure being normal, losing another 5 to 6 pounds since my last visit (so it tells me something I’m doing is working) however, that was just the beginning. Why? Now the wait to see the doctor begins. Mind you I scheduled my appointment almost 2 weeks in advance. After getting my vitals checked I go 5 minutes, 10 minutes, 15 minutes, 20 minutes, 25 minutes, just sitting in a room. After almost 30 minutes I’m getting frustrated because I had to completely rearrange my work schedule for this follow-up that the doctor said was crucial.
I’m just sitting in this waiting room waiting for the doctor to come see me. Then 40 minutes go by. Forty minutes America, I had to sit in a room and wait before I could see the doctor, who finally arrived, and spent all, but 10 to 15 minutes chatting to me. Hell, I was forced to ask questions because I wanted answers, which is crazy because the doctors just seem to be ready to usher in the next patient.
Hold on a second, I just patiently waited for you, so you can spend as much time as I want for you to properly address any concerns or issues that I have. There is nothing more annoying than having to sit and wait at the doctor’s office after you scheduled your appointment in advance. If I have an appointment at 10 a.m., I expect to be seen at that time, not at 10:45 a.m. That is time I could have been doing something else so it’s damn frustrating to wait, and then once seen you’re being rushed to get thru the exam or whatever questions have been posed to you to move to the next week.
C’mon already not only is this frustrating, but it’s not annoying. Not to mention the nurse or doctor’s aide who was taking blood from me totally did not know what she was doing. I got annoyed because she apparently couldn’t find a vein, even though my veins are quite potent and obvious in my right and left arm, with my left arm being the strongest. The first vile of blood was ok, the second not so much. Why? The nurse poked me like three times leaving a bruise on my arm that has been bothering me for days. Before you ask, no I’m not afraid of needles I never have been, but when the needle was removed I had a sting in my arm that I’ve never had before and I didn’t like that one single bit.
Yeah, when I return to the doctor, that nurse won’t be drawing any blood or inserting needles into me because I don’t trust her. I can understand the doctor’s office being overwhelmed at times, but the least that can be done is to alert the patients there that there might be a bit of a wait. That does not happen, you just find yourself sitting and waiting, and waiting and waiting sometimes and your time doesn’t seem to matter.
However, my time does matter. I don’t have a ton of free time that I can just sit and wait for you to decide when you want to see me. If I’m scheduled for a specific time I expect to be seen at that time, if there is a delay all I’m asking is for you to alert or let me know what is going on. It is a common courtesy. We need more of that in our lives. No one likes going to the doctor, and we don’t want to be there longer than what we have to be, so something needs to be done to make changes. I know I’m not the only person that has experienced this.
