Patient Taking A Backseat to Paperwork

Do you know what all this paperwork entailed? Paperwork could be
filling out prescriptions on time so that when the patients he's
already seen get to the pharmacy, they don't ahve to wait again for
the doc. It could be paperwork he needs to file in order to get paid
for seeing you. It could be paperwork he needs to fill out to
properly care for a patient, it could be paperwork to prevent mixing
prescriptions that can be lethal when used together. There is a
reason the paperwork exists, and there is a reason for it's timely
completion, no matter how much it inconveniences you!

First, let me state that I manage an Internal Medicine group in the
Southeastern US.

With that said, I am also a patient at other medical facilites.I have
worked in the healthcare industry for over ten years on and off, but
have found myself frustrated at wait times as well.

However, now that I am in the position that I am in, I understand why
the physicians have to do the things they do. Gone are the days when
Doctors made tons of cash just for showing up to work. Granted, most
Doctors don't go into medicine to make money, but it's a generally
accepted idea that doctors are paid well.

The insurance companies today have made it virtually impossible for a
physician to be paid even remotely well without completing hours of
paperwork. Almost every major insurance carrier has implemented a
"Quality Control" program for any of their insured. While these
programs may enhance the quality, what they aim to do is drive their
costs down. This puts many physicians in an awkward position, as they
want their patients to receive the best possible care, while at the
same time eliminating out of pocket costs as much as possible.

I'm afraid that you've been a victim of the insurance companies more
than this physician's office. Also, I've had much longer wait times in
an Emergency Room while I was seriously injured or ill. Not to get too
personal, butI waited for almost an hour in an emergency room in
Virginia in 2001 while I was suffering a miscarriage because there
were patients that were classified as more acute than I was.

A doctor's office is not the place to go if you are acutely ill. The
Emergency Room or an Urgent Care center is. Doctor's offices generally
do not triage (prioritize) patients in order of severity, but simply
in order of appointment time.

I am sorry tht you had this experience, but unfortunately, it is how
medicine is these days!

You should be lucky you were able to see your doctor on the day you
called. There are times when you a person is sick you are not able to
get into a doctors office for a couple of days.

I'm sure that with universal health coverage provided by the
goverment, these situations will improve. I mean the federal goverment
probably won't require any more paper work, and waiting room times
will decrease! Yup, that sounds sweet!

I had that happen to me once. After an hour I went out and started
looking for someone. Lo and behold they had FORGOTTEN about me! I was
sitting there in that cold little room with a paper gown on and was
sick as a dog. Needless to say they felt really bad and apologized and
I got seen right then.

Sometimes stuff just happens. I didn't hold it against them and have
since gone back with no problems. Sometimes when they are really busy
I've had to wait up to half an hour or so, but it doesn't bother me.

An hour isn't unheard of, as an earlier poster said. Any longer I'd be
worried, ha ha ha ha.

You are right but ME? I would have gone outside to look for the doctor
I found that they did something like what they did to you and I went
out the room and told the doctor look man you are taking TOO long im
going home and he gladly came in to see me :) jejeje

You know, these days a lot of the paperwork doctors have to do is
patient care. Keeping charts up-to-date is important. So is handling
referrals -- and some insurers will not pay for you to see a
specialist unless you have a referral, while some specialists will not
see you unless you have a prescription. So is making sure that
everything is order so they can bill the insurer and the patient
doesn't get stuck paying everything out of pocket. When you complain
about your ex-husband not being treated as more important than
paperwork, you are complaining that he's not being treated as more
important than other patients. And he's not. Nor is an ear infection
a big enough deal that he gets to jump the queue and be seen ahead of
the people who got into the little rooms first.

Yes, it's frustrating to get left in a room for more than an hour, but
it's a pretty common experience for me too. Not with primary care,
but with a particular specialist. She'll take as much time in
appointments as the patient needs, which is great, but which also
means that by 2:00 she's running very, very late. And this is with
"good" insurance, and not being added to the schedule at the last
minute. I've decided approach medical appointments as good
opportunities to catch up on my reading without a dog pawing on me to
let me know that he hasn't eaten in at least 7 minutes and is probably
going to die if he doesn't get more food soon, and when I think about
it that way I don't feel at all bothered by the fact that my doctor
treats other people as well as she treats me. In fact, I get annoyed
on those days when after only 3 paragraphs someone wants to take my
blood pressure. Can't they see I'm trying to get some work done?!
(Don't worry: that's a letter that will never show up on PFB.)

When he was seen, was he treated well? Was the doctor focused on him
and not trying to do a bunch of other things at the same time? Was he
given appropriate medical care, including prescriptions and referrals
if needed? Was any paperwork dealing with prescriptions and blood
work and letters to his employer saying he needed to miss work and so
on dealt with quickly (and not after all other patients had been
seen)? These are, I think, the more important questions to think
about when deciding whether his appointment merits a letter of
complaint.

And the bit about working and paying taxes is irrelevant. Your
ex-husband would be no less deserving of quality medical care if he
were laid off, just as he would be no more deserving of quality
medical care if he got a job with an employer that provided better
insurance.

I hope he feels better soon.

Was this an Urgent Care clinic? I do know that sometimes an urgent
care center actually does basic triage. A 50-year-old with an ear
infection is less urgent than a screaming 1-year-old with the same
complaint. Or a broken bone. Or a 5-year-old with a bleeding cut on
the forehead(which happened to my son).
At urgent care centers, I've waited while the doctors evaluated the
screaming toddler, the weekend warrior bleeding all over the place,
and the possible broken bone were taken care of. I've understood
about the bone and the blood, and even known that I really don't want
to sit in the waiting room with a wailing kid. Or the person hacking
up a lung without a mask(or with the mask, for that matter).

I have also been the person with possible whooping cough. The mom of
the 4-year-old complaining of "fire throat", which was his description
of strep; and the same kid with "fire throat" who also clearly had
chicken pox. These are people you definitely DON'T want in a waiting
room, but they have to go somewhere. I've been the woman with the
routine OB exam, who belatedly mentioned to the nurse that my
underwear seemed to be unusually wet for no reason; I was leaking
amniotic fluid a month before my due date(all ended well). Basically,
a doctor's office can estimate how long a patient will take, but until
the doctor sees the patient, nobody knows. It could be a quick ear
re-check, which takes about 1 minute, or something that requires a
more thorough exam than anticipated, and even lab follow-ups.

These are DOCTORS, for Pete's sake, not bank tellers. They deal in
people and their physical problems. Sometimes they get backed up.
Imagine your complaint if your EX had gotten in "on time", seen "on
time", and required more than a basic ear infection with prescription.


Has your EX(whose medical care is really none of YOUR business)or you
or your child ever received medical care beyond the "normal" care
expected when you called in? I'm guessing that the answer is "yes".
Then give that karma to someone else.

For those who complain about waiting around with nothing to do: Take
your own!!! If you finish, like with the daily newspaper, leave it
for others. If you don't, take it home for later.

I do also have a beef with your comment about doctors' doing paperwork
outside patient-care hours. It may surprise you to learn that doctors
have scheduled shifts and should complete all work before the shift
ends. Maybe the doctor spent a lot of previous time with patients and
put off the paperwork until the due date. He may have had no real
choice. And before you start with your insurance-paying, tax-paying
rant: Doctors tend to pay taxes and insurance premiums, too.

I must ask: Why are you so invested in your EX-husband's health care?
Are you receiving less child support because he missed some work?

I can't beleive you got an appointment the same day. That is a
miracle. I believe, since I work in this industry, the delay between
patients is not that the doctor is doing any unnecessary paperwork,
just simply trying to make notes so the outcome of the patient before
you is not forgotten.

You know, what strikes me is that you still care for your ex-husband.

I think that's great.

I am sympathetic for your Ex, simply because I know I've been waiting
to be seen while feeling miserable. I think most of us had. I just
don't know if it's something we can expect to be fixed. This isn't a
problem at a single clinic or medical facility - it happens just about
everywhere. As someone pointed out before me, there are a lot of
reasons for this, many of which the doctors simply can't help.

I do hope your ex is feeling better.

This is not unheard of, sadly. While I don't think they did anything
out of the "ordinary", the system can definitely be improved.

It is a shame thaty today the health care industry is more about
business than taking care of people. Hopefully, your ex's case is not
the norm here, and if it is, that more people take the time to inform
the management that it is unacceptable to make sick people wait for
over an hour so that admin-type paperwork can be completed.

Oh my god! You had to wait over an hour for a fever? That is
absolutely outrageous!! I guess, I must have been really lucky the
time I had a bullet fragment ricochet, and hit me in the neck. Can
you believe it, I only had to wait for 45 minutes, and I was bleeding!
Seriously lady, if your EX- husband was upset, he should be writing
this letter. I wish my ex girlfriends would schedule my doc
appointments for me, it would make my wife really happy! I think you
need to get a grasp on reality!

Honestly, unless your ex-husband was not breathing or his heart was
not beating or he wasn't having some kind of massive external or
interal hemorrhage, he'll be seen when they get to him.

Doctors have families to support too, and they pay taxes too. Don't
create the fantasy that your ex-husband is the only one who does this.

Lets see because you have insurance and your ex-husband works and
pays taxes he is more special then the rest of us.

1. Did the doctor tell you what type of paperwork? I know my doctor
has to fill out quite a few forms when he sees nursing home patients
or when he has to set up labs or x-rays.

2. Where they working your ex in? Maybe the doc was behind...MOST
doctor offices do get behind. I would love a day where our patients
go in right at their time.

I do think though the nurse should of at least let your ex know the
doc was behind or he could of asked the nurse nicely mind you "How
much longer do you think it will be?"

It is an unfortunate, but true fact that when in the Doctors
office,yoy can expect a long wait. The reason for your ex-husbands
wait is unexcusable, but not the fault of the physician who treated
him; that honor belongs to the "Boss" of the treating Doc. In general
patients wait because of the following:
1. Appointments are double booked as many people "no show" (either
forgetting or just not giving a darn) their appointment, and the
Doctor and Office Manager do not want "lag time"(when the Doc or Nurse
is not working, but the "time clock" still is).
2.The patient books an appointment for one reason and are given the
appropriate amount of time for the particular reason, but then show
with 2-3 other ailments or complaints that take additional time.
3.Patients show up late, without needed paperwork etc. This pushes the
entire schedule back.
4.The Doctors personal life also affects the speed to which patients
are processed in and out of the office. If the Doctor is having, say
for instance..car trouble. He/She spends a good portion of the day,
making personal calls, talking to mechanics etc. This causes a delay
for everyone.
5.The Nurse, if you have an inefficient Nurse, He/She can take a 30-40
patient day (which is typical) and turn it into a 10 hour day (instead
of the normal 8 hour day).

So in general these are the contributing factors to long wait times
in the Doctors office. Fault is split 50/50. If the patients and the
office staff corrected the above issues, wait time could be almost
completely eliminated. Having said that, sometimes waiting is
unavoidable,as the Doctor may have an emergency that He/She must
attend to (emergency surgery, complications of a post-op patient etc).

Paperwork sometimes is care. People complain, most of all the doctors,
but it has to be done. It's very possible those evaluations were going
to a donor bank somewhere to prep someone for a much-needed blood
transfusions, or maybe it was sending them to a specialist where time
in booking an appointment can be crucial.

I'm not saying it was right to keep him waiting for an hour in the
room. I'm merely saying that maybe there was another side to this. An
ear infection is hardly a life-threatening condition.

Thats awful! Pathetic that they would force the doctor to do paperwork
instead of treating patients.

Good for you for letting them know about it. I dont know that there is
anything they can or will do for you now but maybe they will think
twice before doing it to someone else.

Everyone waits. An hour isn't unusual. It's unfortunate and
uncomfortable, but that is the way it is. I know it's worse to be put
in a room to wait rather than be in the waiting room first with the
same wait. And when the room is cold and you are given a paper gown
and wait an hour it all adds to it. My point is, I know you are upset
about it but we have all experienced this, even with young children
when worried sick. The whole system is slow and we are all in it,
despite being respectable citizens.

Sorry, but my MAX for waiting in an exam room is 20 minutes. At that
point, I open the door and find the nearest nurse and find out what
the wait is. I'm sorry your husband got treated this way, and I
agre--an hour is ridiculous. But the patient needs to speak up.
People, including doctors and nurses, make mistakes, and they make
some bad decisions/choices. It's up to us to stand up for ourselves.

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