Most of us have been forced at one time or another to suffer through endless waiting times in a doctor’s office. The medical waiting rooms are often crowded, filled with nervous people, which is an excellent recipe for conflict between them and the staff just trying to do their job. Unfortunately, the situation is often entirely out of their hands and there is rarely much that they can do to ease the suffering of their patients or cut their waiting times.
There are several reasons why wait-times in clinics and doctors’ offices are so long. The most important is simple, too many patients and too few doctors. There is an acute shortage of primary care doctors all over the country. Specialty fields come with bigger paychecks and more and more doctors are going for them, causing the numbers of M.D.’s to shrink.
The other reason is the continually increasing number of patients. The American population is getting older and sicker, vastly increasing the need for healthcare. It boils down to a simple supply and demand problem, but with no solution in sight.
The easiest way to save time when you need advice or therapy is to use an online platform.
Using a platform, such as yourdoctor.online, you are always the first to stand in line and get the right treatment while sitting in your armchair without the risk of getting sick.
But, if you still decide to go to the doctor’s office – here are several ways you can cut that awful waiting times when you have to see a doctor.
Pick your time
Doctors can’t predict how long it would take them to examine a patient. This is the number one reason why appointments get shuffled and you end up waiting for three hours, even if you came in when you were scheduled. The simplest way to avoid these is to get a first or second slot in the morning. Difficult patients can’t create a huge backlog if you come in early in the morning and those first few slots will usually be on time.
Be on time
If you are late for your appointment, chances are that you will be pushed at the back of the queue. You can’t really blame anyone but yourself if that happens, so try to be on time and avoid tardiness. If you can’t help it, it is often a better solution to call the office and reschedule.
Call Ahead
This is a very simple way of finding out whether the doctor in on schedule and your time slot is correct. It is puzzling more people aren’t doing it. A simple call can save you hours of waiting time by letting you know when to come in.
Ask for a Discount
If all these fail and you end up stuck in the waiting room for hours, you should ask for a discount. After all, your time is valuable and if you came on time and on schedule, you are entitled to some form of compensation.
Change Doctor
If these types of situation persist and you are waiting for hours on every visit, consider changing the doctor. After all, once or twice it can happen, but every time is a sign of a badly ran office.
