Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Question

I am annoyed at my doctor's office.
 
I am annoyed because when I called up on Friday to try to get an appointment, I was on hold listening to their annoying hold music for over half an hour.  It does not take half an hour to work your way through the queue on the appointment line.  At least it never did before.  Maybe they were closed.  But they didn't put up a message if they were.  I tried the other numbers, automatically on hold on all of them.  Seems a bit irresponsible to me.  What if someone had to reach the doctor urgently?  How long do you expect them to sit on hold?
 
I am annoyed because I finally got through today to make an appointment (after being put on hold twice, and being spoken to the second time as if I were a new caller), told them I was sick and would see whichever doctor was available, and they suggested an appointment on Thursday afternoon.  What part of "not feeling well" did you not understand when offering me that, considering that 5 seconds later you offered Wednesday afternoon?  Only after I said I would see if I could find another doctor?  Usually that's what sick people do, want to see a doctor as soon as possible.
 
That, combined with the inability to ever tell me when my test results come in (and the policy of not giving me a copy when I ask for it and making me come in again), just pushed me over the edge.  I want to find a new doctor.  But I can't find one.  I went to this place all the time because it was convenient and because I was always able to get an appointment when I needed one.  Now, it seems they're too busy to treat sick people timely which really isn't all that convenient, especially when I started calling on Friday to try to get an appointment and got stuck on hold loop.  What would you do?

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

i'd find another doctor.

many people try to see doctors for just a regular cold, and they want antibiotics even though most colds are viral. considering people also don't finish the prescription cycle, this even further adds to bacterial resistance while not providing any real benefit to the patient (a placebo effect maybe). so it's not absurd that doctors will usually give a response of "wait a couple days" by default now.

that said, the hold situation and reluctance to supply results is problematic. so based on that, i'd look elsewhere to see if they're better.

service matters. i'm increasingly selecting places based on that.