Appointment

September 20, 2023

The parameters for my recent trip to see my son’s family were set in part by my dentist appointment.  These dates are set at the time of the earlier appointment six months ago.  The hygienist is always polite and asks the question, “Is (date) good for you?”.  I invariably say “yes” as I rarely know what I am going to be doing six months in advance.  The only real choice I have is whether to make the appointment in the morning or the afternoon.  When I decided to go to Seattle I called to see if I could reschedule for a later date and was told that was no problem.  The next available appointment was January 2024, or time for my next regular appointment.  I kept the date and set my plane fare to allow me to get back to my brother’s house in Wichita the day before so I could drive to Arkansas (5 hours) for my appointment.  I guess it was lucky I had scheduled my appointment in the afternoon.  I scheduled an appointment with another health care provider and was informed if I was more than 15 minutes late, they would cancel my appointment and charge me for the visit.  I sat in their office for 25 minutes past the scheduled time.

When I looked online, I found patients are often frustrated when they make an appointment for a certain time, arrive on time, and are then kept sitting in the waiting room for a long period before they see the healthcare provider.  The reason we lose patience is because we believe appointments have not been scheduled well.  However, healthcare providers may not be sure what services they will provide for individual patients, and some patients require more time for their services than others.  An acceptable amount of time to wait will vary by healthcare provider and the type of practice they run.  Basically, the more specialized the healthcare provider, the more patient you may need to be.  The fewer healthcare providers in any specialty who practice in your geographical area will also cause you to wait more time.  If you are waiting on a dentist who consistently makes you wait for an hour you may want to find another dentist.  If your brain surgeon makes you wait an hour, that might seem more manageable.

Another way to make the wait for your appointment tolerable is to ask the person at the check-in desk how long they think you will be waiting and decide if you want to wait that long and if not, reschedule.  If you are told the wait will be 15 minutes, ask again at minute 16.  You do not have to be loud or rude but politely ask about the hold up and how much longer you will need to wait, and again decide whether the wait is acceptable.  This is possible for a primary healthcare provider or a specialist you see on a regular basis for a long-term or chronic condition, but it may not be possible for a sub-specialist or a healthcare provider who is in great demand.  If you know there will be a wait for the appointment there are things to make the wait less stressful.  Leave yourself plenty of time so this will not impact another appointment on your schedule.  Take a good book, knitting, or an entertaining phone app (earbuds).  If the time is shorter, you will be pleasantly surprised.  If it is longer, it will not be so frustrating to wait.

Thoughts:  When the hygienist called my name (10 minutes late for my appointment) I dutifully followed them back and sat in the chair.  Her first words were, “So, we are here for two fillings today?”  I was not sure if “we” meant she was going to have the fillings, but I knew I was there for a cleaning and checkup.  The hygienist rechecked my name and found I had answered the wrong call.  I was happy to wait for my appointment as I made my way back to the waiting room.  The result of waiting for an appointment can change based on the expectations and the attitude you bring.  That is true for most aspects of life.  We may not be able to change others, we can adjust our response.  Act for all.  Change is coming and it starts with you.